IF I WERE TO BUILD A TOWER
ARCA GUADALAJARA / 2019
For this exhibition I have selected a series of pieces that I developed from my beginnings in the Architecture career to the present. I highlight a series of iconic buildings that I had the opportunity to visit three years ago and that have been very important for my professional training: the Bonjour Tristesse building (1987) by Alvaro Siza, La Neue Nationalgallerie (1968) by Mies van der Rohe, both in Berlin, Germany and the Châteu de Versailles (1661) in Versailles, France.
It should be noted that knowing these properties, the experience that one has when coming into contact with these environments acquires the amplitude and essence necessary to enrich the senses, appreciate the aesthetics and feel the journey of oneself when traveling through space. As well as obtaining multiple discoveries.
When I arrived in Berlin with my sister, I had a list of places I wanted to visit. The first work we visited was Bonjour Tristesse designed by Alvaro Siza, a building that I entered without permission and also involuntarily locked myself inside the premises. I went up to the roof and at that moment I could see the perforation that protrudes from the building in the upper corner, as I got closer I recognized that the graffiti with the words: Bonjour Tristesse is located right there. I was able to appreciate the difficulty with which this intervention was carried out, and I understood why this building bears that name.
Days later we visited the Neue Nationalgallerie in Berlin, which was closed due to a restoration that had been underway since 2015, by the architect David Chipperfield. We could not access the interior, however the exterior of the building was passable and as Livio Vacchini mentions: "Here the beauty is of the work and it is of the one who looks at it".
After a month we arrived in France, and we went to the Châteu de Versailles, the time we were there was limited, fortunately we made the tour of the palace, the gardens seem infinite to me, and to my surprise the artist in charge of making interventions in the Palace of Versailles that year was none other than Olafur Eliasson. We were lucky to see Versailles in that state.
The exhibition mentions these buildings, and another series of related experiences. The uncertain possibility and opportunity of projecting a tower, and the great difficulty of making quality architecture. Placing an arbitration tower on a mountain, and wanting to reach clouds that behave as such. The context of this exhibition reflects my focus on these buildings, my short experience in architectural practice together with a constant work in contemporary art. This training is the result of the teachings of my teachers and my search for their work.
It is a pleasure to share this with you.
-Juan Carlos Guerrerosantos Pérez Figueroa. Nov 2019
Static Cloud, 2019
Untilted (Versailles), 2019
2020, 2019