The Spanish Patios. Arte contemporáneo en 16 patios de Córdoba

Cristina Lucas´intervention

I came across with this exhibition web page ¨El Patio de mi Casa¨ (My house´s patio), and though we are out of date to visit it (sorry, it was a 2009 exhibition), I think we can still enjoy the pictures and concepts. All pictures were downloaded from the web page. See the link below and enjoy the gallery with brief explanations.

Cai Guo Qiang. The turtle is adding dynamism to the space.

Carlos Garaicoa. He presented a massive model made of sugar. Ants were eating it.¨Principios básicos para destruir¨ (Basic principles to destroy).

Federico Guzmán. He showed a garden of sacred plants. See the texture of the floor.

Fernando Baena. See the golden snails he added on the vase.

Glenda Leon. Interior garden

Kang Xuan

Magdalena Atria. Painting with ¨plastilina¨.

Nina Yuen

Priscilla Monge. There is ¨blood¨ instead of water in the fountain.

This exhibition presented works by 16 contemporary artists from several countries in 16 private courtyards and monumental Córdoba, from an idea of Carlota Álvarez Basso. The patios are one of the most symbolic heritage of the city, providing an image-synthesis of the long multicultural history of Cordoba. With a background in Mesopotamia and originated in the atrium of the houses of ancient Rome, the courtyard was developed by the Arab and Moorish architecture, reaching its greatest splendor in Andalucía. The cordobeses patios are unique, with an explosion of color and beauty provided by its baroque floral. Aesthetic areas of common life, are pieces of nature and urban open space within the home, family edens in the Arab tradition. Beyond this, they are places to see and feel the sky: a way of appropriating a piece of the cosmos for private use.

The works, mostly specific interventions have been inspired by every yard, or correspond to existing projects adapted to the situation of the place. The aim was to achieve a balance, indeed, a mutually enriching conversation among courtyards and contemporary art. Thus, the courts have not been used as mere spaces to show work, but as active components in a relationship. The artistic interventions are more or minimum as appropriate, but always make sense creative dialogue with the courts. The works pulsate and investigate the relationship between the private and public, between art and everyday life, between modernity, history and tradition. Each of the 16 yards integrates a particular encounter between patio and artwork, a kind of micro-exhibition which has its own content and visuals. The "theme" of the exhibition was to show patios as aesthetic, cultural, and historical environments.

Detail of Magdalena Atria´s painting

http://universes-in-universe.org/esp/magazine/articles/2009/arte_patios_cordoba

Mi punto de vista sobre el Artista y su Técnica

Nebulosa. Pintura digital de Myriam B. Mahiques

Platón consideraba que el conocimiento es innato y se perfecciona a través de los años de crecimiento. Idea base de la teoría del Constructivismo.

Aristóteles, enfatizó el desarrollo integral de la persona; jugar, entrenarse, escuchar música, -entre tantas actividades-, formarían el cuerpo, la mente y el alma.

Para hablar de técnica, no nos confundamos con tecnología, si ambas las palabras provienen del griego Techne. Literalmente traducida, sería arte, manualidad, habilidad. Pero conceptualmente, es el uso sistemático de un conocimiento para realizar una acción humana. El origen del conocimiento? Pues que lo discutan los filósofos.

Mucho podemos contar acerca de nuestras técnicas artísticas, para escribir, dibujar, pintar, cocinar, cantar, fotografiar..... Pero yo creo que uno no encuentra la técnica, sino la técnica lo encuentra a uno.

No estoy segura si el conocimiento es innato, pero sí que nacemos con ciertas habilidades, que en los tiempos de la inteligencia emocional, nos pueden situar por arriba de cualquier persona de alto coeficiente intelectual. Obsoleto este sistema de reconocimiento de inteligencias, hemos de hurgar en nuestro pasado para ver la luz en nuestras técnicas del presente.

En mi caso particular, no cursé preescolar, ni ¨jardincito¨, que no eran obligatorios en ese momento. Sin embargo, entre los cuatro y cinco años, tenía necesidad de escribir. Fue sencillo, me senté en un banquito con una mesita de juegos en el patio de casa, tomé una ¨birome¨ y comencé a escribir continuamente mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Las letras se me presentaron como una expresión distinta a los dibujos infantiles, y por su concepción no legible, diría que ¨el texto¨ se acercaba más a un gráfico monótono. Letras, dibujo, una misma cosa, porqué no?

