Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007

Design and Architecture, Exhibitions — Co-Curator, Commissary
Lisboa, Portugal, 2008

Co-Curator and commissioner of “Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007” exhibition.

The presentation in Lisbon of Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007, the first major exhibition of this Swiss architect who would later receive the Pritzker Prize two years after, marked the culmination of a project initiated by GMG in 2006 with Peter Zumthor and the Kunsthaus Bregenz (KUB). It was undoubtedly a moment of great significance for experimentadesign, resonating both nationally and internationally.

GMG co-curated the project from the beginning, working directly with Zumthor in Haldenstein, where his home and studio are located, and later with Eckhard Schneider, director of KUB, and Thomas Durisch, the exhibition curator, between 2006 and mid-2008.

Systematically exploring the work of one of the most significant names in contemporary architecture, Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1986-2007 focused on the creative process and the complex relationship of this architect with time, places, environments, and the inhabitants of his projects. It was an immersive and intense journey into his work, subtly revealing his way of thinking and creating architecture. The exhibition encompassed buildings and projects by Peter Zumthor from 1986 to 2007, including materials on the design process, sketches, models, detailed plans, and a film installation by artists Nicole Six and Paul Petritsch.

It was first shown at KUB and then presented in Lisbon at LXFactory, a century-old industrial building chosen by Peter Zumthor himself. The exhibition layout was adapted by Thomas Durisch, who proposed a journey using both the main building and part of the adjacent structure. Durisch carefully worked the space, offering a particular perspective and narrative that, while respecting the original design in Bregenz, engaged with the context found in Lisbon.

The exhibition in Lisbon was part of the EXD’09 program, with the theme It’s About Time. Its opening was preceded by a lecture from the architect at Aula Magna, which was attended by 1,200 people.

It was an enormous success, both in terms of audience and media coverage, and featured an educational program specially designed for the exhibition. Open from September 7 to November 2, it attracted a total of 16,100 visitors, with a daily average of 277 people and 35 visitors per hour at a venue that had never before hosted a cultural event. Over 58 days, the experimentadesign educational service welcomed 1,540 students from 35 schools across Portugal, in addition to numerous visits from architecture schools in Porto and Lisbon.

Peter Zumthor is a rare and unique creator. In his gaze and in the way he practices his architecture, in the restraint and depth of his gestures. Designing with a unique rhythm and movement, we feel in each of his works the time that guided them and the time that exists within them and belongs to them. Quoting Fernando Pessoa, a poet well known to Zumthor, one might say ‘Slow your gaze, and forget that you slow your gaze…’” — GMG, September 2008

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