6.pdf

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  • L'escultura de Brancusi, tan tancada quant a forma, plan-teja el problema de com s'ha de comportar l'espai fic-tici respecte del real. La resposta a aquesta pregunta la do nen les seves escultures sobre pedestals, que defi-neixen la forma autonoma d'un espai propi i al ma-teix temps estableixen la seva lnia de defensa davant la realitat circumdant. Precisament a partir d'aquestes construccio ns combinatories, Brancusi es va decidir a intentar abordar l'espai real de la societat i acceptar la seva escala. Un ntent d'aquest tipus el constituei-xen les grans escultures, de les quals no ms va poder realitzar el conjunt monumental a Tirgu Jiu, i tamb els projectes arquitectonics que va desenvolupar a par-tir de les seves construccions sobre pedestals.'

    Brancusi es va enfrontar una i altra vegada al projecte ar-quitectonic de la Columna infinita. Ja el 1926, durant la seva primera estada a la ciutat de Nova York, va ex-pressar el desig de crear un edifici d 'apartaments per al Central Park en forma de Columna infinita: Seria ms gran que qualsevol edifici i tres vegades ms alt que el vostre obelisc de Washi ngton. ( ... ) A cadascuna de les piramides hi hauria habitatges ( ... ) i a dalt de tot hi situara el meu ocell.>>2 Tamb sabem que du-rant aquesta epoca Brancusi t projectes que li agra-dara realitzar en vidre i acer. Al seu estudi - per a ell, arquitectura s escultura- , hi podem trobar colum-nes pera construir parets i una maqueta en fusta d'un conjunt d'edificis ahs.3 Un d'aquests projectes s, sens dubte, aquella Composici de formes (11.1) i un al-tre la maqueta abans esmentada i segurament tamb el Projecte arquitectonic (IU). Les fotografes de Brancu-si ens el mostren tal com ell mateix se l' imaginava un cop real itzat: Una juxtaposici de formes transparents, realitzades en vidre i acer. El caracter arquitectonic es manifesta a moltes de les seves escultures i construc-cions sobre pedestals, per exemple a I'A1c d'entrada, a les Columnes infinites i al Projecte arquitectonic; pero la veritable dimensi arquitectonica de la seva obra la trobem al seu estudi considerar globalment. L'arqui-tectura s escultura, )'escultura pot ser la maqueta ar-quitectonica tant d'un edifici com de tot un conjunt urba.

    Brancusi era conscient de la faceta arquitecton ica del seu estudi tal com ho demostra la seva caracteritzaci de Nova York: No s ms que el meu propi estudi en una escala ms gran.4 La primera impressi que li va

    produir la silueta de Manhattan va quedar reflectida en les seves paraules:

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    ' Brancusi's sculpture, so closed off as regards form, poses rhe problem of how fictitious space should behave with respect ro real space. The reply ro rhis question is pro-vided by his sculptures on pedestals, which define the autonomous form of a space, while at the same time providing it with a line of defense against immediate reality. It was precisely on the basis of these com-binatory constructions that Brancusi decided to at-tempt ro tackle the real space of society and accept its scale. An example of this type is his large sculptures, of which he was able to produce only the mo numen-tal group in Tirgu Jiu, and his architectural projects he developed on the basis of his constructions on pedestals. 1

    Brancusi repeatedly faced the arch itectural project of the Infinite column. Already in 1926, during his first so-journ in the city of New York, he expressed his desire ro creare and apartmem building for Central Park in t he form of the Infinite column: It would be bigger t han any other building and three times the height of your obelisk in Washington. ( ... ) There will be apart-ments in each of the pyramids ( ... ) and at the very top, my bird.>> We also know that at that time Brancusi had projects that the wams to realize in glass and sreel. In his study -for him, architecture is sculpture- we can encounter columns with which to build walls and a wooden mock-up of a series of high rise build-ings.>>3 W ithout a doubt, one of these projects is the Composition of Forms (11.1), the aforementioned mock-

