November 02, 2008
A truly exciting exhibition of Zaha Hadid's massive sculptures opened yesterday afternoon, and the two galleries were immediately mobbed with starchitecture fans. Curated by Kenny Schacter/Rove, the works on display through December 13 were orginally architectural commissions. Hadid's astounding vision of urbanism spans the globe, from Istanbul to Dubai to Cincinnati, and her sense of space and movement are utterly astounding.
While the recent opening of Hadid's Chanel-sponsored Central Park installation Mobile Art might smack of commercial appropriation of the art/architecture/park space, taken collectively these three New York installations present nothing less than a revolutionary view of how to conceptualize and execute visionary forms. For example at Sonnabend, Relief 1: Domestic takes up an entire gallery wall, a deceptively simple yet amorphous sitting space that expands in multiple directions. Created out of fiberglass and high-gloss lacquer paint finish, at 9'11" x 20'9" x 4'3", this confection is something one has hitherto never seen the likes of. You'll also find a splendid creation, the Kartal Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul, made of polystyrene with polyurethane shell and white matte paint finish. At a massive 10'5" x 37'10" x 14'9", it symbolizes not just the important link between the European and Asian parts of Istanbul. You might think of it as an exploded view of nanotechnology, or perhaps even a masterly synthetic version of the urban space, or even a synecdoche for the great divide between East and West. Hadid's website characterizes it thusly: The fabric is further articulated by an urban script that generates different typologies of buildings that respond to the different demands of each district. This calligraphic script creates open conditions that can transform from detached buildings to perimeter blocks, and ultimately into hybrid systems that can create a porous, interconnected network of open spaces that meanders throughout the city. Through subtle transformations and gradations from one part of the site to the other, the scripted fabric can create a smooth transition from the surrounding context to the new, higher density development on the site.
Even more breathtaking is Stalactices, made of fiberglass with high gloss laquer paint finish. At 9'11" x 20'5" x 14', I have never seen a small gallery space so superbly transformed into something so vastly other. Although the sculpture immediately transports the viewer into the underworld of cave spelunking, one does a double-take at the artifice of highly-polished green stalactices, something so incredibly inorganic. To describe it as mesmerizing would be an understatement. I arrived at the Sonnabend gallery while the crew was finalizing the installation and polishing the surfaces; the challenge of preparing and executing such a complex installation was everywhere evident. I felt like a voyeur, truly marveling at a ceiling-mounted sculpture that extends downward nearly to the floor, yet another virtuoso performance of Hadid that very consciously defies gravity as well as our concept of the traditional gallery space. Of course, one frequently sees ceiling-mounted sculpture, that much is not new; but the fluidity and free-flowing nature of this form of Hadid's underscores a sense of functionality and ergonometrics like no other sculptor—or architect, for that matter.
At 169 Tenth Avenue—until recently yet another Empire City Subway vehicle depot-cum-warehouse—the massive sculptures and videoscreens (photographed above) seem almost otherworldly. In fact, these highly-polished forms are so fluid and so gigantic they appear at times to float. Their airiness belies their weight and size, and the video projection behind them simply reinforces the brilliance of this Pritzker-prize winning, Baghdad-born genius, who has assuredly earned the title of most admired living architect.
photograph © 2008 NYC.com Inc.
Tags:
kenny schachter, rove, sculpture, sonnabend, zaha hadid
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Posted on 11/2/2008
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