The International symposium focuses on the collaborations and friendships that most shaped her design concepts.
An international symposium examining the life, work and legacy of Eileen Gray, one
of the most celebrated and influential designers and architects of the 20th-century,
will be held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday 13 May and Wednesday 14
May 2014. The symposium is presented in association with the Centre Pompidou, Paris,
in advance of the much anticipated opening of the restored villa E-1027 in 2015 and
following the recent successful exhibition Eileen Gray Architect Designer Painter
attended by some 80,000 visitors to IMMA.
The symposium investigates the extraordinary achievements by Gray that went
unrecognised until her 90s and focuses on the collaborations and friendships that
most shaped her design concepts. Amongst the speakers taking part are: Peter Adam
(Filmmaker and Author, Eileen Gray Her Life and Work, 2009) who will discuss his
close working friendship and memories of Eileen Gray; Beatriz Colomina
(Architectural Historian and Professor of History and Theory of Architecture,
Princeton University, USA) who will discuss her research into the unique
circumstances of villa E-1027’s creation, history and controversy; Philippe Daniel
Garner (Director of Christie’s Auctions and Sales, London) will explain how research
into Gray’s work was the impetus into his design interests (In 2009, Christie’s sold
a Gray armchair at auction in Paris for €21.9 million, setting an auction record for
20th-century decorative art) and Joseph Rykwert (Architectural Historian, Critic and
2014 RIBA Gold Medalist) who will explore how Gray’s all-embracing work remains a
puzzle in the history of architecture, and is one of the most fascinating episodes
in the development of European Modernity. All speakers will look at the importance
of and critical role women have played within the evolution of architectural theory
and design of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
PROGRAMME
Tuesday 13 May 2014
6.00pm
Wine Reception + Registration
6.30pm
Prelude Discussion My friend Eileen Gray
Peter Adam (Filmmaker and Author, Eileen Gray Her Life and Work, 2009) opens the
symposium.
Peter Adam (Filmmaker and Author of Eileen Gray Her Life and Work) discusses his
friendship and memories of Gray in My Friend Eileen Gray.
Screenings of documentary on Eileen Gray, Lecture Room
Wednesday 14 May 2014
9.30am
Tea/Coffee and Registration
10.00am
Chairpersons Address
Kathleen James-Chakraborty (Professor of Art History, University College Dublin)
introduces Gray’s work within the historical framework of Bauhaus design.
10.15am
Presentation on Eileen Gray, Architect, Designer, Painter - new discoveries
Cloé Pitiot (Curator of Design, Centre Pompidou, Paris)
10.45am
Presentation on Seizo Sugawara, an enduring collaborator
Ruth Starr (lecturer, Arts of Japan in the History of Art and Architecture, TCD)
11.05am
Presentation on Eileen Gray’s Irish Roots
Jennifer Goff (Curator, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin)
11.25am
Panel Discussion and Questions & Answers
Kathleen James-Chakraborty steers a discussion with Cloé Pitiot, Ruth Starr and
Jennifer Goff looking at Gray’s formative years, creative paths and social
challenges as a Total Designer.
11.25am
Coffee Interval
11.45am
Presentation on Gray at auction – 40 years of discovery
Philippe Daniel Garner (Director of
Christie's Auctions and Sales, London)
tells of how his professional activity in the auction world has given him unique
opportunities to engage with works by Eileen Gray, including the selling of the
Dragons chair.
12.10pm
Presentation on Gray’s Participation in the commercial design worlds
Daniel Aram (Managing Director of Aram Designs Ltd, London and worldwide License
Holder of Eileen Gray designs) discusses why Gray’s last tasks in the early 1970s
included working with Zeev Aram on introducing her designs into the world market.
12.30pm
Discussion and Questions & Answers
Philippe Daniel Garner, Daniel Aram and others discuss the various impacts of
commissioning, client partnerships, collecting, manufacturing and the marketplace
has had on the evolving reception of Gray’s work over the years.
12.50 - 2.00pm
Lunch Break and Screenings, Lecture Room
2.00pm
Presentation on E-1027 - A House of ill Repute
Beatriz Colomina (Architectural Historian and Professor of History and Theory of
Architecture, Princeton University, USA) on Le Corbusier’s role in the controversy
of E-1027.
2.30pm
Presentation on E-1027- A house by the sea
Renaud Barrès (Architect and Director of CAUE, Carcassonne, France) discussed how
E-1027 suffered greatly in the 1980s, when looted and abandoned, explaining why the
subsequent restoration is equally as problematic.
3.00pm
Discussion and Questions & Answers
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Beatriz Colomina and Renaud Barrès on what we can learn
from E-1027 in terms of preserving a modern building’s history and memory.
3.45pm
In Conversation - Memory and Modernity
Joseph Rykwert (Architectural Historian, Critic and 2014 RIBA Gold Medalist) and
Shane O’ Toole (Architect, Historian, Writer and Campaigner for threatened
buildings) discuss Rykwert’s infamous article Domus 469 and the architectural
community’s rediscovery of Eileen Gray. Questions & Answers.
4.30pm
Final Words
Kathleen James-Chakraborty (Professor of Art History, University College Dublin) and
other guests pay their tributes to Gray’s extraordinary achievements, and her legacy
as a role model for today’s architects, designers and visual artists.
4.50pm
Close
This event is kindly supported by Dylan Hotel, the French Embassy in Ireland, Centre
Pompidou, Paris and Aram Stores, London.
For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy
at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: press@imma.ie
Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital - Military Road - Kilmainham, Dublin 8
Tickets €25.00. Purchase tickets from showclix at
http://www.showclix.com/event/EileenGraySymposium
Concessions €15.00, Seniors, Unwaged and Students; valid ID required. Email your
concession requests to talksandlectures@imma.ie
Ticket lines close Monday 12 May 2014.