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- Exhibition À ciel ouvert by Felice Varini, MAMO
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In 2013, French designer and artist Ora Ito created the MAMO on the rooftop of the Marseille Modulor (MaMo) better known as Cité Radieuse, the famous “Unité d'Habitation”, as a location dedicated to artistic creativity, making Le Corbusier's masterpiece - built between 1945 and 1952 - both its backdrop and the spark for new contemporary creations. Apparently Le Corbusier himself intended to hold performances and exhibitions on the MaMo rooftop..
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After Xavier Veilhan, Daniel Buren and Dan Graham, for the 2016 installation Ora Ito sought an artist who could take not just a building of great value - along with another 16 constructions and sites by Le Corbusier two weeks ago it was listed as a UNESCO world heritage - but what is actually a whole village and play with it, underscoring and showcasing it.
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So Paris-based Swiss artist Felice Varini was invited to try his hand with this vertical town of 337 duplex apartments, the manifesto of one the 20th century's most influential architects.
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Shaped like an ocean liner, the rooftop terrace of Unité d'Habitation is the ship's bridge, offering a unique view over the city of Marseilles, whose history is so closely tied to the Mediterranean.
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Felice Varini - known for his “site-specific” approach - interacts with Le Corbusier for the first time here. He designed some bold red and yellow geometric pieces, using the project-stencil technique to change our perception of the place, selecting specific vantage points from which he wanted his pieces to be viewed.
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Felice Varini proposes three separate “Open Air” works on the rooftop: Triangles Percés, À ciel ouvert and Quatre Droites aux Trois Croisements. Each one gives visitors a new visual and spatial experience of Le Corbusier's architecture, without losing sight of its urban setting - Marseilles. An artistic invitation to take a really close look at this masterpiece of modernist architecture to get a better understanding of it.
Christiane Bürklein
Exhibition À ciel ouvert http://mamo.fr/expositions/a-ciel-ouvert-felice-varini/
from 2 July to 02 October 2016
Artist: Felice Varini
Location: Centre d'art de la Cité Radieuse, 280 Boulevard Michelet, 13008 Marseille, France
Year: 2016
Images: © André Morin