  • gran nombre de transmutacions per mitja de les quals les peces amigues es reincorporen a coniiguracions sem-pre noves. Aquesta variabilitat en el temps, jumament amb les diferencies de procedencia i d'estatus dels ele-ments, equiparen, d'alguna manera, la combinatoria amb aquel! merode que esmenta Lvi-Strauss a EL pen-sament salvatge, quan explica la solitud del pensament artsric i mitologic: el bricolatge.6 El bricolatge impli-ca una manera de p roced ir no prefixada, significa un ripus d'acrivitat p roductiva. Brancusi no era noms un artista i un aficionar -com va escriure una vegada An-dr Salmon7-, capas: de construir-se ell mareix objec-tes utilitaris com, per exemple, una taula, un tambo-ret i un alraveu, sin un artista com a aficionar, com a bricoleur. A les seves construccio ns treballava amb els elements de que disposava en aquell moment, amb objecres heterogen is, amb restes de consrruccions an-teriors o de deconst ruccions8 El Gall que queda d 'una escultura destruida es transforma en un tur i amb el canvi d'escala introdu sembla com si I' Ocell a L'espai, situar darrera, hagus sortit a !'exterior (11.6); la resta d 'una biga procedent d'un enderroc esdev un tamboret. L'artsric admet el funcional: el Rei de reis i el forn industrial, la forma artstica i la forma urili-raria estan en condicions de dialogar entre elles (11.7). Dit a escala urbana: !'arquitectura i !'arquitec-tura industrial poden conviure, el joc iron ic de con-cordances configura el marc de referencia d'una ten-dencia (Arnheim).9 Tam b !'artista, com el bricoleur, en abordar una nova iniciativa estableix una mena de dialeg (amb tot el seu saber) per obtenir les possibles respostes al problema plantejat.10 L'estudi treballa amb una mena de consciencia artstica per a la mira-

    da. El merode combinatori de Brancusi, justament per no ser gens literari, t un caracter lingstic, es tracta d'un llenguatge pBtstic els signes del qual sn cadas-cun dels elemems escultorics que, tal com passa amb les lletres, es poden combinar i establir agrupacions amb un sign ificar sempre diferent. L'aspecte poetic -que per a Brancusi contena !'arquitectura de Ro ma i que va intuir com a qualitat d'un nou art en veure Nova York, ciutat la silueta de la qua! va associar a !'estructura combinatoria del seu estudi- es troba ram-b en el caracter llegendari del bricolatge. Aqu es re-vela, en un lloc que inesperadament no s el tematic, un parentiu entre el modern i l'arcaic. E l caracter lle-gendari o mtic no constitueix en cap cas una cita for-mal complementaria, sin que defineix l'espai de res-sonancia d 'un determinar merode artstic.

    Durant la seva primera visita a Nova York, Brancusi va expressar el desig de construir un edifici a Wall Srreet i va parlar de la possibilitat d ' incorporar les seves obres a un esquema. Una contertuliana va caracteritzar Bran-cusi amb les paraules segents: Es un projectista, un constructor( ... ), i les seves obres, cadascuna de les quals constitueix una unitat en ella mateixa, es poden in-corporar a un esquema global que les revaloritza. 11 Aixo no tan sols s valid per a la disposici de les es-cultures al seu estudi, sin que sobretot es refereix a la dimensi arquitectonica de la seva obra. Actualment,

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  • up and surely also the Architectural project (11.1). Bran-cusi's photographs reveal them to us as he imagined them once they had been finished: a juxtaposition of transparent forms made from glass and steel. The architectural character is revealed in many of bis sculptures and constructions on pedestals, such as in bis Entrance A rch, the Infinite Columns and the A r-chitectural Project; but the true architectural dimension of bis work is to be found, globally considered, in bis studio. Architecture is sculpture>>, and sculpture can be the architectural mock-up of both a single building and a whole urban complex.

