James Stirling Exhibition Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Buildings, News

James Stirling Exhibition : Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Show

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Exhibition, Germany

20 Sep 2011

James Stirling Exhibition

James Frazer Stirling: Notes from the Archive

Crisis of Modernism

Special exhibition

1 Oct 2011 – 15 Jan 2012

Venue: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, southwest Germany

The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart presents the first major retrospective in Germany of the renowned British architect, teacher and Pritzker Prize laureate James Frazer Stirling (1924-92). This exhibition is co-organized by the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.

James Frazer Stirling (1924-1992) is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative architects of the second half of the 20th century. The exhibition at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart presents a chronological survey of the architect’s work from his student days in Liverpool and his close study of Le Corbusier to his architectural language of the 1970s and 80s which gave expression to his lifelong interest in the interplay between tradition and modernity. More than three hundred original architectural drawings, models and photographs as well as a wide range of previously unpublished archival material are drawn from the James Stirling / Michael Wilford fonds at the CCA.

Stirling’s exquisite architectural drawings, most of them axonometric projections, conjure highly evocative visions of buildings:

Among them are spectacular designs such as the trio of radically modern university buildings – the Engineering Building of Leicester University (1959-63), the History Faculty Library in Cambridge (1964-67) and the Florey Building for Queen’s College at Oxford University (1966-71) – with their innovative, Constructivism-inspired mix of concrete, steel, glass and brick.

Also documented are projects and buildings James Stirling’s as the Olivetti Training Centre in Haslemere, Surrey, (1969-72) which looks forward to the formal repertoire of the Staatsgalerie; museums in London (Clore Gallery at Tate Britain, 1980-86) and Harvard (Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 1979-84); the Social Science Research Centre in Berlin as a ‘city within a city’ (1979-87); the competition entry for the Bibliothèque de France (1989) with its references to the architecture of the French Enlightenment, and the Braun Headquarters in Melsungen, Germany (1986-92). A number of rarely shown or even unknown projects from Stirling’s fortyyear career attest to the architect’s creative interest in urban development and to the continuous evolution of his architectural language.

There can be no more appropriate venue in Germany for the first comprehensive exhibition of Stirling’s archive. Although initially the object of heated controversy, the Neue Staatsgalerie is now universally accepted as James Stirling’s masterpiece and a classic of museum architecture. It is the largest exhibit of the presentation and can be enjoyed in a multitude of ways.

Stirling’s multiple references to the architecture of the past and its influence on his work are illustrated by a selection of architecture-related works from the 17th century to the present from the rich holdings of the Staatsgalerie, among them works by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Leo von Klenze, Giorgio de Chirico, Lyonel Feininger, Le Corbusier, Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Bernd & Hilla Becher and Thomas Ruff.

James Frazer Stirling: Notes from the Archive – Crisis of Modernism has been curated by Anthony Vidler, Dean and Professor of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union, and developed for Staatsgalerie Stuttgart by Peter Daners. The exhibition will come to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart from the Tate Britain, London, before continuing its tour to the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal in spring 2012.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated book, published by the Canadian Centre for Architecture and Yale Center for British Art, in association with Yale University Press, and supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

photo © Adrian Welch

James Stirling

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

25 Aug 2011

Canadian Centre for Architecture Exhibitions & Programs

CCA TOURING EXHIBITION

James Frazer Stirling : Notes from the Archive

The Yale Center for British Art and the CCA have co-produced the first ever exhibition of the archive of British architect, Yale School of Architecture professor, and Pritzker Prize laureate James Stirling (1924 – 92).

Notes from the Archive, curated by Anthony Vidler, Dean and Professor of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union, features more than three hundred original architectural drawings, models and photographs drawn from the James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds at the CCA. Together the works reveal Stirling’s wide-ranging approach to architectural composition and language, as well as the fundamental importance of historical and modernist architecture to his work.

photo © Adrian Welch

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication authored by Anthony Vidler. The book interprets the James Stirling/Michael Wilford fonds at the CCA as a living document of Stirling’s attempts to broaden the language of Modernism, while remaining faithful to his twin precepts of ”accommodation” and “association”. The publication is published by the Yale Centre for British Art and the CCA, in association with Yale University Press.

James Frazer Stirling : Notes from the Archive is due to travel to the CCA: Spring 2012

photograph © Adrian Welch

James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City

20 Oct 2011

Center for Architecture / AIA New York Chapter

Following his successful lecture at the CCA last fall and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) this May, Professor Gerry Frug’s winning proposal “The Architecture of Governance” will be presented at the Center for Architecture, New York.

In his lecture, Frug will share his analysis on the problems facing the organization of cities around the world and will attempt to describe the design of the governance system in a way that makes it recognizable to architects and other designers.

The bi-annual James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City competition was launched in 2003 to inaugurate a unique forum for the advancement of new critical perspectives on the role of urban design and urban architecture in the development of cities worldwide. In previous years, winners have included Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray (2008-09), Eyal Weizman (2006-07) and Teddy Cruz (2004-05) each of whom successfully navigated a competitive screening process.

The presentation will take place at 6 pm at the Center for Architecture, 536 La Guardia Place, NY, NY 10012

THE CCA

The CCA – Canadian Centre for Architecture – is an international research centre and museum founded in 1979 on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Based on its extensive Collection, the CCA is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society. The Canadian Centre for Architecture is based in Montreal, Quebec.

CCA – Canadian Centre for Architecture
1920 Rue Baile
Montreal, QC H3H 2S6, Canada

Contact CCA: (514) 939-7000

CCA Exhibition

Location: Stuttgart, Germany