Levitate over the ruin. Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán
02/09/2023.
[Sevilla] Spain
metalocus, OSCAR A. SÁNCHEZ
metalocus, OSCAR A. SÁNCHEZ
Architect Pablo M. Millán designed the exhibition route "Masters of the Future. Crafts and design from Europe." The exhibition is located in the remains of the Castillo de San Jorge, a medieval fortress built on the western bank of the Guadalquivir River, (demolished in the 19th century and converted into a food market) in the city of Seville.
The proposal raises the dialogue between work and viewer, taking as reference the text of "Noli me tangere" to establish a metaphor that interacts and raises links and differences between human and divine nature. This premise serves as a common thread for the exhibition, creating two parallel realities that allow contact and dialogue between them.
The proposal raises the dialogue between work and viewer, taking as reference the text of "Noli me tangere" to establish a metaphor that interacts and raises links and differences between human and divine nature. This premise serves as a common thread for the exhibition, creating two parallel realities that allow contact and dialogue between them.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Site plan. Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán.
Section. Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán.
Axonometry. Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán.
With this premise and the Heritage conditions, to safeguard the ruins, Pablo M. Millán and his team attempted to undertake the challenge of not touching them, but only observing them from the exhibition as a backdrop for the sample of contemporary artisans that make up the exposure. The complexity of the intervention is resolved by making the entire exhibition levitate by being suspended from the roof structure, which currently corresponds to the floor of the Triana market.
Craftsmen and artists from different origins show their work in a permanent dialogue, not only with the material of the pieces created but also with the container itself. The route is presented with suspended and illuminated stones, where each of the pieces in the exhibition is displayed. These stones are the containing and illuminating planes.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Description of project by Pablo M. Millán
When Saint Augustine in the Vulgate (Jn, 20, 17) speaks of the Noli me tangere, he recognizes two coinciding realities in the same space but with a different nature. With that expression, he shows the impossibility of interacting between them. One human nature, the other divine. But this does not prevent dialogue; quite the contrary, it encourages it in the face of each other's needs.
Under the premise of coexistence between two realities, we propose the design of this exhibition. After choosing the patrimonial context of the Castle of San Jorge in Seville as the place to exhibit this sample of contemporary artisans, we demanded not to touch the ruins, only to observe them from the exhibition as a backdrop. The complexity of suspending the entire collection from the roof structure (currently Triana Market) made the intervention even more complex.
Exhibition design “Maestros del futuro. Artesanía y diseño de Europa” by Pablo M. Millán. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
A space for dialogue is sought. It might seem like a contradiction that, in the remains of a castle from the Inquisition, there is an exhibition that encourages dialogue. Craftsmen and artists from different origins show their work in a permanent dialogue, not only with the material of the pieces created, but also with the container itself.
After wandering through the ruin, illuminated stones are suspended that will contain each of the precious pieces in the exhibition. These stones, almost weightless, will be the container and illuminating planes. Thus, the perfect geometry of precise pieces will be in charge of establishing a logic for the ruins, together with their qualification and integration.
After passing through the illuminated ruins with these perfect geometries without being touched, the need for dialogue between the pieces themselves and the heritage they inhabit becomes clear.
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Architects
Project team
David Vera García, Antonio Huertas Berro, Carmen Suárez Cortés, Alberto Anello.
Collaborators
Quantitive Surveyor.- Javier Serrano Terrones.
Developer
Sevilla City Council, Michelangelo homo faber Fundation, Ministry of Culture, Contemporary Association of Arts and Crafts.
Location
Plaza del Altozano, 16. 41010 Sevilla. Spain.
Photography
Pablo Manuel Millán Millán
Pablo Manuel Millán Millán is Doctor Architect by the University of Seville with the thesis 'Inhabiting the cliff: the little convent as a promoter of a new architecture in the hills of Valparaiso.' After completing the "Master in Architecture and Historical Heritage" and the "Master in Management of Latin American and Andalusian Heritage", he has focused his study on the contemporary analysis of historical buildings and structures.
At present, together with the research and teaching activity carried out at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Seville, he is a researcher at the School of Architecture and Design of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in Chile. Among his recent works, we could highlight the project for the rehabilitation and conservation of the San Francisco de Estepa Convent (Seville), the Rehabilitation of the 16th century Royal Butchers of Porcuna (Jaén), the conservation project of the Greater Sacristy of the Sanctuary of Regla in Chipiona (Cádiz), the restoration of the Monastery of San Juan de la Penitencia in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) or the restoration of the Chapel in Martín de la Jara (Seville).
He has been awarded with the best academic record by Fundación Caja de Arquitectos; 2nd Europe Architecture Award 2017; Build Architecture Award or recently nominated for the Andrés de Vandelvira awards.
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