    Brancusi was aware of the architectural facet of bis studio, as bis characterization of New York reveals: It is simp-ly my own studio on a larger scale.~ His first im-pression of the Manhattan skyline was recorded in the following words: But this is my studio! Nothing has been fixed beforehand, nothing is rigid. All these blocks, all these forms, can be interchanged as the ex-periment unfolds>>.5 While in his studio sculptures are placed on pedestals, in New York the attics crown buildings (li.J). In both cases it is a case of volumes stacked one upon the other, of geometrical bodies ar-ranged in a cascade, a great density of elements co m-bined with each other. : for Brancusi the combination is the method that best adjusts to the variability of rhe contemporary world and to the experimental sincerity characteristic of modernity. The architectural character of Brancusi's study is revealed above all in the photographs of the studio in which figurative forms do not appear: in the groupings of wood, stone and pedestals, as occurs in the group of movements set against each other and different plastic influences photographed in 1922 ( JI.~l or in the groupings of plaster drums, beams, rocks and pedestals (JI.s). The way of arranging these elements is at once simple and subde: ir is a configuration of light and dark elemems that form assemblies and relationships among themselves. In these photographs great care was taken in choosing both the viewpoint of the camera and each of the plastic elements photographed. Although there is debris on the floor, this is not as the result of negligence, since thanks to rhis rubble Brancusi was able to highlight the motif upon which this order rests.

    The method that relates Brancusi's works to architecture

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    is combinatoria!, and on this are based not only the sculptures obtained by juxtaposing elements, but also the groups of existing works in bis studio that admit a great number of transmutations through which old pieces are reincorporated imo new configurations. This variability in t ime, together w ith the differences in terms of provenance and status of the elements, links the combination w ith the method that Lvi Strauss mentions in Savage Thought where he explains the solitude of artistic and mythological thought: do-it-yourself work.6 Do-it-yourself work implies a non predetermined way of proceeding, a kind of produc-tive activity. Brancusi was not only an artist and an a/ficcionado -as Andr Salmon once wrote- 7 ca-pable of constructing utilitarian objects such as a table, a stool or a loudspeacker, but also an artist as an a/fic-cionado, as a bricoleur. In his combined structures he worked with the elements he had at his disposal at the time, with heterogeneous objects, with remains of previous constructions or de-constructions>>.8.

    The Cockerel that remains from a destroyed sculpture becomes transformed into a hill, and with the change of scale thus introduced it seems as if the Bird in Space behind has come out into the open (JL6J; the remains of a beam rescued from a demolition site becomes a stool. The artistic admits the functional: the King of Kings and the industrial kiln, the artistic form and the urilitarian form are in a position to dialogue with each other (11.7) . On an urban scale, both pure>> and in-dustrial architectures can exist side by side, the ironical interplay of concordances creares the reference frame-work for a tendency (Arnheim).9 When the time comes to tackle a new initiative the art ist, as well as the bricoleur, establishes a kind of dialog~te (using al/ his knowledge) in arder to obtain all the possible answers to the problem posed. 10

    The studio works>> like a kind of artistic conscience for vision. Brancusi' s combinatory method, precisely because ir is not literary, has a linguistic character; it is a plastic language whose signs are each of the sculptural elemems which, just as in the case of let-ters, can be grouped together to form totally differem meanings. The poetic aspect (which for Brancusi was contained in the architecture of Rome and which he perceived as the quality of a new art>> on seeing New York, a city whose skyline he related to the com-

  • per saber que es vol dir aqu amb la paraula esque-ma>>, noms ens podem basar en la manera d'actuar de !'artista, en la capacitar d'integraci de les seves obres i en les fotografes existents del seu estudi. Noms aquestes ltimes revelen el caracter inherent a l'ordre de collocaci de les seves escultures i a les formes d'agrupar-se.

    L'escultura Adam i Eva no necessita cap mena de pedes-tal i en la major part de fotografes hi apareix sense. Tanmateix, quan se situa sobre un pedestal, tal com s'esdev en aquesta fotografa (II.s) , es tracta tant d'una concessi local, com d'acceptar una oportunitat. Sen-se aquest pedestal, l'Adam s'hauria quedar gaireb a la mateixa altura que les escultures ve"ines, i juntament a~b les escultures del Nad, Eva i el Tors de dona hauria formar opticament un pla de presentaci unitari i man-car de vivesa, des d'un pum de vista plastic. L'escultu-ra Adam i Eva noms esra en condicions de relacio-nar les tres plataformes de presentaci del primer pla amb !'escultura d'un ocell, que hi apareix al fons, quan se situa damunt d'aquest pedestal. Aquest escalonament dels nivells de presemaci refon;:a al mateix temps una lnia ovoide: des de ]'oval tancat del Nad, passant per la forma oberta del Tors de dona i els motius superpo-sats d' Eva, fins a l'estret oval vertical de l'ocell. Allo que interessava a Brancusi d'aquesta agrupaci s la seva capacitar d' imegrar-se en un movimem plastic d'ascen-si. Aquest movimem es plameja com a tema inicial a la Columna infinita i es continua ms endavant, tant a l'escalonament deis plans de presentaci com a la se-qencia desenvolupada a partir de !'ovoide.

