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On September 14, two exhibitions opened at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt, designed to bring a broad vision of Catalan culture to this Germany city on the occasion of Catalonia's presence as guest of honour at the Book Fair. The exhibitions are entitled: Construccions patents. Nova arquitectura feta a Catalunya (Patent Constructions: New Architecture Made in Catalonia) and Gaudí Unseen. The official opening was attended, amongst others, by: IRL director Josep Bargalló; DAM director Peter Cachola; and Albert Ferré, the curator of Construccions patents.
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Construccions patents: Nova arquitectura feta a Catalunya, jointly organised by the IRL and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum and curated by ACTAR, features products and the buildings and environments for which they were designed. The show is organised as a tour of various programming and spatial innovations and techniques produced in Catalonia, emphasising the interactions that characterise the material production of a work, from the computer screen or workshop model to occupying the user's space. Some 30 products are featured, all designed and created for specific contexts, comprising a catalogue of new, exportable architectural solutions in which the emphasis is not on the building, but on the innovative fragment, the patent and the prototype.
Josep Bargalló reminded those present at the opening that architecture produced in Catalonia has often led the way in Europe, particularly during the period between the restoration of democracy in the 1970s and the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Since then, new social needs have emerged, obliging a constant search for new solutions. "The activities organised by the IRL to mark the presentation of Catalan culture at the Frankfurt Book Fair enable us to showcase the contribution of Catalan architecture to an expert, international audience capable of appreciating the scope and importance of our proposals. We hope that the solutions we present here will help to confirm the permanent need for socially useful and proactive architecture".
Dual presence at the DAM
The other exhibition opening on the same day at the DAM is Gaudí Unseen, produced by the University of Melbourne in cooperation with the IRL and focusing on work to complete the Church of the Sagrada Família.
Expressing his satisfaction with these collaborations, the Museum director, Peter Cachola, stressed that they form part of a "dual context, of continuity of the local innovative tradition and as part of the cultural diversity in a unified Europe".
Cachola went on to remind those present that, "with Construccions patents this is the second time that the DAM has turned its gaze on Catalan architecture: in 1991, as a foretaste of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, we had the privilege of showing a large selection of the city's projects". Finally, the DAM director assured those present that "We try in this way to make our personal contribution to the intensive creative power of architecture and acceptance of this role in Catalonia".
Construccions patents will be open to the public until November 18, whilst Gaudí Unseen will be on show at the DAM until December 2.
