The philosopher Gaston Bachelard said that man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need, and that utopia is his natural destiny. Thomas More published Utopia in 1516, and thus coined the Greek-derived neologism so beloved by Surrealists, particularly André Breton, due to its connections with dreams and desires. There are two subjects resulting from “utopia”: a “utopian” who is seen as a dreamer living desires as reality, and a “utopianist” or social reformer whose ambition is to establish a different society. The dreamers are said to be fantasists and the reformers fanatics. At times the two sides coincide, as in the case of Fourier.
Pep Admetlla is an artist who dreams up and designs a utopia of a better society searching for an ideal of concept and form, made possible by the uniting of several disciplines, after a complex work process that verges on madness. The process of research into the total artwork, often going beyond the final work, converts his projects into philosophical essays that are expressed via text and the organic visuality of a totalising artistic concept, fusing literature, architecture, sculpture, philosophy and visual thought. The result is a magnificent book of images in search of the total artwork.
Utopia is always present in his projects which in the end can be defined as a cross between sculpture, public space and architecture, just like the more significant avant-gardes of the 20th century when they sought a new man for the new historical age. Thus, the avantgarde provided new models for architectural utopias which steered this shift towards an intersection of languages. This was especially true in the Russian avant-garde with projects such as Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International and also Kurt Schwitters’s Merz Column, a reconstruction of which can be seen today in his studio in Hannover, which crosses various strata and levels to open doors onto sculpture being both architecture and transitable space. At the same time, new contemporary examples have acted as a driving force forging new relationships between architecture and sculpture, such as the work of Gordon Matta- Clark.
Contemporary architecture has developed into a space for the reflection on and the experiencing of form. It is increasingly distanced from its function and has become an object of symbolic functionality. One only has to look at the great auteur buildings, such as those by Zaha Haid, Peter Zumthor or Jean Nouvel, to cite but a few examples, to see that architectural space has been transformed into a place for experiencing form, a feature already present in Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion.
Pep Admetlla makes utopia possible. His artistic projects, apparently impossible according to the strictest interpretation of the Proun constructions by the utopians of the Russian avant-garde, are paradoxically transitable sculptures which help connect public space, providing new lighting points and unusual perspectives, making today’s flâneur a user of public space distanced from the consumerism and merchandise mentioned by Walter Benjamin in his study “Paris, capital of the 19th century” in the Arcades Project. Admetlla brings us closer, with his sculptural/ urbanistic projects incorporated into public space, to the myth of the ideal city where homo urbanus discovers his ego, allowing us as well to discover the other and cooperate in the regeneration of society. It is, perhaps, a machine-like conception of public and urban space which, while perhaps not habitable, is transitable, introducing values of modernity such as perspective, the horizon, geometry, the primacy of the individual, and urbanity. This is most evident in a user who, as in his own city, Girona, strolls through the past of stone architecture, archaeology of an age that Pep Admetlla disrupts with a new age of iron, as in his latest project, shown at the Venice Biennale of Architecture: Entre cos i enigma. Arquitectura dels sentits; a bridge between Sant Pere de Galligants and the Paseo Arqueológico, a possible utopia and example of a fusion between art and science awaiting realisation.
