SUBVERSIVE REPRESENTATION

Ian Wyn Owen
with Michael J. Ostwald and Nicholas Charles Foulcher

EXHIBITION DATES 22 July – 8 August 2015
The University Gallery

Architecture is often regarded as the art of conceptualising and representing space and form. Modernist architects, for example, conceptualised geometric, often-industrial looking buildings which they represented using a combination of white models and black and white drawings. In contrast, Post-Modern architects rejected the values of Modernism, designing more decorative and symbolically rich buildings, which they represented using coloured and patterned drawings and models. In both cases, the various representational media used were intended to reinforce the core values of each movement. But what if these same designs, the Modern and the Post-Modern, had been represented differently? How significant is representation in the communication of architectural intent?

In this exhibition the facades of ten famous houses – five Modern and five Post-Modern – are revisited using alternative representational strategies. Each new strategy seeks to uncover or reveal the underlying tensions or elisions in the work, using new colours, textures and images to question each architect’s approach. Through the use of both serious and ironic representational approaches, these ten famous buildings are reimagined in a more political, cultural and subversive manner.

Please join the artist at the opening to be launched by Head of School, Architecture and Built Environment, Professor Sue Anne Ware:
Monday 27 July from 6pm