TOWERS AND SKYCRAPERS, at CaixaForum Barcelona

25/06/2012. Caixa Forum [BCN], Till 09/09/2012
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA, ANA SEGURA

"Towers and Skyscrapers. From Babel to Dubai." CaixaForum Barcelona introduces a wide selection of graphic documents that review the development of vertical construction throughout history, from its creation as mythology to the most recently designed.

Chrysler Building (1930, 298 m.) by Van Alen, and shortly after the Empire State Building (381 meters) from the firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, illustrate unquestionably the guiding concepts of the twentieth-century modernity. The metal frame and prefabricated steel sections raise these achievements to a level of excellence never equaled construction.

Chrysler Building (1930, 298 m.) by Van Alen, and shortly after the Empire State Building (381 meters) from the firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, illustrate unquestionably the guiding concepts of the twentieth-century modernity. The metal frame and prefabricated steel sections raise these achievements to a level of excellence never equaled construction.

Photography of the exhibition. Courtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona.

World Trade Center (1966-1973), New York. Photography. Courtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona.

Worker on scaffolding above the Boerentoren, Ambers. Photography, 1929-1930. Courtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona.

Winds, 2010. Collage, by Du Zhenjun. Courtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona.

Oldeurope, 2010. Collage, by Du Zhenjun. Courtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona.

Nationalday, 2010. Collage, by Du Zhenjun. Courtesy of CaixaForum Barcelona.

Venue.- CaixaForum Centre Social i Cultural. Av Francesc Ferrer Guàrdia, 6-8. Barcelona.
Date.- from June 20 to September 9 of 2012.

Since the creation of the myth of the Tower of Babel to the appearance of the first skycraper in 1850 in the United States, the model has been reproduced regularly in the world between the ages XX and XXI. The towers reflect one of the most important aspects of modernity and are essential references in terms of urban planning. The skyscraper is one of the modern icons, and its image of the skycraper has become an ineresting response to the lack of space not only in big cities of the West, but anywhere in the world.

The adoption of new and more sophisticated technology opens a new research area for renewal and the answer to new problems and complex sensibilities. Height, technology, sustainability, creativity and emblematic character, function, and aesthetic impact are basic questions and filled today.

This exhibition curated by Robert Dulau and Pascal Mory, aspires to explore, by paintings, engravings, drawings, models, photographs and films, the diversity of architectures that over time have shown a search of the inaccessible, for his excesses and his desire to overcome any material limit.