At the invitation of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Mexican artist and architect Santiago Borja has created an observatory on the rooftop of Sonneveld House. A Mental Image-Blavatsky Observatory is based on Borja's research into the influence of Western esotericism on the principles of Dutch Functionalism. The observatory, built with traditional roof thatching, is devoted to Helena Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, and will provide a place of contemplation for visitors to Sonneveld House from February 13 to May 22, 2016.
The connection that Borja makes between theosophy and architecture derives from the background of Sonneveld House. Artists working in an abstract manner in the first half of the 20th century, among them Mondrian and Kandinsky, drew inspiration from the writings of esoteric thinkers. Less is known about the influence of these ideas on the architecture of that time. Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, the architects of Sonneveld House, came into contact...with theosophy through Kees van der Leeuw, co-director of the Van Nelle Factory. He was an active member of the theosophical society and invited Brinkman and Van der Vlugt to design, among other things, a meeting centre for the society in Amsterdam.
Artist and architect Santiago Borja (1970, Mexico) works at the intersection of art, architecture and anthropology. He recently made work for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Mies van der Rohe pavilion in Barcelona, and the Neutra-VDL Research House in Los Angeles. He has also placed a double-palapa shaped pavilion, made of palm leaves using traditional Mayan craft techniques, beside the iconic Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier. The intervention by Borja is part of a series compiled by Belgian curator Erich Weiss, who has curated various exhibitions internationally. After Borja, the artists Eva Rothschild and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster will each make a work that highlights an unexpected dimension of the museum house during 2016.
Entrada actualizada el el 09 feb de 2016
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