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9/10/2007

The Void

Bozar - Centre for Fine Arts, Bruxelles

Goncalo Byrne and the Aires Mateus brothers

"The Void" exhibition uses huge models and scores of plans and photographs to illustrate eleven projects by the architects Gonçalo Byrne and the Aires Mateus brothers. The result is a fascinating dialogue between the oeuvre of two leading Portuguese architectural practices.

Both Gonçalo Byrne and the Aires Mateus brothers have made Lisbon their base. And both firms can claim to have left their mark on contemporary Portuguese architecture in recent decades with dignified and very precise work that questions elementary principles of architecture and that relays on the time-honoured tradition of architecture as a discipline.

Neither Byrne nor Aires Mateus sees a building primarily as an object. 'Negative space' underlies the architecture of both building practices and is the common and recurring theme in their approach. They stress that it is the void that gives structure to architecture and the city. It is the empty spaces that make living in society possible and give it form.

This year the Aires Mateus brothers' Arts Centre in Sines (P) was short-listed for the prestigious European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award. Gonçalo Byrne has a Belgian connection, having built the provincial government building of Flemish Brabant in Leuven several years ago.
The exhibition is organized to mark the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union.

Bozar Centre for Fine Arts
Rue Ravensteinstraat 23 - Brussels

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