Although I was excited to visit the much talked about and authentic pavilions of South Korea, Chile, Bahrain and Poland, the theme of this article will principally be focused on two photography exhibits organized by Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation[1], one of the long-established foundations in Venice, which were staged simultaneously; Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Modern Times and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Fantasmi e realtà. The essence of architecture is thus shown in these exhibitions under the curatorship of Filippo Maggia, the director of the Modena Photography Foundation.
A series of photographs named Modern Times by Hiroshi Sugimoto from Japan can be seen in Palazetto Tito where Venetian artists Ettore and Luigi Tito once lived. Born in 1948, the artist is known for his sublime view of objects, spaces and geographical elements. Other than Theaters, in which he produced a series of pictures taken from inside Movie Theaters and Seascapes, where he used long exposures in isolating landscapes and spaces of sea surfaces, and Portraits, another well known work of photographs, depicting abstractly well known sceneries and places. Commissioned by Deutsche Guggenheim in 1999, basically high definition photographs and wax statues of Madame Tussaud in London have been captured with a lighting technique often used in classical painting. Sugimoto also designed a Japanese Tea Garden inspired by photographs from the Gini Foundation in parallel to the biennale events. Modern Times has a different approach, distancing itself from other series and their techniques. The exhibit consists of 9 large-format black and white prints mainly focusing on the abstract architectural experience with photographic methods. The triptych skylight photographs in MOMA designed by Taniguchi evokes sensational and graphic effects emitted from a source of light in short intervals.
[1] Founded in 1898 Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation served as a springboard right after the beginning of the biennale in the works of young artists such as Boccioni, Casorati, Semeghini, Gino Rossi and Arturo Martini and housed major great names of contemporary art like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise, Bourgeois and Joseph Beuys beginning from its 100th year anniversary. Parallel to Venice Biennale of Architecture, they selected to exhibit these two experienced photographers who mainly focused on architecture and city in their works.
Other displays bring together the shows like Monument to the Fallen, designed by Terragni who took his inspiration from the sketches of Johnson Wax Building by Frank Lloyd Wright, Einstein Tower by Mendelsohn and Antonio Sant’Elia. The artist effortlessly creates images that are heavily blurred, and often shot from unusual vantage points. Instead of seeking the linearity of shapes and details capable of highlighting constructive beauty, Sugimoto chooses a more evocative approach, dissolving the boundaries of time and memory, and investigating the very essence of places. Other displays bear the works of the icons of international architecture from Giuseppe Terragni and Oskar Schlemmer to the works (or structural elements replicated in MOMA) of contemporary artists like Herzog, Meuron and Taniguchi. Luca Molinari, the critic and architect, made a mention of Sugimoto in his text written for Molinari Exhibit, and stressed the “radically modern formal perpetuity” in his works. At this point, I think that his intense focus on an architecture produced for artists provide a lesser impact than his group show where Wright, Sant’Elia and Mendelsohn are placed side by side. In fact this togetherness signifying a so-called kinship reminds us of the spontaneous intervention conceived by Sarkis at the Ataturk Library designed by Sedat Hakkı Eldem during the 10th Istanbul Biennale in 2007. The inscription written in neon letters, which reads “Sinan Louis Khan” always gives me the sensation of intellectual continuity bereft of time and geography.
Hütte’s photographs pay homage to the interrelationship between light and darkness in medieval spaces such as Santa Maria dei Frari and Palazzo Lordan in a tranquil and serene manner, a special trademark of the Düsseldorf School.
In the Venetian series, the shots of palazzos printed onto glass enhance the image with unusual 3-D reflections. Apart from these special sensations beyond any description, the encapsulating quality of this experimental technique presenting still images may be a bit tedious for those who are not into the medieval architecture.
Night shots from German towns in large-format prints are located at the second floor. Here, the static and stillness of Venetian shots transforms into a vivid and energetic grotesqueness stemming from nocturnal blackness. The video show of fireworks placed at the far end of display floor brings a lyrical end to this hideous narrative.
In a parallel activity during the Architecture Biennale, the choice of two separate displays for these two great names is rather flattering. They are adjacent to each other and belong to the same institution. Sugimoto’s shots of architecture as raw material and Hütte shots of structured spaces captured in an impeccable technique present a contrast and two separate approaches in architecture and photography. While Sugimoto focused on the connection between light and volume, Hütte tended to use darkness as volume.
It is a unique opportunity for those who would like to contemplate on contemporary artists where the impacts of modernity are discussed in an international context; who have long been working in this field like Sugimoto and Hütte to encounter in the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale organized by Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation. A worthy excuse for those who would prefer to stay away from the crowded displays in Arsenale and Giardini.
