Peachy the Magazine October/November 2013 | Page 39

ART + ARCHITECTURE

cantilevered roofs. The simplicity of the
design is just as stunning as the vision
of seeing these five massive spaces float
on the water. Ando described the space,
“By using glass as a wall, physically
there is a barrier, a protection from the
outside, but visually there is no boundary between outside and inside. There
is also the light that comes off the water
through the glass that indicates a lack
of boundary and can make its presence
felt on the wall.” Using two reflective materials, glass and water, Ando
has created a remarkable space that
is gorgeous at any time of day, but is
unspeakably beautiful when lit at night.
The serenity of The Modern’s architecture provides the perfect foil for many
of the provocative exhibitions which
have been shown there. Exhibitions
of Kara Walker, Lucien Freud, Glenn
Ligon, Ed Ruscha, Kehinde Wiley and
Gary Simmons have raised the pulse
within the otherwise tranquil space.
From the tremendous space of the Tate
Modern’s Turbine Hall, to the extravagance of Bilbao, to the minimalism
of the Dallas-Fort Worth museums,
what is most impressive about the new
generation of museum design is the
evocative genius behind the architecture and the fact that the museum itself
has become a work of art, architectural

sculpture if you will. And when one
rationally considers the exponential
manner in which contemporary art
has evolved—veering off into every
possible direction—it is no wonder
that the museums that house such
works would be all over the map from
a design perspective. Some question
the nature of the contemporary art
being shown, querying if it is indeed
art at all. Artforum contributor François Piron has referred to the “anything goes” programming in today’s
museums as “museal porosity”. There
seems to be a certain giddy desire
to embrace the next big thing, and
colossal installations and provocative
performance pieces have skewed attend [??H?[X?\??\?\?[X??[?[?????[[Z[??\?X????\????[?H?H?[YK???]?\??H?Y[?X??]?X?\?H]\?][\??Z[??\?Y?Y?^H\?HZ[Z[?????YB?[??Y?Z[???X?\??X?[???X?\????H\?^YY[?\???HX?]B????[?Yx?%[??[K?]\?[?B??]\?Z[??[?X?][??H]Y\?[???'\?]?X[H\???'H??????T????SP?T??L???B??