Pez Piedra. De http://mediateca.educa.madrid.org/imagen/imagenes/publicas/tam4/bk/bkmiiipwl8bu9h41.jpg

A mis nueve años, se acercó a casa un vendedor callejero, trayendo unos libros de la colección Walt Disney, esas hermosas ediciones españolas llenas de fotos y con tapas duras brillantes. Recuerdo a mi mamá dudar, pero me leyó la expresión, o tal vez para que ningún vecino la critique (porque estábamos en la puerta del jardín), me dijo, ¨elegite uno¨. Y sin dudar, elegí ¨Maravillas del Mar¨. Esas fotos del fondo marino me cautivaron, pero especialmente un par de ellas mostrando los monstruosos peces piedra. Confusión en el mar! Cómo un pez puede ser piedra, animal, mimetizarse en el fondo, todo en una maraña de colores, elementos inertes y vida a la vez. Creo que esa fue mi primera imagen de un fractal, cuando Mandelbrot recién empezaba a pensar, qué pasaría con la Bolsa y los cereales, y los patrones de ventas, etc. Con los años, me bastó ver una foto aérea de una ciudad africana. Pez piedra, ciudad africana, todo me cierra, basta conseguir softwares para aprender a representarlos con la tecnología adecuada.

El vendedor volvió y yo elegí ¨Mitos y Leyendas¨, ante las protestas de mi mamá, que resignada decía, ¨si los vende tan baratos y no los trae todos juntos es porque los está robando¨. Este asunto no estaba entre mis preocupaciones. No sólo leí el libro unas cinco veces, sino que me preguntaba porqué las ilustraciones deformaban los cuerpos, todos elongados, estilizados, planos, sin intención de mostrar la tercera dimensión. Esa fue mi primera apreciación curiosa de arte, que después de todo, estaba emparentado con el arte bizantino. 

Tapa del disco " Burn" de Deep Purple

A los quince años, edad de la música y los bailes, me compré el long play (qué antigüedad!) Burn (Quemar) de Deep Purple. Y no dudé en empezar a copiar con las pinturitas del colegio, esas cabezas con una vela arriba, impresionante, cabezas derritiéndose en explosión de colores.......Me llevó once años más llegar al taller de pintura y tomar contacto con los olores y la textura del color.

A los dieciséis, mi familia cita al ¨maestro mayor de obras¨ que diseñaría nuestra casa nueva. Todos absortos, y yo, pensando, ¨ahhh, ésta será mi habitación, para mí sola!¨. En las caras serias y absortas de mis padres comprendí que este hombre, que no era arquitecto ni lo sería, estaba cambiando con simple un dibujo nuestras vidas. Creo que este fue mi primer encuentro con la arquitectura y la sociología, que tiñó todos mis escritos doctorales.

Entonces, mi técnica, cómo explicarlo correctamente?, es una mezcla de todas esas sensaciones, el ver un cuadro digital –o no- y decir, ¨así¨, sin vueltas, sin meditar si le falta luz, color, si la imagen se me ¨cae¨ o si se hizo un agujero visual; en mis escritos mezclados, se confunden los idiomas, y la poesía se junta con el lenguaje técnico, las imágenes de morfologías urbanas representadas con fractales se asocian a los santos y rituales, las recetas de comida se vuelven proyectos arquitectónicos.... y no hay forma de desdoblar el producto artístico en un proceso regido por el paso 1, paso 2, siguiente....

Easter Island’s Statues at Risk

Moai with “hats”. Picture by Marc Pelissier.

The Chilean Easter Island has always been an object of curiosity and it is well-known for tourists due to its monumental statues. There has been controversy and confusion concerning the origins of the Easter Islanders, Thor Heyerdahl proposed they would be Peruvian descent, but archaeological evidence indicates that Polynesians discovered the island at about 400 AD.

The island, with the native name of Rapa Nui is located 3500 km West of South American continent. During the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile, last February 27^th, there was a tsunami warning and people were ordered to evacuate the coastal areas, to move to the highlands. The warning expired and the island weathered the tsunami with no major damage.

But, regardless the earthquake, Easter Island’s statues are at risk, as weathering imperils them continuously.

The following text is taken from Kristin Weichman’s article “Easter Island’s Statues at Risk” for National Geographic Magazine, November 2005:

Moai. Picture by Cliff Wassman.

Moai. From http://eternallymine.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/easter-island.jpg

“The great stone faces are showing their age. For some six centuries, beginning a thousand years ago, the Rapa Nui people of Easter Isaland carved images of their ancestors into the island’s soft volcanic tuff. The sculptures –called Moai- probably started wearing away soon after the statues were dragged from the tuff quarry to their platform sites, some of which are miles away. But years of exposure to wind, water and human activity have sped the deterioration.

