“There is no work of interest without love.” Juan Herreros In Greek language Banquet is the synonym of Symposium, a happy coincidence. It is also the title for one of the texts Plato entitled Dialogues. When the Greek physician Eryximachus invites the diners to take turn in making short speeches to pay tribute to the poet Agathon, the subject of love is chosen on the grounds that love (Eros) is often left out of philosophical discussions.

At ROM for kunst og arkitektur, The Banquet is the exhibition on Herreros Arquitectos from Madrid. It is also a series of conversations (dialogues) around contemporary topics in art and architecture. The exhibition contains images, objects, prototypes and videos of projects and designs created by Herreros Arquitectos in recent years.

The focal point of the project is a table with chairs and a lamp, being prototypes of the new interior facilities designed for the restaurant of the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid by Herreros Arquitectos. The huge object, with its high and broad profile, allows for 12 “diners” to share the dialogues that will convert the exhibition into a symposium.

The Dialogues.- the chosen topics are on matters that interest both Herreros Arquitectos and ROM and are of concerns to a general public. They are organized with believe in the power of conversation and negotiation in the construction of a contemporary conscience and sensitivity.

Thursday September 8th at 19:00: Conversation on art + architecture.-

Defining, designing, building and activating spaces are the creative base for architecture. Ultimately these are also concerns which affect contemporary art practices in general. The method of research in the physical environment and in the human nature and psychology is another. Art and Architecture from their different positions, base their work upon the understanding of the society and cultural codes for delivering concepts and new ideas.

We acknowledge the independency and eligibility of each profession but also question: Are art and architecture just two parallel lines? If not, how and where do they meet? Are there crossing points? Is there something more than gravity fields,a mutual attraction that forms common environments for understanding, describing and transforming the world? Do they fuel, intensify or fertilize each other? Or is it just the sharing of clients and concepts that is inspiring them to collaborate on mutual interests? Is there an art + architecture? Conceptually or even physically?

In the panel.-

- Joseph Grima Editor in chief of Domus magazine and ex-director of StoreFront gallery in NYC
- Gunnar B. Kvaran Director Astrup Fearnley Museum of contemporary art
- Sami Rintala & Dagur Eggertsson Architects, Oslo
- Knut Eirik Dahl Architect and Professor at the Institute of Urbanism and Landscape at AHO in Oslo
- Among others and the public.

Thursday September 22nd at 19:00 Conversation on the new museums

A new generation of museums has emerged within the transformation processes of the contemporary city: Amplifying their traditional role of solely being ‘containers of art’ and evolving as institutions with hybrid uses and complex programming that affect and interact with many parts of the city and society. Playing an important role in the context of social, educational and economic developments; being important agents in the renewal of urban culture and powerful tools for the construction of contemporary identities; and even so, instruments of communication themselves. The momentous Centre Pompidou in Paris or the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao are good examples of this phenomenon that has transformed some museums into key protagonists within the nature of certain cities. Oslo is currently planning the construction of several institutions with a vocation to be more than conventional museums: A new National Museum at Vestbanen, a new Astrup Fearnly Museum at Tjuvholmen, a new Munch & Stenersen Museum at Bjørvika and a newly established Kunsthall Oslo in a brand new district of the city. Herreros Arquitectos is inviting to a conversation on two major topics about present and future museums around the world:

1- The architectural form and the typology of the buildings and their spatial and logistical design. How does the “shell” affect the “content” or the curatorial processes inside these new museums?
2- The expanding role and functions of the museums in the city and society, where the museum becomes the venue not only for exposing art and attending events but a place for education, discovering of the self and the others, understanding of the past, the contemporary and the future of ideas, cultures and the society.

In the panel.-

- Audun Eckoff Director of National Museum of art, architecture and design, Oslo
- Per Gunnar Tverbakk Director of Kunsthall Oslo
- Moritz Kung Director of Canódrom, Barcelona
- Klaus Schuwerk & Jan Kleihues Architects, Winners of the competition for the new National Museum
- Among others and the public.


Thursday October 6th at 19:00: Conversation on the culture as infrastructure

If we understand infrastructure as the physical and organizational instrument that enables the operation of the society and enriched by the evidence that new technologies expand the impact of any message worldwide, we can describe culture as an infrastructure itself.

Because of its local, urban, national and global effect, culture is intimately linked to communication and contemporary mobility. It is a home and refuge for major changes and revision of codes and paradigms that affect the whole society. But isn’t culture even more? Culture provides not only the means of delivery but also creates the content, the new ideas by itself? So, how can culture become a true motor of urban progress of social and economic development beyond its educational purpose? Is investment in culture an investment in infrastructure?

In the panel.-

- Llàtzer Moix Journalist and architecture & design critic, Barcelona
- Bartomeu Marí Director of Contemporary Museum of Modern Art Barcelona MACBA
- Jan Åman Curator and writer Stockholm, Sweden
- Kjetill Thorsen Architect, Principal of Snøhetta, Oslo / NYC
- Stein Olav Henrichsen Director of Munch Museum, Oslo
- Antoni Muntadas Artist, NYC
Among others and the public.


All conversation events will be attended by Juan Herreros, Jens Richter and a representative from LPO architects!

Sunday October 16th at 18:00 The Paella!
ROM and Herreros Arquitectos are inviting you to the finishing event of The Banquet project.

Welcome to Exhibition opening Thursday August 25th 19:00 to 21:00

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Juan Herreros. PhD Architect, Chair Professor and Director of the Thesis Program at the Madrid School of Architecture, as well as a Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York. He has previously taught at EPFL in Lausanne, Architectural Association in London, SOA at Princeton and ITT in Chicago. Throughout the years he has held numerous lectures, courses and international seminars as well as research workshops.

In 1984, he founded, together with Iñaki Abalos, the office Abalos&Herreros, in 1992 the Multimedia International League LMI and in 2006 he founded his current office, Herreros Arquitectos through which he pursues his professional, teaching and pedagogical activity. His work has been widely published and awarded ( COAM Award; the award of Urbanism and Architecture of the City Council of Madrid; he has been selected for the Spanish Architecture Biennale, finalist for Mies Van der Rohe Award, finalist in FAD awards, and winner of the Solutia Design Award).

His work has been displayed in collective exhibitions such as the ones promoted by the MOMA and individual exhibitions (AA London, IIT Chicago...). Two of them stand out, “Grand Tour”, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and ICO in Madrid. Amongst his books the most notable are Tower&Office (with I. Ábalos, MIT Press), Isla Ciudad (Actar), Palacios de la Diversión (Mairea), PTb-Cedric Price (Ministerio de Fomento-COAM), Vivienda SXXI (Casa Encendida-Actar) along several monographic compilations of his work.

His recent work has been published by the architect’s council of Tarragona (AT#18) and Summa magazine of Buenos Aires. HerrerosArquitectos is currently working on projects in Spain, Norway, USA, Panamá, Mexico and Uruguay. Juan Herreros has received the International Fellowship of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), the Medal of Fine Arts from the city of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and has been nominated for the 2010 Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

 

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Published on: July 14, 2011
Cite: "THE BANQUET. HERREROS in ROM" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/banquet-herreros-rom> ISSN 1139-6415
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