To continue

In 1967, artist Richard Serra acquired a large quantity of industrial rubber left over after a bankruptcy. To discover the potential of the material, Serra drew up a list of verbs; actions that could be applied in relation to the material and in relation to the place. To fold, to cut, to twist, to dangle, to…
By performing these simple actions on the material from which they are derived, a series of works is created that will lead to a consistent oeuvre, a syntax of its own.

The task Serra set himself to find a strategy for dealing with the material at hand is comparable to the challenge architects face today. How to deal with the “as found”. The material architects are confronted with is no longer just raw matter. It is semi-finished products, structural systems, hybrids that need to be dismantled and reassembled.

The lecture explores the presence of typological operations in anonymous structures. Based on the archive built up in the Primary Structure studio, anonymous constructions, from historic palazzi to contemporary petrol stations, are compared with the work of GAFPA on the basis of similar operations present in them.