At Ahu Tongariki, largest of Easter Island’s moai sites, the 15 statues have already been through a lot. Feuding Rapa Nui began toppling and breaking the figures, which weigh as much as 98 tons, in the 17^th century, and a 1960 tsunami washed the scattered stones hundreds of feet inland. When archaeologists started reconstructing Ahu Tongariki in 1992, it was a rubble pile. They hoisted the broken pieces upright, then cemented them together. Recently the mended moai were covered with tarps to allow them to dry. A water repellent was then applied to prevent further erosion –but the coating is expected to last only a few years.

“It’s sad but unfortunately true that existing methods cannot preserve all the statues,” notes UCLA archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg. Since 1981 she’s complied more than 12,000 images, along with historical, ethnographic, and excavation records, of the island’s 887 moai. “The Rapa Nui community and their scientific advisers have some hard choices to make,” says Van Tilburg. “Statues containing the most valuable scientific or historical information can and must be saved.”

Concurso Gratuito con Premios Internacionales. World Architecture Community

Llamada a la comunidad de World Architecture

Registrate y presenta tus proyectos en worldarchitecture.org, tendrás reconocimiento internacional

20+10+X Premios de Arquitectura, 7ª Convocatoria:

Plazo de presentación: 23 de Abril de 2010

worldarchitecture.org, el primer portal interactivo creado para proporcionar una oportunidad para todos los Estudios de ámbito local, invita a todos los Arquitectos Mundiales a registrarse y presentar sus proyectos - gratuitamente - hasta el 23 de Abril de 2010 para participar en el 20+10+X Architecure Award, 7ª Convocatoria. Más de 200 Miembros de Honor, entre los cuales se encuentran Udo Kultermann, Hans Hollein, Fumihiko Maki, Robert Ivy, Wolf D. Prix, Charles Correa and Michael Sorkin, pueden participar en la votación online y constituyen el Panel científico y jurado.

CÓMO PARTICIPAR

20+10+X Awards es un programa de Premios internacionales en línea de la Comunidad de World Architecture que ya ha alcanzado un nivel prestigioso gracias a su extraordinario panel de Miembros de honor y al elevado nivel de los proyectos ganadores de los primeros seis Ciclos. Los Premios se repiten cada tres meses e incluyen un programa internacional de publicación de los resultados en colaboración con un amplio número de revistas de arquitectura en todos los continentes. Cada convocatoria recibe aproximadamente 1100 proyectos presentados por los miembros de la Comunidad, entre los cuales después de un primer proceso de votación pública vienen seleccionados 250 proyectos. A continuación se proclaman a través de los medios de comunicación relacionados con la arquitectura los 35 ganadores, además de otros 30-40 proyectos mencionados.

Visita la colección de Proyectos Ganadores de las primeras seis convocatorias

Estudiantes, paisajistas, ingenieros pueden también presentar proyectos de los cuales sean autores. Todas las categorías (residencial, comercial, educativo,..) construidos o prototipos son considerados elegibles para los premios.

worldarchitecture.org invita a todos los arquitectos a crear un perfil en WA. Todos los proyectos presentados serán promocionados y puestos en valor en todo el mundo. El portal WA es el único registro abierto internacional de arquitectura contemporánea donde todos los arquitectos, investigadores e instituciones someten su trabajo y enlaces para compartir con el resto del Mundo.

para mayor información:

www.worldarchitecture.org

info@worldarchitecture.org

Testing Priests´sermons at the Interior of Crypt of the Colonia Güell Church

Interior of crypt. Picture by Rolando Polo. From Rolando Polo.com

I´d like to share with you this great article on the Colonia Güell church´s crypt interior. It is published in the book ¨Gaudí¨, by John Gill, p. 120. Parragon Publishing Book, 2004. Before the article, it says ¨Courtesy of AISA¨.

Interior of church. From http://www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/19-iglesia-colonia-guell.JPG

Interior of crypt. From http://www.cyberspain.com/passion/jpgs/gaudi5.jpg

Crypt entrance. Image downloaded from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/462203186_0bb910dc02_o.jpg

¨If, as seems likely, the Colonia´s churchgoers had difficulty concentrating on the liturgy while inside this Stygian marvel, Gaudí devised a way to help them focus on their devotions. In some of the most exquisite furniture he ever designed, he produced molded seats that were explicitly intended to keep the congregation alert, perhaps even on the edge of their seats. As with the organic moulding of the snake bench in the Park, the prayer benches were specially designed to keep the sitter erect and attentive. Or, perhaps to test the allure of the church and the power of the priest to keep his congregation interested in the same old sermons. With Gaudí it is sometimes impossible to tell if he is testing God, himself or everyone else on their belief. These interiors are possible evidence of Gaudí´s growing interest in the power of nature, of the existence of a very real threat to the idea of immortality offered by the church and absolute belief in God.

