PRAGUE.- The first comprehensive exhibition of work by renowned architect, engineer, and artist Santiago Calatrava will be on display at the Stone Bell House in Prague from June 7 to September 16, 2018. The show, Santiago Calatrava: Art and Architecture, will provide unprecedented insight into the work and creative process of the acclaimed Spanish-born architect.
“This exhibition provides an exceptional glimpse of Calatrava’s singularity, his constant search for an individual artistic path and how he has established his own architectural vocabulary, far from all the conventions of his time, with a completely new internal logic, and in a way, through sculpture,” said exhibition curator Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz.
Santiago Calatrava: Art and Architecture will showcase Calatrava’s unparalleled poetic architectural style, characterized by a sense of movement and tension which takes its inspiration from the forms and shapes of the natural world and human anatomy. The exhibition will celebrate Calatrava as not only an architect but also as a sculptor and painter in his own right, exploring all facets of his distinct creative process.
Large format paintings, kinetic sculptures and abstract sculptures will be exhibited alongside spectacular architectural models from some of his most celebrated designs, including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York, the Dubai Tower, slated to be the world’s tallest tower, and the UAE Pavilion for the Dubai World Expo in 2020. The designer of over 40 bridges around the world, the exhibition will highlight Calatrava’s unique bridge design aesthetic and will feature the Sharq Crossing, which features three interconnected bridges and two tunnels traversing the Doha Bay in Qatar. Additionally, the exhibition will display some of Calatrava’s original sketchbooks, and a selection of more than a hundred drawings, the largest collection ever shown. As his sketches evolve from concept to reality, the inclusion of these drawings demonstrate how integral sketching and painting is in Calatrava’s multi-faceted design process.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Prague City Gallery. The hardcover book will be available for purchase in the Stone Bell Store.
Santiago Calatrava is an architect, engineer, painter and sculptor. Among his many international architectural projects, his most recent are The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbor, the Greenwich Peninsula in London, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and St. Nicholas Church in New York City. Calatrava has received numerous prizes and awards from renowned institutions and organizations. His most recent awards include The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies & The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design’s 2015 European Prize for Architecture as well as the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s 10 Year Award for the Turning Torso skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden (2015). Throughout his career, he has received over 20 honorary doctorates from many of the most prestigious universities around the world. Born in the Spanish city of Valencia, Mr. Calatrava resides in Zurich and New York City.
