5. CONCLUSIONS
There were Important architectural exhibitions prior to the Modern Architecture: International Style Exhibition in 1932 at MOMA such as the Contemporary Art and Architecture exhibition in 1930, organized by Ateneo Guipuzcoano at San Sebastian, Spain. That is to say, even though, Johnson’s exhibition took as reference the display system designed at the Bauhaus school, it is still regarded by, the academy and institutions, as being the first architectural exhibition. Is it maybe because those exhibitions did not have a curatorial process? or maybe because none of them were presented at an international renown institution such as MOMA? Does the institutional validation at the time weigh more? Perhaps, the need for approval from the academia, and as well the art and architecture institutions are still relevant for some curators. It might by that it is for this reason some curators have opted to still produce exhibitions within the traditional methods and formats, or maybe is something quite different regarding how they are framing the concept of curating architecture? For what 124
we could acknowledged from the historical chapter is precisely that, framing a concept into a particular view can change the final outcome of the curatorial project. As stated before, curating architecture is constructed by the understanding of Architecture itself and the role of the architect. Most of the selected examples presented, questioned the notion of the architectural practice by experimenting with different mediums, formats and ways of communicating and collaborating. The role of curating architecture has expanded to become a ‘promiscuous’ practice, that combines and collaborates methods from other disciplines in order to produce new narratives and meanings. The curator is a communicator, a mediator, a researcher, a producer, a traveler, and even a therapist, taking multiple roles. “Now the architect is someone who makes architecture possible even when they do not construct anything.” As could be seen, Storefront projects instigate to explore pressing issues in architecture with the purpose to create new dialogues, an
experiments, to identify and understand the matters in questioned and possibly proposing a solution. Storefront’s experimental approach has defined the gallery and allows its curator, Eva Franch to create events and projects such as the International series, Cabaret series, la paella series, and so forth, that are rooted in issues as identity, global concerns, collaboration models, and ways of discussing difficult matters in a humorous and relaxed. For the International series, specifically is a site-specific event that produces encounters with cultures, ideologies, and people from different geographical locations thus producing More visitors to be “touched by” those experiences and conversations. It is a way of doing architecture without having to produce an object, because it produces common spaces and at the same time it is a research oriented practice in itself. The experimental approach is not driven to create the best big idea “before it goes viral”, but rather a form of research within the practice.
125