Holy water font. From http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/carloslorenzo/Holy_Water_Font-Shell_.jpg

For the front at the rear of the chapel, Gaudí decided, for probably the first time in his career, to actually use a piece of raw nature, a giant clam-like shell, as itself rather than echoing it, copying it, or mediating it in any way. Held by three supports extending from a base of extravagant metalwork, and secured to one of the stone pillars, the font, meant to hold holy water, looks slightly impractical –but it also looks sublime. Is this Guadí´s great joke on God? In baptizing the innoncent child into the House of God, Gaudí had the priest immerse the baby in this very real and immense sea shell.

The use of the sea shell in paintings of mermaids and other creatures of the deep is a sign of the drowning power of sexual attraction –something that, apparently, Gaudí resisted his whole life, though not actually thoroughly (his one offer of marriage was rebuffed by a woman who then joined a convent). Gaudí´s intended wife gave up her sex life –and in doing so his- for God.¨

Exterior of crypt. From wikipedia.org

Terremoto en Chile. Earthquake in Chile

Terremoto en Chile. Foto de clarin.com

Por este medio quiero expresar mis condolencias  a nuestros hermanos chilenos y desearles que las terribles consecuencias del terremoto sean superadas lo antes posible. Mi email está en mi profile y desde ya pueden enviarme links para pedidos de ayuda, con mucho gusto los postearé en mi blog.

Article: Focusing on Foreclosures

Foreclosures. From http://www.realestate-homes-sandiego-steveroque.com

In January 15th 2010, I posted about the foreclosures in a mobile homes park in Huntington Beach. I was so astonished to see one house next to the other for sale.

http://myriammahiques.blogspot.com/2010/01/forclosures-in-mobile-park-in.html

This is so bad to see that more than one month have passed since then, and the expectations are even worst. Los Angeles Times, editorial, has published in February 23 the bad news that analysts have provided.  From 2.8 million declared foreclosures last years, this year the projection is 4.5 million. If so, that would be nearly one out of every 20 homes. Analysts also estimate that there is a " shadow inventory" of 1.7 million to 7 million homes in foreclosure that lenders haven't yet put up for sale.

" The extremely high foreclosure rate is a problem not just for the individuals at risk of losing their homes, but also for their communities, the housing industry and the economy in general. And the problems are mounting despite the signs that fewer homeowners are falling behind on their payments, home prices may be hitting bottom and more troubled borrowers are benefiting from federal aid programs.

As of January, nearly 1 million homeowners  were receiving at least temporary help through the federal Home Affordable Modification Program.  But lenders are still moving too cautiously, hampered by financial complexities (such as mortgages that have been bundled and sold to investors), insufficient staff to handle the volume of modifications, uncooperative borrowers and loan servicing companies that profit from delinquent loans. " 

If you are strong enough to keep on reading, and want to learn more about California, click on the link below, unless you do not want to ruin your weekend.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-foreclosure24-2010feb24,0,6403165.story

Ship-Shape

OffRamp showcase image from Auto Club Southern California's archives.

I came across with this article called Ship-Shape, written by Morgan P. Yates for the magazine Westways, March-April 2010 (p. 80). I've seen a kind of romanticism in this architecture, though I'm not defending to copy a ship's shape or a lighthouse. Anyway, this is an old nice story about the first front beach houses in Southern California.

"In 1930, when this photo was taken, drivers who traveled the Roosevelt Highway (later renamed Pacific Coast Highway) between Oxnard and Malibu experienced a wide view of uninterrupted expanses of beach with pearlescent combers rolling gently over the sands. Beachfront homes were just beginning to sprinkle the shoreline then, including these nautical neighbors -Pasadena businessman Freeman Ford's land yatch, dubbed Colema, moored next to silent-screen star Pauline Frederick's lighthouse.

Ford employed a maritime theme throughout the landlocked ark's interior, which included a gallery kitchen and berths with bunks in place of bedrooms. He explained his motivation for creating his unique residence to the Los Angeles Times: "I like the simple, primitive life of ships. It is my belief that all kinds of people like to get away from the stuffiness and stupidity of conventional houses."

The complementary design of Frederick's beacon house hinted at the owner's acting career, with an outdoor patio that resembled a stage, complete with wings and a row of dressing rooms.

Californians have subsequently discovered the pleasures of beachfront living, and homes jammed cheek by jowl now occupy this stretch of shoreline, where whimsical structures once turned the heads of travelers along the scenic coastal highway".