The Immobilised

“STOP PAINTING” Exhibition Catalogue

The Immobilised

Yan Hei Tse

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Prologue

5

2. Q & A

6

3. Wayfinding Plans

8

4. Material

10

5. Works

16

6. Critics Review

54

7. Index

56

8. Notes

66

9. Knowledge Bank

92

3

4

PROLOGUE

Paintings have captured the selected things in a particular environment to represent a specific idea to the audience. When paintings are displayed in a museum, the things presented are no longer attached to their original environment but become part of an exhibition theme. It is when paintings become mere things, immobilised everything that is presented on the canvas, registered under a specific label in a museum. Likewise, the museum is a container that immobilised the artworks and visitors inside. The exhibition “Stop Painting” is organised to immobilise the human movement, in a way that visitors would experience themselves as a valuable art object and part of the exhibition.

The museum design is a critique of the heaviness expressed in the material and texture of the original Ca’Corner Museum by having two contrasting wings, one represents the modernism of James Stirling whereas the other one represents the Classicism of the Ca’Corner Museum. The two wings are separated by a central atrium space filled with emptiness, which can accept all possible objects, and allow the two different styles to be merged together.

The contrasting styles and attitudes are no longer historically separated but practiced simultaneously. This yields a zero-sum by giving the art system its relative formal unity.

Yan Hei Tse (Justin), 2021

5

Q&A On Stirling (Archive) 1.

What did you find most challenging when working with Stirling’s material from the CCA archive?

When working with Stirling’s material from the CCA archive, the most challenging part is that most of the projects do not have the same amount of materials as the Neue Staatsgalerie project, a lot of attention is drawn onto the Neue Staatsgalerir project.

2.

Do you think Stirling is still relevant for contemporary discourse? If yes, why? If no, why?

No, I don’t think so. I think he used multiple industrial materials in many of his works, and some key elements of the projects are highlighted with contrasting colours. Contemporary architecture is leaning towards two extremes, parametric design, and minimalist design. Instead of contrasting, architects now prefer to create unity in terms of the overall design. Contemporary architecture focuses more on the new material technology to create different spatial experiences.

On museum 3.

What are the challenges of thinking the museum beyond a container for art? What is exhibited and what does the exhibiting in your museum project? Is it that simple?

To redesign an existing Classical Museum, the biggest challenge is to decide how many details of the Ca’Corner building should I keep, what part of details should I keep to represent the Ca’Corner building, and how can new idea bring into the old design. There are a lot of different spaces in the museum, so I have to decide which part is the most important part to keep. Then I have to insert the exhibition and think about how the contemporary exhibition can be displayed in an old museum.

4.

What are the challenges you have encountered when working with the Ca’Corner building?

E.g. the Venetian context, the architectural ornamentation, the spatial structure, etc. how did that challenge inform your approach to the museum?

I think the most challenging one is the architectural ornamentation of the Ca’Corner building.

During phase 2, I was trying to keep as much ornamentation of the original Ca’Corner building as possible, because I was thinking the ornamentation is the features of the Ca’Corner building. After phase 2, I jumped out of that mindset, that ornamentation is only what makes the Ca’Corner building Classical but more important is how the spatial arrangement of the interior, and how it is different to the Stirling’s projects.

6

On exhibition 5.

Considering the role of technology in exhibition design, is this a concern for your design? If so, in what capacity?

I think technology is not the main concern in my exhibition design, as I am not designing new technology for artwork display. In the project, the paintings are hung on walls or onto a frame.

6.

Does this idea of exhibition or display technology change your conception of museum architecture?

I think my project did not develop a new technology of display, but I have developed a more contemporary of displaying the artwork. In most of the museums, different zones within a museum are physically isolated, so each zone can be read separately, so you can only see the artwork when you walk inside the zone. In my project, it breaks the isolation of zones, visitors can capture a holistic idea and concept of the entire exhibition.

On the future 7.

How would you describe an architecture that exists solely inside the museum? How is that architecture different to architecture that exists outside the museum?

I think that the experience of entering a museum is drastically different from other types of architecture. Museums are designed to serve a specific function, some extra thoughts have to be taken into consideration in the museum design, such as the floor height, circulation arrangement, wall area for artwork display, installation display room, and lighting. A museum has to be designed with multiple exhibition zones and clear circulation. This allows people to experience the curated journey along with the exhibition, which is like storytelling.

