If you are in Berlin until August 17th, make sure to check out the exhibition “Lina Bo Bardi: Together” at The Deutsche Architecture Zentrum, dedicated to the legacy of the famed Italian-born Brazilian architect.

‘The artist’s freedom has always been “individual”, but true freedom can only be collective. A freedom aware of social responsibilities, which can knock down the frontiers of aesthetics…’
LBB

Lina Bo Bardi: Together pays tribute to the Italian architect who moved to her adopted Brazil in 1946 leaving an impressive legacy. This exhibition celebrates Lina’s capacity to engage with every facet of culture and to see the potential in all manner of people. Curated by Naomi Blager, the exhibition presents artworks by Madelon Vriesendorp (one of the founders of OMA and wife of Rem Koolhaas) and films by Tapio Snellman recreate Lina’s work and allow a more direct experience through a form of re-enactment. Photographs of Casa de Vidro (The Glass House) by Ioana Marinescu show the objects (from toys and shells to art and recycled things) that Lina chose to display in the house she lived in with her husband Pietro Maria Bardi.

In the theatre, a stage comes to life when the actors begin to perform. So it is with Lina Bo Bardi’s architecture. Her buildings are vibrant when inhabited: they come to life with the energy, diversity and creativity of people.

Born in Rome in 1914, Lina’s extraordinary legacy as an architect, set designer, editor, illustrator, furniture designer and curator, has yet to be fully acknowledged.

Lina moved to São Paulo in 1946. But the turning point came in 1958–1964 when, living in Salvador de Bahia, she found the roots of Brazil’s popular culture. Lina managed to successfully integrate the values of the Modern Movement with popular culture.

She applied sophisticated construction techniques learned from local craftsmen to her design for the Museu de Arte Popular do Unhão. She also planned the creation of a crafts centre and an industrial design school. In her words: ‘It was to be a Museum of “Art” as an “Art”, that is, to “do things”, everyday happenings.’

Years later, in São Paulo, Lina was commissioned to design SESC Pompéia, a leisure centre built in an old factory. She organised space without hierarchy: swimming was deemed as important as learning weaving, a jazz concert, or playing chess. She created a culture of convivial diversity that continues today: inclusive environments where the old and the young interact.

Noemí Blager, Curator.

Bo Bardi’s integrity and desire for a lack of hierarchical division is portrayed in the eclectic nature of the exhibition: artifacts found in local Brazilian markets alongside carefully crafted objects; films shot in Bo Bardi’s Pompéia project in São Paulo are projected into a reflective pool of water. The interactive installation, consisting of various-sized concrete blocks, pays tribute to Bo Bardi’s playful use of the material and was designed by the London-based Assemble Studio. It is accompanied by three Bowl Chair, designed by Lina in 1951

The exhibition hosts at the DAZ Berlin -after traveling London, Vienna, Paris, Stockholm, Basel and Amsterdam- is made possible by Arper, who today manufacture the Bowl Chair. The DAZ creative director is Matthias Böttger.

Where.- DAZ | Deutsches Architektur Zentrum. Köpenicker Straße 48, 10179 Berlin, Germany.
When.- from 13 June to 17 August 2014. Opening times.- Wednesday – Sunday 14.00 to 19.00 h.

CREDITS

Curator.- Noemi Blager
Art installation.- Madelon Vriesendorp
Film installation.-
Tapio Snellman
Exhibition design & build.- Assemble
Sponsor.- Arper

 

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Achillina Bo was born on December 5, 1914 in Rome, Italy. Lina was the oldest child of Enrico and Giovana Bo, who later had another daughter named Graziella. In 1939, she graduated from the Rome College of Architecture at the age of 25 with her final piece, "The Maternity and Infancy Care Centre". She then moved to Milan to begin working with architect Carlo Pagani in the Studio Bo e Pagani, No 12, Via Gesù. Bo Bardi collaborated (until 1943) with architect and designer Giò Ponti on the magazine Lo Stile – nella casa e nell’arredamento. In 1942, at the age of 28, she opened her own architectural studio on Via Gesù, but the lack of work during wartime soon led Bardi to take up illustration for newspapers and magazines such as Stile, Grazia, Belleza, Tempo, Vetrina and Illustrazione Italiana. Her office was destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1943. From 1944-5 Bardi was the Deputy Director of Domus magazine.

The event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945, Domus commissioned Bo Bardi to travel around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document and evaluate the situation of the destroyed country. Bo Bardi, Pagani and Bruno Zevi established the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan (A Cultura della Vita).[4] She also collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera, directed by Elio Vittorini. Bo Bardi took part in the First National Meeting for Reconstruction in Milan, alerting people to the indifference of public opinion on the subject, which for her covered both the physical and moral reconstruction of the country.

In 1946, Bo Bardi moved to Rome and married the art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi.

In Brazil, Bo Bardi expanded his ideas influenced by a recent and overflowing culture different from the European situation. Along with her husband, they decided to live in Rio de Janeiro, delighted with the nature of the city and its modernist buildings, like the current Gustavo Capanema Palace, known as the Ministry of Education and Culture, designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx and a group of young Brazilian architects. Pietro Bardi was commissioned by a museum from Sao Paulo city where they established their permanent residence.

There they began a collection of Brazilian popular art (its main influence) and his work took on the dimension of the dialogue between the modern and the Popular. Bo Bardi spoke of a space to be built by living people, an unfinished space that would be completed by the popular and everyday use.
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