    Tamb 1'ordre intern d'aquesta agrupaci (11.9} mostra una transformaci de !'ovoide i, al mateix temps, la mor-fologa d'una idea: al conjunt compost per la Musa som-

    nolenta, les orelles de Socrates, el Nad i la cara de la Bruixa, l'esvelta espasa del Peix es transforma anamor-ficament en un cap, en un oval vertical.

    Una vista de l'estudi als primers anys quaranta (ILio) mos-tra els GaLLs juntament amb una famlia d'obres en que una petita pec;:a en forma de gall actua com a nucli del grup i intensifica els seus moviments espacials: tant el moviment ascendem que es repenja als pedestals den-tats i les diferents facetes, com el moviment en pro-dunditat des del gall situat en darrer terme, que recull la lnia de la cantonada, fins al primer pla on la Ma-queta d'un temple, una Tortuga inacabada i diversos pe-destals i pedres configuren un primer terme que rela-ciona les crestes deis Galls amb el terra i, al mateix temps, prepara el seu moviment d'ascensi. A l'enqua-drament de Brancusi, el pum de vista escollit posa em-fasi en els intervals entre forma positiva i negativa, s a dir, fa descartar les qualitats de l'espai buit. En aquest

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    cas, els Galls s'integren en un esquema espacial que in-crementa la seva potencia formal i, alhora, convenei-xen aquest ambit de l'estudi en el lloc deis Galls.

    En comparar dues fotografes semblants de l'estudi (lis. 11 ; 11}, es posa de manifest una altra manera d 'accentuar l'espai. Els futurs punts prominents de l'espai han passat a estar ocupats per elements diferents: el Nad es tro-ba alla on abans hi havia un tambor-pedestal, Made-moiseLLe Pogany s'ha girat una mica per relacionar el primer pla amb 1'ltim i l'OceLL a l'espai, de marbre blanc, s'ha canviat per un altre. La relaci entre aquestes escult ures es deu, sobretot, al fet que estan constru"i-des en bronze, un material que deixa de sortir en aques-ta fotografa.

    D'altra banda, els canvis esmentats afecten la qualitat de

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  • binatory structure of his studio) is found also in the legendary character of do-it-yourself work. Here, in an unexpecredly non-rhematic place, a fam ily relation-sh ip is revealed between rhe modern and the archaic. The legendary or mythical character in no case con-stitutes a complementary formal quotation, bur rather defines the space of resonance of a specific artistic method.

    During his first visit to New York, Brancusi expressed the desire to construct a building in Wall Street, and he spoke of the possibility of incorporating his works in an overall scheme. A fellow member of his social circle described Brancusi in rhe following rerms: He is a planner, a builder (..) and his works, each of which is a unit in itself, can be fitted into a global se heme that reevaluates them.11 This is valid not only for the ar-rangemem of sculprures in his studio, but also, and above all, for the archirectural dimension of his work.

    Nowadays, in order to understand what the term Scheme>> means in this comext, we can base our obser-varions only on the artist's way of acting, in the capaci-ty for imegration of his works, and in existing photo-graphs of his studio. Only these latter reveal the inherent character of order in the placing of his sculptures and their way of grouping rhemselves.