8.

Has your project for a museum changed your position or attitude to architecture more generally? If yes, how?

Yes, I think so. The project began with looking closely at the objects and details of Stirling Museum projects and the Ca’Corner Museum. I was extracted away from the experience within the museum but focused on the museum itself, depicting the tectonics, materials, and textures of certain objects. This is a new way of approaching a design to me, which I found quite difficult at first. It is because I used to begin a project by studying on a bigger scale, then dig into details.

However, the process of integrating the objects back into the museum forced me to rethink how the museum is designed to achieve the purpose of a museum, what kind of space do I want to design for visitors to experience. I think this way of thinking can be applied to other architectural designs.

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WAYFINDING PLANS

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE 10a 10b 10c

Exhibition Zone 3a - Mere Things?

Exhibition Zone 3b - Without Context Exhibition Zone 3c - Undetermined Voids

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE 9a 9b 9c

Exhibition Zone 2a - Paintings?

Exhibition Zone 2b - Profane yet Essential Exhibition Zone 2c - Extracted from its Context

PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO 8 7

Sitting Area Exhibition Zone 1 - Immobilised Dialogue

PIANO TERRA 6 Toilets 5 Courtyard 4 Gift Shop 3 Security Counter 2 Storage Room for Visitors 1 Ticket Office

8

10c

10a

10c 10b

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE

9c 9a 9c

9b

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE

8 7

8 7

PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO

6 5

6

2 3 3

1

4

PIANO TERRA

9

MATERIAL

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

External Photo

Drawing - Entrance Canopy

Partial Elevation 1

10

External Photo

Partial Elevation 2 11

MATERIAL Clore Gallery

Reading

External Photo 12

Reading

Partial Elevation 13

MATERIAL

Arthur M. Scakler Museum

Interior Perspective View

Axon 14

Partial Axon

Floor Plan - First Gallery Level 15

WORKS

Overall Building on Site

16

0

Site Plan

17

10

20

40

WORKS Floor Plans

Plan - Piano Terra (Original Ca’Corner Museum) 18

F

D

G

E

OFFICE

TOILET (M)

C

C’ OUTDOOR COURTYARD TOILET (F) STORAGE FOR VISITOR

STORAGE FOR STAFF

TICKET OFFICE SECURITY COUNTER

B

B’

SECURITY COUNTER

A

A’ GIFT SHOP STORAGE

Plan - Piano Terra D’

F’

19

G’

E’

0

10

20

40

WORKS Floor Plans

Plan - Piano Secondo Ammezzato (Original Ca’Corner Museum) 20

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

SITTING AREA

EXHIBITION ZONE

SITTING AREA

Plan - Piano Secondo Ammezzato 21

0

10

20

40

WORKS Floor Plans

Plan - Piano Primo Nobile (Original Ca’Corner Museum) 22

TOILET

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

Plan - Piano Primo Nobile 23

0

10

20

40

WORKS Floor Plans

Plan - Piano Secondo Nobile (Original Ca’Corner Museum) 24

TOILET

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

Plan - Piano Secondo Nobile 25

0

10

20

40

WORKS Section

23500 FFL PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO

21000 FFL PIANO TERZO

14900 FFL PIANO SECONDO NOBILE

8950 FFL PIANO PRIMO NOBILE

5500 FFL PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO

0 FFL PIANO TERRA

Section A-A’

26

A

A’

0

27

10

20

40

WORKS Section

23500 FFL PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO

21000 FFL PIANO TERZO

14900 FFL PIANO SECONDO NOBILE

8950 FFL PIANO PRIMO NOBILE

5500 FFL PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO

0 FFL PIANO TERRA

Section B-B’

28

B

B’

0

29

10

20

40

WORKS Section

23500 FFL PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO

21000 FFL PIANO TERZO

14900 FFL PIANO SECONDO NOBILE

8950 FFL PIANO PRIMO NOBILE

5500 FFL PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO

0 FFL PIANO TERRA

Section C-C’

30

C

C’

0

31

10

20

40

WORKS Sections

Section D-D’

23500 FFL PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO

21000 FFL PIANO TERZO

14900 FFL PIANO SECONDO NOBILE

8950 FFL PIANO PRIMO NOBILE

5500 FFL PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO

0 FFL PIANO TERRA

Section E-E’ 32

D D’

