Architecture Cabinet - Microcosm

Public life, in all its various facets, is played out in any number of buildings within the modern metropolis: theatres, churches and auditoriums, but also hospitals, banks and schools… These public interiors form a city within the city, a unique inner world. Most of these edifices can trace their origins back to the development of new urban and commercial institutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and to the unruly building boom that fundamentally changed the face of cities. Since then, the city is often depicted as a collection of public interiors, each a world unto itself, a microcosm.

The exhibition Microcosm gathers a number of historical and contemporary illustrations, many of which are extremely beautiful, that capture the wealth of spatial experiences that emerge in the city. We hone in on the everyday events that take place in these buildings, from Rudolph Ackermann’s Microcosm of London, depicting the splendour and misery of the English metropolis, to Candida Höfer’s serene photographs of museums, libraries and other prominent buildings within the modern city.

Opening
together with the vernissage of Find myself a city to live in. De Smet Vermeulen architecten on Thursday 9 Feb 2017 at 8pm in the Blauwe Zaal