The Art Space (Harvard GSD Studio Report)

The studio addresses the relationship between art and architecture. The students developed monographic museums dedicated to the specific stances of the following artists: Hans Arp, Ellen Gallagher, Isa Genzken, Dan Graham, Philip Guston, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Pierre Huyghe, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Pipilotti Rist, Wilhelm Sasnal, Roman Signer, and Monika Sosnowska. Each interpretation of the artists’ oeuvres guided the choice of an unexpected building type and the selection of an appropriate site within the city of Los Angeles. The city was also the destination of the field trip—generously funded by the gallery Hauser & Wirth—during which the students visited different art spaces and artist studios. The triad Art, Space, and Type thus defined the frame within which the students developed the tenets of their design for an ideal art space. The results address the tension between art and architecture as impartial disciplines. Furthermore, they tackle the debate around the significance of architecture in the contemporary art world, and the recurring question of the primacy of one over the other. The Art Space is a Studio Report from the Fall 2016 semester at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.