THE PHILADELPHIA JUNTO.: Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Saturday 9 August 2014

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Photo: WritersClearinghouse News Service

Mario Botta: Architecture and Memory

Mario Botto

Location: Fourth-floor gallery On View: January 31, 2014 - September 1, 2014 (extended)

Charlotte, North Carolina
Mario Botta: Architecture and Memory is an exhibition spanning the 50-year career of internationally acclaimed architect Mario Botta, the designer of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art building and one of the century's most fundamental contributors to postmodern architecture. Featured are sketches, original wood models and photographs exemplifying Botta’s use of geometric shapes that juxtapose lightness and weight. The run of the exhibition has been extended through September 1, 2014.

Botta is among the most noted architects on an international scale. His body of work ranges from private residences in the Swiss Alps to urban projects in Europe and Asia. At this time he has accepted only one other commission in the United States – the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Museums are an important part of Botta's oeuvre, some of which are highlighted in the exhibition. Botta views museums as more than structures to display artwork. "They have become new meeting places, sometimes for entertainment, that satisfy a more widespread free time," he says. "The architect has to interpret these new hybrid institutions considering these contradictions."

Over the past decade, Botta has focused on creating major public buildings worldwide. The exhibition Mario Botta: Architecture and Memory features 30 of his museums, theaters, libraries and religious spaces.

The New York Times described Botta's work as being modern "but it eschews the slickness and the sleekness of so much late modernism. His material is masonry, not glass or steel, and he uses it to create buildings that are firm, self-assured essays in geometry.”

- See more at: http://bechtler.org/Collection/Mario-botta#sthash.h5S05nUc.dpuf

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Celebrating ....

Saturday 9 August 2014

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Location: Fourth-floor gallery On View: January 31, 2014 - September 1, 2014 (extended)