    The sculpture Adam and Eve needs no pedestal>>, and in most photographs appears w ithout one. Never-theless, when it is placed on a pedestal, as in illustra-t ion n? 8 this is both a concession to local conditions and the acceptance of an opponunity. Without this pedestal, Adam would have remained almost ar the same height as the neighbouring sculptures and together with the sculptures of the Newly Born Child; E ve and the Woman 's Torso would optically ha ve form-ed a unitary plane of presentation thar would have lacked spirir from the plastic point of view. The sculpture Adam and Eve is in a position to relate the three platforms of presentation in the foreground only to rhe sculpture of a bird, which appears in the background, when it is placed on this pedestal. This tiered set of presentation levels at the same time rein-forces an ovoid line: from rhe closed oval of Newly Born Child, passing through the open form of Woman's Torso and the superimposed circular motifs of Eve, to the narrow vertical oval of the bird. What interested Bran-cusi about this grouping was its capacity to become

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    imegrated in an ascending plastic movement. This movement is the initial theme of t he Infinite column and is cominued subsequently both in the tiered form of the presentation planes and in the sequence developed on the basis of the ovoid.

    The inner order of this grouping (11.9) also reveals a transformation of the ovoid and, at the same time, the morphology of an idea: in the group comprising the Sleepy Muse, the ears of Socrates, the Newly Born Child and the face of the Witch, the slender sword of the Fish is transformed anamorphically into a head, imo a vertical oval.

    A view of the studio in the early forties (II.Jo) shows the Cockerels together with a family of works in which a small piece in the form of a cockerel acts as the nucleus of the group and imensifies its spatial movemems: both the ascending movements that rest on the toorhed pedestals and the different facers, such as rhe movement in depth from the cockerel situated in the background, which takes up rhe line of the cor-ner, to the foreground, where the Temple Mock-Up, an unfinished Tortoise and several pedestals and stones form a foreground that relates the crests of the Cockerels with the ground, at the same time preparing the ascen-ding movement. In Brancusi's setting, the chosen point of view emphasizes the imervals between positive and negative form, that is, ir underlines the qualities of the empty space. In this case, the Cockerels are imegrated into a spatial scheme rhat increases their formal poten-tia!, at the same time converting this area of the studio imo the place of the Cockerels.

    On comparing two similar photographs of the studio (lis.

  • l'espai buit existent al primer pla. Aquest ltim es va ranear opticament al marge inferior de la imatge, els dos trossos de biga collocats a la dreta s'han allunyat i han estat substitu'its per petits tambors de pedra. El tros ms gros de biga, que ara es troba a !'esquerra, esra orientar cap a la Columna infinita. Aquests canvis, m-nims si considerem l'estudi en la seva globalitat, mo-difiquen en canvi de forma decisiva les relacions espa-cials. Gracies a ells, els dos ambits que en fotografes anteriors quedaven separats per un passads central, ara companeixen un pum nodal en que s'ha situar el Nad.

    La gracia de les escultures que es troben a l'estudi de Bran-cusi es deu en uns casos a !'elegancia del contorn i en d'altres al pes material deis seus elements o, traduint la impressi que produeix la fotografa, a l'aparen

  • u and 12) another way of accenting space is revealed. The future prominent points of the space are now occupied by different elements: the Newly Born Child is now where a pedestal-drum formerly stood, Mademoiselle Pogany has been turned a litde in order to relate the foreground with the background, and the Bird in Space in white marble has been exchanged for another. The relationship between these sculptures is due, above all, to the fact that they are made from bronze, a material that appears no more in this photograph. On the other hand, the aforementioned changes affect the quality of the empty space in the foreground. This latter was closed optically on the bottom edge of the image, the two pieces of beam placed on the right have been mov-ed further away and replaced by small stone drums. The larger piece of beam, now on the left, is orien-tated towards the Infinite Column. These changes, minimal if we consider the studio in its entirety, never-theless modify the spatial relationships in a decisive way. Thanks to these changes, the two environments which in previous photographs were separated by a cen-tral corridor, now share a nocla! point in which the Newly Born Child has been placed.

    The grace of the sculptures in Brancusi's studio lies in sorne case in the elegance of their surroundings, and in others in the material weight of their elements, or, translating the impression created by the photograph, in the appearance of transparency floating between light and shade (Il. 13).

