NOVEMBER 5, 2000-FEBRUARY 11, 2001
HERZOG & DE MEURON: IN PROCESS
Exhibition
GALLERY A
   
To Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, architecture is the attempt to make the invisible visible, so that entering the architectural sphere becomes a fully "spatial experience, in some ways stronger than sight." In consonance with such a vision, the exhibition Herzog & de Meuron: In Process vividly presents architecture conceived less as a constructed form than as a space of action, a life event in itself, a place of images and moods that actively engages its audience. The firm selected to help design the expansion plan that will lead the Walker into the 21st century, Herzog & de Meuron has long been challenging notions of conventional architecture as well as the museum as institution. This look at their work expands the traditional idea of an "architecture show."


Four Views of Central Signal Box, Sbb, Basel, Switzerland, 1998
photos: Herzog & de Meuron

Image
Herzog & De Meuron
Dominus Winery, Yountville,
California, 1997
photo: Herzog & de Meuron

Since its early collaboration with artist Joseph Beuys in 1978, the Basel-based firm has maintained innovative relationships between art and architecture, and between architecture and everyday life. Through a selection of outstanding designs--including the newly opened Tate Modern in London and the upcoming Prada store in Tokyo--the exhibition examines the firm's creative process, featuring a variety of models, drawings, photographs, and videos. It also presents works by artists with whom the architects have collaborated through the years, including photographs by Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky and curtains designed by Adrien Schiess for the Ricola Marketing Building (1997-1999). This "archaeology" of Herzog & de Meuron's practice analyzes the diverse cultural sources that inspire it, such as music, film, and visual arts, while also disclosing the firm's vision of architecture as a forum for critical perception of our culture.

"Architecture creates its own reality outside the state of built or unbuilt, and is comparable to the autonomous reality of a painting or a sculpture," Herzog says. The firm conceives of architecture as a part of the entire cultural process of creating images, so that the levels of representation and reality melt together. Their work merges the artificial and the natural, and the extraordinary variety of buildings shown in this exhibition are like organisms with a life of their own. In the Kramlich House (1997-1999), shown as part of The Home Show earlier this year, the architects adopt forms evoking biological phenomena and the world of cells, and life manifests itself in the motif of the curving lines that beautifully cross and interweave, causing solids and voids to appear. The photographs imprinted onto the concrete surface of the Eberswalde Technical School Library in Eberswalde, Germany (1994-1999) demonstrate the firm's experimentation with materials and consideration of the local, historical, political, and social contexts of a site.

Most importantly, Herzog & de Meuron have come to reconceive the museum not as an enclosed space, but rather as a part of the city. As illustrated by the design for the Tate Modern, the museum "is to become a central place in the urban structure, one that attracts people and makes possible a host of experiences." This new exhibition reveals the deep relationship between Herzog & de Meuron's architectural vision, the multidisciplinary Walker Art Center, and the audience as they step into the future together.

View the exhibition Web site.


RELATED EVENTS

FREE TOURS
HERZOG & DE MEURON: IN PROCESS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2001, 2 PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2001, 6 PM
Join the Walker Art Center's knowledgeable tour guides for a lively, engaging, and informative tour of the exhibition.


JANUARY EVENTS

FREE FILM
ARCHITECTS AND THEORETICIANS
THURSDAYS, JANUARY 11, 18 AND 25, 2001, 7 PM
In conjunction with the exhibition Herzog & de Meuron: In Process, this free series presents three films that approach the subject of architecture in intriguing and humorous ways.


DECEMBER EVENTS

OPEN MONDAYS TEACHER WORKSHOP
MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2000, 4-6 PM
$8 PER WORKSHOP ($6 WALKER MEMBERS); FREE FOR FIRST-YEAR TEACHERS
This workshop just for teachers offer ways to explore the Walker's exhibitions and integrate contemporary art into the curriculum. To register, call the Walker box office at 612.375.7622.


NOVEMBER EVENTS

OPENING-DAY TALK WITH JACQUES HERZOG
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2000, 3 PM
SOLD OUT
AUDITORIUM
Jacques Herzog, cofounder of Herzog & de Meuron, will speak about the links between art and architecture, art and life. Cosponsored by the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota. A reception follows.

WALKER AFTER HOURS: WELL BUILT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2000, 5:30-9 PM
$14 ($7 WALKER MEMBERS)
Explore the exhibition during an evening party featuring live performances, film screenings, and the Martini of the Month.

IN THE WALKER ART CENTER SHOPS
Image
The 272-page catalogue, Tate Modern: The Handbook, looks thematically at the Tate's permanent collection and features an introduction focused on Herzog & de Meuron's architectural creation of the London site along the Thames. University of California Press (co-published with the Tate Gallery), 2000. Paperback, $29.95 ($26.96 Walker members); hardcover, $50 ($45 Walker members).


HERZOG & DE MEURON 1992, COMPLETE WORKS, VOLUME 3
Edited by Gerhard Mack, this third volume of Herzog & de Meuron's work contains photographs, sketches, proposals, and models of the firm's most recent projects. Available January 2001. Birkhauser, 2000. $98 ($88.20 Walker members). This book is also available for purchase online.








HERZOG & DE MEURON: IN PROCESS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM KRAUS-ANDERSON CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND DOMINUS ESTATE.