There exist images which, the moment they hit the retina, seem to split in two and follow two relatively separate pathways through the labyrinth of the brain. One of them activates neurones sensitive to the beauty of shapes, the coherence of strokes, the unstable balance of masses, relations and contrasts, the surprise of some areas […]
Es un inmenso placer saludar la presentación de este catálogo de la exposición retrospectiva de la obra de un artista de referencia como es Pep Admetlla. “La poética del espacio”, título de la muestra que tiene lugar en Can Mario Museo de Escultura Contemporánea de la Fundació Vila Casas en Palafrugell, será una oportunidad magnífica […]
The philosopher Gaston Bachelard said that man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need, and that utopia is his natural destiny. Thomas More published Utopia in 1516, and thus coined the Greek-derived neologism so beloved by Surrealists, particularly André Breton, due to its connections with dreams and desires. There are two subjects […]
El filòsof Gaston Bachelard deia que l’home és un ésser de desig i no de necessitat, i que la utopia correspon al seu destí natural. Thomas More publicà Utopia el 1516 i introduí aquest neologisme grecollatí que tant agradà als surrealistes i particularment a André Breton per la seva vinculació al somni i al desig. […]
I s’esdevé que l’extrem de l’especulació dóna, de vegades, arguments a la pràctica… Paul Valéry. Eupalinos La primera vegada que vaig saber de la seva obra era un nucli potencial dins d’una llibreta negra de tapa dura. Venia a veure’m perquè li ho havia aconsellat el seu amic i gran artista Torres Monsó, però en […]
It gives me great pleasure to introduce this presentation of the catalogue for a retrospective of work by an artist as significant as Pep Admetlla. The Poetics of Space, title of the show to be held at the Fundació Vila Casas Can Mario Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, will be a magnificent opportunity to enjoy his […]
Em plau d’allò més saludar la presentació d’aquest catàleg de l’exposició retrospectiva de l’obra d’un artista de referència com és Pep Admetlla. “La poètica de l’espai”, títol de la mostra que té lloc a Can Mario Museu d’Escultura Contemporània de la Fundació Vila Casas a Palafrugell, serà una oportunitat magnífica per gaudir de la seva […]
Y resulta que el extremo de la especulación da, a veces, argumentos a la práctica… Paul Valéry. Eupalinos La primera vez que supe de su obra era un núcleo potencial dentro de una libreta negra de tapa dura. Venía a verme porque se lo había aconsejado su amigo y gran artista Torres Monsó, pero en […]
Primer cop d’ull —furtiu— al seu estudi: llibres i maquetes. Paraules i processos, pautes i recerca, models i especulacions, literatura i projectes. Tot barrejat com formant gairebé una unitat de primer indestriable. Segon cop d’ull que esdevé de mica en mica un primer esborrany de mirada: una biblioteca compacta, selecta i interdisciplinària com a teló […]
Hi ha imatges que, una vegada han tocat la retina, sembla que es desdoblin per seguir dos circuits relativament autònoms dins el laberint del cervell. Un d’ells encén les neurones sensibles a la bellesa de les figures, la coherència dels traços, l’equilibri precari de les masses, les relacions i els contrastos, la sorpresa d’algunes taques […]
And it turns out the far reaches of speculation provide, at times, arguments for practice… Paul Valéry. Eupalinos, or the Architect The first time I came into contact with Admetlla’s work it was as a latent kernel in a black, hard-cover notebook. He had come to see me on the recommendation of his friend, the […]
A first, snatched look at his studio: books and maquettes; words and processes, guides and searches, models and speculations, literature and projects. All mixed together as if forming a seemingly indivisible unit. A second look gradually becoming a first quick sketch: a compact selection of books, select and interdisciplinary forming a backdrop, and various maquettes […]
El filósofo Gaston Bachelard decía que el hombre es un ser de deseo y no de necesidad, y que la utopía corresponde a su destino natural. Thomas More publicó Utopía en 1516 e introdujo este neologismo grecolatino que tanto gustó a los surrealistas y particularmente a André Breton por su vinculación al sueño y al […]
Hay imágenes que, una vez han tocado la retina, parece que se desdoblen para seguir dos circuitos relativamente autónomos dentro del laberinto del cerebro. Uno de ellos enciende las neuronas sensibles a la belleza de las figuras, la coherencia de los trazos, el precario equilibrio de las masas, las relaciones y los contrastes, la sorpresa […]
Primera ojeada —furtiva— a su estudio: libros y maquetas. Palabras y procesos, pautas y búsqueda, modelos y especulaciones, literatura y proyectos. Todo mezclado como formando casi una unidad al principio inseparable. Segunda ojeada que deviene poco a poco un primer esbozo de mirada: una biblioteca compacta, selecta e interdisciplinaria como telón de fondo, y un […]