    The do-it-youself combinatory method results in the ap-pearance of a set of differentiations and hetereoge-neities, of a framework of tensions, of an interplay bet-ween narrowness and width, between large and small elements. Common materials are placed beside noble ones, both painstaking and makeshift work are com-bined, curved oudines stand side by side with straight lines, organic irregularity is offset by stereometrical regularity and used objects by new ones. Consequently, the scheme in w hich Brancusi's works may be com-bined obeys neither a schematic law nor an ornamental order; it obeys a plastic order. Brancusi's studio, con-sidered as a configuration of different places, is a counter-example to architecture understood as a fra-mework of references, which vainly attempts to col-lect differences in its interor, as if it were a container. Scheme: for Brancusi this does not mean a global

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    project, as occurs in the urban projects typical of the twenties, but rather a way of ordering objects that emerges as a concordance between the plastic arts and individuality.

    Brancusi's sculpture is characterized fundamentally by its plastic form. His studio is the place where this form is presented, but it is also the place where formal pro-blems become spatial problems. His studio, considered the model of an urban space, itself indicares the way in w hich it should be perceived. On the one hand, it makes it very clear that the city should not be in-terpreted on the basis of a plan, of a bird's-eye view, of an externa! vision; it should rather be seen as spatial articulation of surrounding bodies that can only par-tially be seen from inside. For Brancusi, the architec-ture of the city does not coincide with w hat Linch describes in his book The lmage of the City: > arch. The head of the figure is versatile, since it can become converted into a negative form. The leap, in which the formal constellation above the line becomes the one below, in which formal relationships are inverted and the points of attention moved elsewhere, where other rela-t ionships unexpectedly emerge, is a leap that breaks the unity and which must also be possible in architec-ture. Otherwise, this would become nothing more than an art applied to construction, a marginal addition to public design.

    According to Levi-Strauss, scientists and amateurs can be differentiated in terms of the functions they assign to structure and event when it comes to ordering means and ends: the former crea te events (..) on the basis of structures; the latter create a structure on the basis of

  • poden veure parcialmente des de dins. En definitiva, per a Brancusi !'arquitectura de la ciutat no coincideix amb allo que escriu Lynch al seu llibre La imatge de la ciutat: semblant a una pe~a d'arquitectura (like a piece of architecture). 14 D'altra banda, la vivacitat d'aquest espai exigeix una manera de mirar activa. Com a articulaci oberta, estimula la capacitar d'imagina-ci, ofereix la possibilitat de fer descobriments. Por-ser d'una manera similar a la que ens propasa Brancu-si en un dibuix (li.H): en primer terme hi ha una figura de fusta i a la paret del fons una columna. Pero, de sobre, el cap de la figura amb els apendixs a manera d'orella s'apropa a la superfcie de paret delimitada per la columna en la mirada de tots aquells que descobrei-xen la seva possible relaci. El nou s encara una for-ma poc definida, que en part s'assembla a una paret amb un are arab. El cap de la figura demostra que s polivalent en ser cap as: de convertir-se en una for-ma negativa. El salt, mirjans;ant el qual es transforma la constellaci formal existent a dalt de la lnia en que apareix a sota seu, on s'inverteixen les relacions for-mals i es traslladen els punts d'atenci, on inesperada-ment sorgeixen altres relacions, s un salt que trenca la unicitat i tamb ha de ser possible en arquitectura. En cas contrari, aquesta no sera sin art aplicar a la construcci, un afegit marginal al public design.

    Per acabar, enunciar algun dels problemes que planteja reflexionar sobre !'arquitectura a partir de l'estudi de Brancusi. En primer lloc, la relaci problematica en-tre model i realitat. Amb ra ha cridat l'atenci Arn-heim a La dinamica sobre la forma arquitectonica so-bre els problemes que sorgeixen a causa de la dependencia entre forma i dimensi. Perque, com ms gran s un objecte, ms gran s el seu volum en reJa-ci a la seva superfcie, ja que la superfcie creix se-gons el quadrat de les seves dimensions lineals, men-tre que el volum ho fa amb el cub>>Y Com que un augment de volum comporta un augment de pes, la relaci entre pes i forma tamb variara d'acord amb la mida. 16 s a dir, que en una maqueta tampoc no es poden observar amb precisi determinats aspectes de !'arquitectura real i en especial quan es tracta d'un conjunt urba. De rotes maneres, en el cas de l'estudi de Brancusi no es tracta d'una maqueta arquitectoni-ca en el sentir habitual, sin, en tot cas, d'una escul-tura considerada com una maqueta arquitectonica. Per