E

E’

23500 FFL PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO

21000 FFL PIANO TERZO

14900 FFL PIANO SECONDO NOBILE

8950 FFL PIANO PRIMO NOBILE

5500 FFL PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO

0 FFL PIANO TERRA

33

0

10

20

40

0

10

20

40

WORKS Overview

Overall Axonometric - View from a bird 34

35

WORKS Overview

Sectional Axonometric F-F’ - Interior facade of “light” wing 36

F F’

37

WORKS Overview

Sectional Axonometric G-G’ - Interior facade of “heavy” wing 38

G

G’

39

WORKS

Interior Spaces

Render 1 - Exhibition zone of “light” wing

40

Render 2 - Exhibition zone of “heavy” wing

41

WORKS Apparatus

Apparatus Drawing 1 - Richness and lightness

42

Apparatus Drawing 2 - Spacious and Heaviness

43

WORKS Apparatus

Apparatus Drawing 3 - Immobilisation and dialogue

44

45

WORKS Exhibition

Exhibition Zone 1 - Immobilised Dialogue

46

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

SITTING AREA

EXHIBITION ZONE

SITTING AREA

47

0

10

20

40

WORKS Exhibition

Exhibition Zone 2a - Paintings?

Exhibition Zone 2b - Profane yet Essential

48

TOILET

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

49

0

10

20

40

WORKS Exhibition

Exhibition Zone 2c - Extracted from its Context

50

TOILET

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

51

0

10

20

40

WORKS Exhibition

Exhibition Zone 3a - Mere Things?

Exhibition Zone 3b - Without Context

Exhibition Zone 3c - Undetermined Voids

52

TOILET

TOILET (M)

TOILET (F)

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

EXHIBITION ZONE

53

0

10

20

40

54

CRITICS REVIEW

By Samuel Francis Murnane

The Immobilised, Ca Corner della Regina, by Justin Tse offers a new approach to museology, a departure from the white cube through an engagement with the Venetian oeuvre. Drawing on Boris Groys, The Immobolised not only houses the Stop Painting Collection, but it also immobilizes it and frees it simultaneously through the binary majesty of dense marble and elegant space frame.

The museum has remained enveloped in the existing Ca Corner façade yet the interior is Cranked down the center, a considered response to the organized chaos of Venice. Presenting itself to the river is an ostensibly empty grand hall, a purgatory space, with a rising staircase. One wing is literally heavy, constructed out of marble and plinths while the other, a James Sterling derived green grid is ever-present and light. It is almost as if the material from one wing has been hollowed out and transposed to the other.

The systematic approach to the Ca Corner is understandable through an economy of parts. An immediate sense of materiality is arrived at when entering the building yet, the disjuncture of crossing the empty grand hall fractures and introduces complicity to the otherwise sedentary imposition of the institutional museum, the patron is an active contributor to the collage of their own experience.

The flanking wings act as separate buildings, much like Sterling intended for the independent gallery rooms in the Clore, Tate Britain Museum. These new buildings introduce yet another laneway to Venice, down the center of the building.

The organizational distribution of the artworks takes on a holistic approach, hierarchy is dissolved and the standard datum eye height is abolished, the walls, hanging mechanisms, and artworks act in unison to complement the experience of the gallery.

Tectonically the building is always revealed, both binary approaches are true to their own construction and materiality. The marble is raw, opaque, tactile, and ever-present while the space frame is welded, and allows for lines of sight through the entire gallery.

The Ca’ Corner is now familiarly uncanny; it is fundamentally linear yet not. The whiplash of leaving the marble-laden hall for the lightness of the green grid and protruding windows is akin to traveling across time zones, wholly disorienting, yet welcome.

55

INDEX

Phase 1 - Object

Phase 1.1 The exposed structure with a strong colour gives a strong sense of Modernism, meanwhile, the arch shape, ornamental column, and the pattern of the glass still maintain the characteristics of the Ca’Corner Museum.

By implying industrial elements into a historical Classical Museum setting, it performs a mixture of old and modern, the complimentary industrial materials can ultimately evoke the timeless, yet ever-evolving of architecture.

Object 1 has combined the materials of the past from the Ca’Corner Museum, with bright coloured industrial steel, it developed a uniquely post-modern style resulting in a combination of historical elements with modern vocabulary.

