"You have to accept that 50 years have gone by, but the changes should be done by the architect who was in charge. If this architect is no longer able, this is another thing. But the last time I saw Garatti, he was thinking clearly. So there's no reason to put him aside. I don't think it's ethical." — npr
British architect Sir Norman Foster jumps on the opportunity to remodel iconic and unfinished Cuban National Art Schools. But one of the the original architects, Roberto Gottardi, is still alive. (via Alexis Navarro)
Also see; Revolution of Forms: Cuba's Forgotten Art Schools by John A. Loomis
5 Comments
Yuck! Keep the capitalists out of Cuba, yo!
previously Scuola di ballo, Escuela Nacional de Arte to be converted?
Thanks for linking previous news Nam.
If anybody around NYC is interested.
VAN ALEN BOOKS
30 W. 22ND STREET GROUND FL, NEW YORK, NY
WEDNESDAY, 7PM, 9/26/2012
REVOLUTION OF FORMS: CUBA’S FORGOTTEN ART SCHOOLS
JOHN LOOMIS, BENJAMIN MURRAY, ALYSA NAHMIAS
Revolution of Forms: Cuba’s Forgotten Art Schools examines the convergence of architecture, ideology, and culture in 1960s Cuba through the design of the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte (National Art Schools), conceived and initiated by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara soon after the Revolution’s victory. The utopian vision of architects Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi, and Vittorio Garatti integrated issues of culture, ethnicity, and place, reinventing architecture just as the Revolution hoped to reinvent society.
As the utopian dream succumbed to dystopian reality, construction was halted and the architects fell out of political favor. The 2011 documentary Unfinished Spaces explores the current state of the schools and follows the exiled architects, who were invited back by Castro to finish their unrealized dream. Revolution of Forms author John Loomis will be joined by Unfinished Spaces co-directors Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias for a conversation on the history of the schools and their rediscovery as visionary architectural masterpieces, now officially recognized by the Cuban government as national treasures.
More info here:
http://www.vanalenbooks.org/post/31057822314/revolution-of-forms#more
Many photos of the art schools here -- click "look inside" :
http://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Forms-Cubas-Forgotten-Schools/dp/1568981570
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