Constructing Film. Swiss Architecture in the Moving Image
Filmbau. Schweizer Architektur im bewegten Bild
Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum, Basel
October 2015 to February 2016
Continuing a series of exhibitions initiated in 2012 that explores the various media used to communicate architecture, this exhibition focuses on film.
The various relationships between film and architecture are primarily negotiated through the built space in feature films. The exhibition takes a new approach, moving away from fictional films and focusing on documentary and analytical moving images that depict Swiss architecture.
At the heart of the exhibition is a compilation film developed in collaboration with the artist Florine Leoni. Using excerpts from 101 films, it demonstrates the rich creative repertoire of the medium of film. At the same time, it analyses the representational conventions used in the translation of real space into cinematic space. Film is interpreted as a broad spectrum of moving image documents: A wide variety of techniques and film genres are considered, from professional architectural documentaries to mobile phone films. The central exhibition space is transformed into a cinema architecture to immerse the viewer in the cinematic spaces.
The individual films can also be viewed in full length in the final exhibition room, which is designed as an editing suite. The exhibition is complemented by ten in-depth interviews with Swiss protagonists working in the interdisciplinary field between architecture and film.