I have never been one for the uber-contemporary. Even the famous Disney (or is it Sony) centre in Berlin did not awe me for more than a five-second WOW. There is something about Brazilian modernism that just works, and part of it has to do with the weather, I am convinced. Great, arching concrete works do not fit in a gray and dreary landscape. It also helps that the greatest period of architecture, for myself, a layman and enthusiast with no formal training on the subject, was this midcentury period of form, form, form. Which necessarily must complement its environment, lest it digress into suicidal minimalism ...
Here, in the sun-drenched tropics, buildings such as the capolavoro of Niemeyer, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), just a boatride from Rio in Nieteroi, a mid-century spaceship if I ever saw one, to the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), the work of landscape architect genius Burle Marx, claim their austerity in form, structure and material, leaving the interaction between visitor and building at once intact and paramount. The geometric quality of each structure balances gracefully the necesity for light and space with ample windows and relatively thin panes and no superfluous decoration. In an environment such as Brazil, with mountains, water, an animated, azure sky and greenery, there is already a built-in dialogue between man and nature. The dominant discourse of concrete and glass has now in architecture schools from here to Timbuktu become a proper and accepted aesthetic. Such as many movements viewed in retrospect this is rather ironic, as its original purpose was the breaking away from old, European, and specifically in the case of Brazil Francophone and post-Colonial emphasis on aesthetics and decoration.
Let us begin with the MAC. Intuitive to its surroundings, where the mountains in the distance, just across the water in Rio, come to majestic, frothy green peaks, the Museum complements in floor to ceiling windows around a partially flattened, UFO circle. Think of a cup with no handle and the saucer on top. Oh, and the tea underneath the cup, just for good measure. No space is broken on the interior save a staircase that goes from the ground to the second level. It is the first musuem for this blogger where one is asked to please take ones shoes off if one wishes to take a photo from the carpeted bench that wraps around the interior, flanking the windows for the best possible view of sea, land and sky. In addition, one can feel free to take flash photography of the artworks and sit, on the ground, whilst contemplating a painting or sculpture from a more relaxed point of view. Lastly, a loud splash of color in bright red lines the top of an s-curved walkway, contrasting the otherwise neutral tones of glass and concrete, beckoning one to put down the rules-book on modernist color palates and just enjoy the experience. The MAC truly is like landing on the moon, if the moon were tropical, lush and sunny...
MAM is another story, one of a landscape architect named Burle Marx, best known for marrying modernist buildings with flora and stonework. The structure is raised on concrete stilts, and underneath one has the feeling of being an airy hangar. Its location in the waterfront Flamengo area offers up the blue that complements the greenery, and Marx has placed a sort of oversized rock garden to smooth the edge between structure and landscaping. Palm trees are planted in even rows, whilst a fountain of small, turqoise mosaic tiles allows for a more playful nature and ties in with a chic cafe and gift shop. The exhibit at the moment of Vik Muniz, a contemporary Brazilian artist who lives between New York and Rio, utilized the wide, rectangular space and for those weary of stairs it is housed on one convenient level, with places to sit and explanations in both English and Portuguese.
Enjoy Modernism! Just do not be too brash about it, eh.
No comments:
Post a Comment