In the framework of the Biennale di Venezia, the Palazzo Bembo hosts the group exhibition “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps”, bringing together 56 guest architects from 26 countries, in which Josep Lluís Mateo presents the montage “EARTH”.

«EARTH

The earth is our support, our base, the root that will, eventually, allow us to fly.

To speak of the earth requires us to think about water, the slow force that moulds, cracks and bores. That transforms and sometimes also weakens it.

It also requires us to think about air, empty space, the wind that moves over the surface of the earth’s crust and which our buildings, extensions of that crust, channel or resist.

Speaking about the earth is another form of encounter with the local. An encounter with the remains of the wreckage: bones—the transformation of the organic into inorganic—, stones, old foundations, traces.
And an encounter with matter: red clay, yellow sand, the grey pebbles in strata or masses….

Our work with earth represents hollowing it out, boring into it, penetrating it. Guaranteeing the transfer of loads and fluids towards it, where they dissipate.
Vertical dimension: gravitational and spatial.

And also moulding it, reorganizing the topography (probably introducing geometry into it), reinforcing it, cladding its surface.
Horizontal dimension: superficial and open.

The earth—the start and the end of architecture»

Txt by Josep Lluís Mateo

Opening: 27 and 28 August 2012, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Exhibition: “Traces of Centuries & Future Steps” 29 August to 25 November 2012. Opening times: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Venue: Palazzo Bembo. Gallery 6, EARTH. Riva del Carbon # 4793, 30124 Venice, Italy
(70 m from Rialto Bridge, on the Grand Canal)

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Josep Lluís Mateo was born in Barcelona (1949) and graduated in Architecture in 1974 from the ETSAB and gained his doctorate (cum laude) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 1994.

Mateo’s practice is based in Barcelona, and he is currently involved in a number of local and international projects such as the new Film Theatre of Catalonia in Barcelona, the new headquarters for PGGM Pension Fund Company in Zeist, Holland and the office building on the former site of Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, among others.

With each of his projects, Mateo seeks to connect the practice of construction with research and development in both intellectual and programmatic terms. He works in the area between the sphere of ideas and the physical world of reality.

Academic collaborations and teaching:
Josep Lluís Mateo has been Professor of the Architecture Department at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (ETH-Z) since 2002. He has also taught and lectured at numerous institutions around the world, including Princeton, Columbia University in New York, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, ABK Stuttgart, UP8 Paris, OAF Oslo and ITESM Mexico. He was Visiting Scholar at the Jean P. Getty Center in Los Angeles from 1991 to 1992. Josep Lluís Mateo is President since 2009 of the Board of Directors of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture. He has been a member of a number of juries and expert committees, including the Quality Committee of Barcelona City Council (2000-2008), and for prizes such as the European Landscape Award and the Thyssen Award.

Recent exhibitions and prizes:
The practice’s work has been exhibited on numerous occasions thanks to its international influence. New York’s MoMA devoted a space in the exhibition “Spain: On Site” (2006) to its apartment building in Valencia for the Sociopolis Project. Individual exhibitions include those at Ras Gallery (Barcelona, 2009), Architekturgalerie Aedes (Berlin, 2004), Architekturzentrum Wien (Vienna, 1998), Col•legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (Barcelona, 1998),Galerie Fragner (Prague, 1998), Galerie Aedes (Berlin, 1994), Architekturgalerie Luzern (Luzern, 1992) and Architekturgalerie Munich (Munich, 1991).

The work of Josep Lluís Mateo has been awarded many prizes, including:
- Top International Purpose-Built Venue 2008, First Prize. Best International Convention Centre category.
Organized by C&IT magazine, London. Project: CCIB-Barcelona International Convention Centre
- 2008 Archizinc Award, First Prize. Collective Housing category. Project: Sant Jordi Students’ Hall of Residence, Barcelona
- European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2005, Runner-up. Project: CCIB- Barcelona International Convention Centre
- 15th Award of Grupo Dragados de Arquitectura.

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Published on: August 3, 2012
Cite: "Mateo Arquitectura at the 13. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/mateo-arquitectura-13-mostra-internazionale-di-architettura-di-venezia> ISSN 1139-6415
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