Ca’Corner Museum - Facade

State Gallery - Entrance Canopy

56

Object 1 - Industrialised Historical

57

INDEX

Phase 1 - Object

Phase 1.2 The second object is about spatial relationships. The acute angle between two walls is represented as an obtuse angle, it gives a sense that the space in the front is intersecting with the space behind, just like folding the corner inwards.

The continuous language along the inner walls provokes the spatial enclosure of the space in the front. Meanwhile, the transparency of the window with a green frame provides visual connections between the two spaces.

Ca’Corner Museum - Exhibition Room

Clore Gallery - Corner Green Frame

58

Object 2 - Spatial Intersection

59

INDEX

Phase 1 - Object

Phase 1.3 It is about how movement is organised for people to move through the threshold openings to get to the space behind.

The selected object from the Sackler Museum is a series of bars, they are guiding the direction of movements. The groups of bars are placed at certain heights to give different messages to the readers. Some stopped the movement, some guided the movement towards the sideways, and some guided to moving through the threshold openings.

Ca’Corner Museum - Ground Floor Lobby

Sackler Museum - Balustrade

60

Object 3 - Organised Movement

61

INDEX

Phase 2 - Museum

Phase 2.1 The objects designed in phase 1 are reintroduced back into the Ca’Corner Museum. The objects are to represent the ornamental elements of Ca’Corner Museum in a Modernist way, resulting in the formal integration of Modernism and Classicism. The use of materials and textures are selected in respect to both Stirling Museums and Ca’Corner Museum itself.

Exhibition Zones

62

Axon - Museum

Museum Entrance

63

INDEX

Phase 2 - Museum

Phase 2.2 The grid is mapped from the original Ca’Corner Museum, the 2 grids intersect in the central part. The grids are to set the rule for possible connections within the museum, which assist in the arrangement of the internal space.

The grids of the two wings are invisible that visitors could not experience while walking inside the museum. To visualize the differences between the two wings, a contrast is created by inserting the Objects into the Ca’Corner Museum. Thick and solid walls are used to create heaviness on one side, whereas thinner and floating walls create lightness.

PIANO NOBILE Plan - 1st Piano Nobile 1 ST

64

Light Exhibition Zone

Heavy Installation Zone

65

NOTES

Process documentation notes & sketches

66

67

NOTES

Process documentation notes & sketches

68

69

NOTES

Process documentation notes & sketches

70

71

NOTES

Process documentation Week 9

72

73

NOTES

Process documentation Week 10

74

75

NOTES

Process documentation Week 11

76

77

NOTES

Process documentation Week 11

78

79

NOTES

Process documentation Week 12

SOUVENIR STORE

TICKET OFFICE

STORAGE FOR VISITOR

SECURITY COUNTER

SECURITY COUNTER

OUTDOOR COURTYARD

TOILET (F)

STORAGE FOR ARTWORKS

STORAGE FOR STAFF

1 ST

FLOOR

80

TOILET (M)

OFFICE

DOWN

DOWN

1 ST

UP

UP

TOILET (F)

UP

1 ST

TOILET (M)

PIANO NOBILE

DOWN

TOILET (F)

UP

TOILET

DOWN

MEZZANINE

81

TOILET (M)

NOTES

Process documentation Week 12

82

83

NOTES

Process documentation Week 12

84

85

NOTES

Process documentation Week 12

86

87

NOTES

Process documentation Week 12

88

89

NOTES

Process documentation Week 12

90

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KNOWLEDGE BANK Bibliography

Reading: Anthony Vidler, Nots on the Modern Museum Nikolaus Pevsner, A History of Building Types Boris Groys, When Paintings Become Things Wes Jones, Can Tectonics Grasp Smoothness?, Log 30, Winter 2014 Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, What about SPACE?, 306090, no.15, 2013 Stan Allen, Distributions, Combinations, Fields, A+U, no.8, pgs.3-16 Gernot Bohme, The Theory of Atmospheres and Its Applications, Interstices 15, 2014: 92-97

Project: OMA, Fondazione Prada, Milan, 2015 David Chipperfield Architects, Neues Museum, Berlin, 1993-2009 Peter Zumthor, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, 1997 Blinky Palermo’s Wall ddrawings & Wall Paintings Michael Asher, Documenta 5 installation, 1972 Michael E. Smith at KOW, Berlin, 2017 Hito Steyerl, Factory of the Sun, German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2015

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