Icons of architecture in time / Ikonen der Architektur im Wandel der Zeit
Guest lecture
by Peter Noever
Peter Noever founded the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler Haus in Los Angeles in 1994 and brought it back to the forefront of the international cultural scene with his radical program. Through exhibitions, performances, lecture series, and events, the MAK Center conveys and updates the spirit of cultural innovation of R. M. Schindler. Since 1994, the MAK Center has offered two six-month residencies each year for 8 international artists and architects, which are awarded through an international competition. The artists in residence live and work in the Mackey Apartments, designed by Schindler in 1939.
The Mackey Apartements / The Garage Project / Garage Top
Pearl M. Mackey Apartments, 1939; Renovated 1995 / 2004 by Michael Ferguson und Kirby Smith (Space international), together with Peter Noever.
Garage Top / A new construction on top of the exisiting garages
Peter Noever together with Space International architects, 2009/10
With the Fitzpatrick-Leland House, a donation from Russ Leland to Peter Noever for the MAK Center, in 2008 a separate in-residence program was developed. The publication "UFI - Urban Future Initiative" was a part of this project. 2 This Modernist home is the third Schindler residence to come under the stewardship of the nonprofit MAK Center, which owns the mid-Wilshire Mackey Apartment House (1939) and has its headquarters in Schindler House (1921-22).
"Urban Future Manifestos" called upon leading creative thinkers, to address urgent questions about the future of the contemporary city. Contributing futurologist, philosophers, architects, artists, designers and urban scholars from around the globe considered the city from a variety of positions and posited their unique and inspiring visions. This is a special challenge for the future. At the same time the research and practice in Los Angeles should support the position of the Viennese MAK in its radical and distinctive approach in the long term.
"I unpacked my manifesto on spatial architecture and began shaking up California through lectures and exhibitions along the West Coast. I taught classes in art schools and special courses at the university. Only people with open minds were welcome in my studio.", Rudolf M. Schindler, 1921
Jochen Traar: Art Protects You, 1996, Los Angeles
Jochen Traar, (MAK Center Residence Artist) "Art Protects You", 1996. Traar equipped 14 pickup trucks, each with a 250 cm high red plastic letter. Read in the correct order, these were supposed to form the sentence ART PROTECTS YOU. The trucks were sent on a two-hour tour through the afternoon traffic of the californian freeways, where the drivers, through traffic-appropriate, complicated maneuvers attempted to form the specified lettering in convoy.
More on MAK Center exhibiton program:
▶︎ „Private Views“ by Andi Schmied, A High-Rise Panorama of Manhattan