    tant, sorgeix la pregunta de si les seves qualitats plasti-ques suportarien un blow-up monumentalitzador. A ms a ms, !'escultura considerada com a model arqui-tectonic planteja el tema de la determinaci formal des de !' interior. Per ltim, a diferencia dels visitants de l'estudi en vida de !'artista - entre els quals es traba-ven tamb arquitectes com Mallet-Stevens, Muthesius, Aldo van Eyck, Le Corbusier i Jean Prouv- ens hem d'acontentar amb les reproduccions fotografiques.

    En el seu art, en la defensa d 'una arquitectura artstica complexa i alhora senzilla, d'un ordre viu de les for-mes plastiques, Brancusi es va mantenir fidel a la for-ma individual en oposici a la tendencia de !'epoca. Rilke ja en va formular el diagnostic a comens:ament de segle en l'assaig sobre Rodin: Tanmateix, !'escultu-ra (de Rodin) ha nascut en una epoca que no posseeix objectes, n i cases, ni espai exterior. Ja que l'espai inte-rior, caracterstic d'aquesta epoca, es tra ba mancar de forma, s intangible: flueix. 17 .

    Els individus sn basrions que es mouen, que es poden incorporar a constellacions. La rigorositat de la seva forma i la compacitat del seu blindatge n' intensifiquen la llu'issor, pero tamb els posen en perill la vida. s privilegi dels arquitectes treballar les formes individuals de manera que guanyin en capacitar de dialeg. L'art de Brancusi propasa en algun deis seus aspectes un pro-cediment d'aquest tipus, que fins avui, si ms no en els trets fonamentals, no s'ha posar en practica. -

    l. El tcxt prccedent s una versi red:tbor.1da de la segona pan d'una conferencia pronunciad:~ pct !'autor 1'1 de juny de 1988 en el transcur') d'un ~minni cdebnt 2 I'Esc:ol;a lknic:a Superior de Zuric (curs d'arquitectur.l dirigit ~r Hans Kollhoff). Sobre aquest 1cm:t, veg(!u Friedrich TcjJ Bach, Constamm Br..tnom: Aferamorpbo~n plastiK/xr Fonn, Coli>ni>, 1987.

    2. Flor.t MERRILL, Brancusi, 1926, cit. segons F:r. BACH, 1987. 3. Dorothy DUDLEY, Brnc:w, 1927, cit. scgons F.T. BACH, 1987. 4. MERRILL, op. cit. 5. DUDLEY, op. cjt. 6. Vegeu Claudc LEVISTRAUSS, El p

  • events. 12 According to this, projects such as Le Cor-busier's PLan Voisin are scientific; they are deductive plans from which to begin anew, attempts to achieve events through an abstraer structure, models characteristic of the modern era, but in our eyes in-creasingly questionable. Brancusi's studio, considered as a place structured on the basis of the realationships between formal events, responds to another position within the Modern Movement. Considered as a possi-ble architecture of the city, 13 it opts for the existence of a constellation of plastic bodies in each place, in order to organize what is heterotopological. Bran-cusi's works, of which each one is a unit in itself, can be combined together according to a scheme that endows the with greater liveliness, and potentiates their characteristics.. Art, understood also as the architec-ture of the city, should be a stimulus for life, this lar-ter term being understood by Brancusi as an anicula-tion of tensions, an interplay of opposites. ,morks each one of which constitutes a unir in itself: the fun-damental aspect of the interplay of urban architecture is the balance between unity and multiplicity, between the right to individuality and the need for globality. Works allow themselves to be combined together>>: the rule of the urban game is the combinatory method.

    To finish with , I should like to enunciare sorne of the archi tectural problems that should be reflected upon having contemplated Brancusi's study. In the first place, the problematical relationship between model and reali-ty. In The Dynamics of ArchitecturaL Form, Arnheim righdy drew attention to the problems arising as a result of the interdependence of form and size, since the bigger an object is, the bigger its volume in rela-tion to its surface area, because Surface increases ac-cording to its LineaL dimensions squared, whiLe voLume increases according to the cube. 15

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