The drift as a strategy. Special Section “ARCO 40+1” by Pedro Pitarch
27/03/2022.
[MAD] Spain
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
metalocus, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ
Madrid-based architecture studio, Pedro Pitarch Architectures & Urbanisms, directed by the architect Pedro Pitarch Madrid-based architecture office, was commissioned to carry out a special section to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the ARCO Fair that could not be held in its usual calendar because of the pandemic.
Under the title "Special Section ARCO 40+1" the exhibition space celebrated the 40+1 years of the art fair and according to its curators, Maria Inés Rodriguez, Sergio Rubira, and Francesco Stocchi, "anticipating the future but without forgetting its past" with a tribute to the Galician estuaries, NFT art and partially recovering the number of galleries from before the pandemic.
Under the title "Special Section ARCO 40+1" the exhibition space celebrated the 40+1 years of the art fair and according to its curators, Maria Inés Rodriguez, Sergio Rubira, and Francesco Stocchi, "anticipating the future but without forgetting its past" with a tribute to the Galician estuaries, NFT art and partially recovering the number of galleries from before the pandemic.
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Floor plan. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Axonometry from below. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Axonometry from above. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Matrix of spaces. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Concept. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Concept. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Concept. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Matrix of works. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Matrix of works. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Sections. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Model. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
The space designed by Pedro Pitarch includes a selection of 19 international galleries selected by María Inés Rodríguez, Francisco Stocchi, and Sergio Rubira, for their special relevance in previous editions, and which is completed with 159 galleries from the general program, reaching 185 galleries from 30 countries (in 2020 there were more than 200).
For the 40+1 section, Pedro Pitarch makes a variation on the traditional arrangement of this type of fair, normally corridors that give access to rooms, to propose a new "purely interior experience" as a "casual drift".
The architect rotates the grid proposed for the project by 9º, to introduce the visitor to a different experience from the rest of the Art Fair, close to the process of continuously going through museum rooms, eliminating circulation spaces.
Sección Especial «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Floor plan. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
For the 40+1 section, Pedro Pitarch makes a variation on the traditional arrangement of this type of fair, normally corridors that give access to rooms, to propose a new "purely interior experience" as a "casual drift".
The architect rotates the grid proposed for the project by 9º, to introduce the visitor to a different experience from the rest of the Art Fair, close to the process of continuously going through museum rooms, eliminating circulation spaces.
Sección Especial «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal
Floor plan. Special section «ARCO 40+1» by Pedro Pitarch.
Project description by Pedro Pitarch
The Arco 40+1 section is conceived as an imaginary museum. An intervention that proposes the inversion of the spatial logic of art fairs.
Opposite to traditional distribution, in which the space of each gallery is normally perceived as an exterior accessible from a corridor; the 40+1 section is conceived as a purely interior experience, as a sequence of concatenated rooms that import the museum context into the fair.
Everything inside is contained. Each gallery has an identical space but is adapted to the requirements of the exhibited pieces. Almost as if we were going through rooms of a museum, the section dispenses with circulation spaces, proposing the drift of the visitor from one room to the next.
This migration from fair to museum architecture is intensified through a change in the rhythm of circulation. To do this, the reticular plan of the project is rotated 9º, breaking the orthogonality with respect to the routes of the rest of the fair and generating a slowdown in the traffic of the visitor.
It is precisely this gesture, rotating the matrix, which generates an unexpected architectural element. An outer skin that works as a file. A remaining space between grid and perimeter. A thick skin, endowed with a program, that thickens and not only serves as a support to expose the historical archive of the 40th anniversary but also incorporates architectural content: a work area, a projection room, a meeting area, and the newspaper library. of Arc.
Finally, the section is divided in two as it is crossed by the central corridor of the fair, which dramatically cuts through the grid and introduces the visitor directly into the museum interior.
The project for the 40+1 section does not have an architectural elevation, because its elevation is precisely its content, the works exhibited by gallery owners and artists, as well as the fair's forty-year history itself.
More information
Project team
Pedro Pitarch, Marcos Romero, Guillermo Martín-Peñasco.
Curators
María Inés Rodríguez, Sergio Rubira and Francesco Stocchi.
Dates
February 2022.
Location
IFEMA, Madrid, Spain.
Photography
Pedro Pitarch
Pedro Pitarch, (1989) is an architect (ETSAM, UPM 2014) and musician (COM Caceres). He is Associate Teacher at the Architecture Faculty of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM-UPM). He has been Teaching Fellow in Architectural Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and Steedman Fellow at the Washington University in St Louis. Archiprix International (2015), Extraordinary Honour End of Studies Award (ETSAM-UPM), and Superscape - Future Urban Living Award (2016).
His work has been exhibited at the 17th and 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, 4th Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Triennale Milan, 9th EME3 and Vienna Design Week. His projects have been awarded in several International Competitions and his writings have been published in platforms and magazines nationals and internationals.
His work has been exhibited at the 17th and 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, 4th Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Triennale Milan, 9th EME3 and Vienna Design Week. His projects have been awarded in several International Competitions and his writings have been published in platforms and magazines nationals and internationals.
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