Last month, a two-day series of lectures and discussions kicked off the debut of Lina Bo Bardi: To Teach is to Construct, an in-depth exhibition of the life and legacy of Architect Lina Bo Bardi, thought to be one of the most underrated architects of the 20th century. Italian born and trained, Bo Bardi’s career spans an incredible body of work on a global scale. Her impact in her adoptive home of Brazil, which includes furniture design, literary work and buildings with a social context, redefined modernism in South America. Curated by Associate Professor Ronit Eisenbach, in collaboration with Brazilian architect Denise Hochbaum, the Embassies of Italy and Brazil, and the Italian Cultural Institute, Lina Bo Bardi: To Teach is to Construct explores the revolutionary approach to design that earns her a global following today.
“Each thing that Bo Bardi touched is so intrinsically unique,” says Ronit. “The fact that we could create an exhibit celebrating her work is very exciting.”
The gallery exhibit, which will be on view through January 8, 2016, in MAPP’s Kibel Gallery, features a striking visual timeline of Bo Bardi’s work, as well as documentaries on her life, photography of her projects and a library of books she often referred to and was inspired by, an exercise Ronit hopes will stimulate visitors. “She grabbed ideas from different places and themes to inspire her work,” explains Ronit, “So we structured the exhibit to do the same.” Two courses this semester are doing just that; a studio led by Ronit and a contemporary architecture course taught by Associate Professor Isabelle Gournay, both of which are leveraging the exhibit for student inspiration.
Learn more about the exhibit, including gallery hours, here. Admission to the Kibel Gallery is free.
Be sure to check out the following November/December events in conjunction with the Gallery:
Nov 18, 2015, 5 pm: Lecture: Prof. Renato Anelli, Director of the Lina Bo and P.M. Bardi Institute and Professor at the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, “Brazil is not a Western Culture: Lina Bo Bardi’s Radical Architecture”
Nov 20, 2015, noon: Take a break! Lunchtime Gallery talk: Exhibition Design: Bo Bardi’s and Ours
Dec 3, 2015, 7 pm: Roundtable: Bo Bardi’s Architecture in the Brazilian context, an event sponsored by the Latin American Architects AIA