Integrating art
Art in public spaces is now a distinctive feature of townscapes. The same cannot be said of temporary architecture at trade fairs and exhibitions even though the conditions are perfect.
Art is the ability to go through the world with all senses alert to record impressions that others fail to pick up. Artists arouse emotions in us that help us understand other situations or how other people think. "Art is an emotion that a person has experienced and that that person is able to express through a medium - stone, bronze, paint, words or music - in such a way that it is transported to other individuals", was how the British journalist and essayist Andrew Halliday (1830-1877) put it. And empathy is an increasingly important objective that corporate communication and brands are trying to achieve. Applied in this context, the integration of art into architecture can be an expression of identity.
On January 25, 1950, during its very first term, the German parliament voted to spend part of the funds designated for public buildings on art. The speaker for the cultural policy committee justified this decision with an argument that went beyond the social measures deemed necessary at the time. He referred to the power of empathy that art has for broadening experience. Art has a place in public meeting places. Even though exhibitions and fairs are not planned for posterity, they are a place where many people come together and in that respect, art is underrepresented. Architecture and art are not subject to the same laws. But there have always been innovative concepts at the interface between art and architecture. Entrepreneurs have discovered the significance and opportunities that patronage of artists offers. Adriano Olivetti developed a network of cultural activities and institutions that put his company at the centre of cultural activity in Italy. The director of artistic affairs at Philips commissioned the architect Le Corbusier to build a pavilion for the 1958 World Fair. Corbusier collaborated with composer Edgard Varèse to create the "Poème Electronique", an integral work of art whose artistic components enabled a completely new feeling for space. The notion of art today vacillates between high artistic achievement and everyday culture. The artists of the Pop Art movement used the banality of the modern consumer society for their own ends. For example, the stores of the American Best & Co. Inc. supermarket chain were defamiliarised by artistic means by the group SITE to become the company's brand.
Artistic intervention depends on limitations in time, and creativity needs change. It provides a source not only for new ideas but also for putting those ideas into practice. Art in the context of architecture must be more than a decorative add-on. Frequent misunderstandings about this have polarised art and architecture. Too often, artists are only brought into the planning process when it is too late, and planners have seen works of art as an unwanted disturbance of purely functional processes. As an afterthought, art cannot project the desired effect and is estranged from its architectural surroundings. The architecture of Swiss reinsurance company Swiss Re's offices, which opened in 2001 in Unterföhring near Munich was centred around the client's wish for an "inspirational building". The unusual structure and varied ways in which art is integrated are the first things you notice about the building. Outside, the gardens of artist and Harvard professor Martha Schwartz provide a place of inspiration for employees and visitors alike. A tour through its interior takes you on a journey through the development of modern art over the last forty years.
Here, the constraints applied to public cultural buildings today become apparent. Donations and sponsorship and the integration of art are part of the corporate philosophy and send the right signal. Art and architecture can provide the leitmotiv for corporate branding if the public can be captivated by spatial qualities. Communication in three dimensions is part of this culture: the interaction between artists and the public, between the public and beyond. Now, the public is in plentiful supply at exhibitions. It's suitable messengers who are lacking. Jons Messedat
m+a report Nr.4 / 2006 vom 15.06.2006
m+a report vom 15. Juni 2006