Peter C. Papademetriou
Exhibit 1 -
ALVAR AALTO CENTENNIAL
Installed at the Rice University Media Center/Museum, generously made available by Mrs. Dominique deMenil following her closing early a Magritte installation, for the first venue after the Cooper-Hewitt Museum/New York. The spaces and layout were "as found" from the Magritte show, and adapted to accomodate not only the travelling material from the Finnish Museum of Architecture, but also all the Aalto furniture provided by the newly-opened ICF Showroom, as well as several slideshows of both Aalto architecture (featuring 'unique' pieces) and bentwood manufacturing in a small entry room with an array of various Aalto stools in a variety of laminate colors, and an impressive "tower" at the Entrance of a free-standing display, unsupported. My colleague Antonio de Souza-Santos [an Aalto Enthusiast] designed the installation. The Curators visiting from Finland were impressed by the breadth of our show.
[R: Poster/Mailer for the Houston Exhibit, which I designed]
'CLICK' on images for Caption and to review in Sequence.
appropriating an existing space, whose aesthetic was Spartan, was 'identified' by a Poster
adding materials to the Exhibition organized by the Museum of Finnish Architecture, included furniture provided by ICF, the US representative of Artek. Alvar Aalto's 3-legged stools were stacked in an unsupported spiral
in addition, and complementary with, the panels, a room adjacent to the Entry served as an informal 'lounge'
a cutout 'peephole' left over from the Magritte show was covered by a scrim, with a slide show of Aalto buildings added to the Exhibit, a pair of Aalto wood screens and a variety of stools in multiple laminate tops
given the flat panels of the Exhibit, strategic examples of Aalto furniture added a 3-dimensional aspect
long view down to the architecture slideshow, with a student model added
further extension, looking in the opposite direction
every room had both Exhibit models, and complementary furniture evocative of the point-in-time in Aalto's career
same strategy: panels + 3-dimensional objects, in rooms accented with furniture
the ICF/Artek furniture, especially with canonical pieces as the Serving Cart, underscore the special love of Finnish wood
inclusion of Aalto's master plan for Helsinki Harbor
the Concert Hall Section model
completion of the circuitous route inherited from the Magritte Exhibit layout
Introducing a Finnish architect to a Texas audience.
Aalto compared to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Aalto compared to Louis I. Kahn
Aalto linked to Mies van der Rohe and LeCorbusier.