Presented By: A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning
Exhibition On View: Exquisite Corb
The University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning presents..."Exquisite Corb".
This exhibition explores an undocumented private house, the Menuserie Sylva, in the French town of St. Dié des Vosges. This vernacular house cum architectural test site is so outwardly banal that it remained virtually invisible for more than half a century. The interior details, however, express the avant-garde edge of the modernist canon and are attributable in varying degrees to Le Corbusier and/or Jean-Jacques Prouvé. Commissioned by industrialist Jean-Jacques Duval at a moment when he was working closely with Le Corbusier on other projects, the house is a site of historical approximation, one that allows for the reconstruction of a nuanced and complex affiliation between an affluent client and a prominent architect, as well as raising questions about the dichotomy between authorship and appropriation, authenticated remnants, and constructed fictions.
Exquisite Corb takes stock of the details, opening up this enigmatic house for collective consideration through a series of revealing photographs by Swiss photographer Matthieu Gafsou and studied drawings, the first and only documents revealing the aesthetic and organizational logics of the site. The representations in their appreciation of juxtaposition, irregularity, chance and idiosyncrasy make a case for architecture’s material, discursive, and narrative capacities to produce something larger, perhaps even transcendental, as a projected experience. Organized by Anya Sirota and Akoaki.
Matthieu Gafsou (CH, 1981) lives and works in Lausanne, Switzerland. After completing a master of arts in philosophy, literature and cinema at the Université de Lausanne, he studied photography at the School of Applied Arts in Vevey. Since 2006, Gafsou has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, and published a series of photographic works, including: Ce rêve étrange : Le Corbusier à Firminy, Surfaces, and Sacré. In 2009 Gafsou was awarded the prestigious “Prix de la fondation HSBC pour la photographie” and subsequently was invited to contribute to the Aperture Foundation's 2010 reGeneration2 exhibition. In 2014, Lausanne’s influential Musée de l'Elysée hosted Gafsou’s solo show titled Only God Can Judge Me. In addition to his artistic practice, Gafsou is on faculty at the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL).
About University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning:
The Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan is a leader in interdisciplinary education and research with a focus on creating a more beautiful, inclusive and better built environment. The college and its alumni are committed to pushing the boundaries of architectural practice, advancing global engagement, and significantly enhancing diversity in the profession. The college offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Master of Architecture (currently ranked #6 nationally; ranked #1 in 2010 by Design Intelligence Report), Master of Science in Architecture, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Urban Design, and PhD programs.
This exhibition explores an undocumented private house, the Menuserie Sylva, in the French town of St. Dié des Vosges. This vernacular house cum architectural test site is so outwardly banal that it remained virtually invisible for more than half a century. The interior details, however, express the avant-garde edge of the modernist canon and are attributable in varying degrees to Le Corbusier and/or Jean-Jacques Prouvé. Commissioned by industrialist Jean-Jacques Duval at a moment when he was working closely with Le Corbusier on other projects, the house is a site of historical approximation, one that allows for the reconstruction of a nuanced and complex affiliation between an affluent client and a prominent architect, as well as raising questions about the dichotomy between authorship and appropriation, authenticated remnants, and constructed fictions.
Exquisite Corb takes stock of the details, opening up this enigmatic house for collective consideration through a series of revealing photographs by Swiss photographer Matthieu Gafsou and studied drawings, the first and only documents revealing the aesthetic and organizational logics of the site. The representations in their appreciation of juxtaposition, irregularity, chance and idiosyncrasy make a case for architecture’s material, discursive, and narrative capacities to produce something larger, perhaps even transcendental, as a projected experience. Organized by Anya Sirota and Akoaki.
Matthieu Gafsou (CH, 1981) lives and works in Lausanne, Switzerland. After completing a master of arts in philosophy, literature and cinema at the Université de Lausanne, he studied photography at the School of Applied Arts in Vevey. Since 2006, Gafsou has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, and published a series of photographic works, including: Ce rêve étrange : Le Corbusier à Firminy, Surfaces, and Sacré. In 2009 Gafsou was awarded the prestigious “Prix de la fondation HSBC pour la photographie” and subsequently was invited to contribute to the Aperture Foundation's 2010 reGeneration2 exhibition. In 2014, Lausanne’s influential Musée de l'Elysée hosted Gafsou’s solo show titled Only God Can Judge Me. In addition to his artistic practice, Gafsou is on faculty at the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL).
About University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning:
The Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan is a leader in interdisciplinary education and research with a focus on creating a more beautiful, inclusive and better built environment. The college and its alumni are committed to pushing the boundaries of architectural practice, advancing global engagement, and significantly enhancing diversity in the profession. The college offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Master of Architecture (currently ranked #6 nationally; ranked #1 in 2010 by Design Intelligence Report), Master of Science in Architecture, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Urban Design, and PhD programs.
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