When I was up in Canada I didn’t get a chance to visit Montreal. Our little Subaru skirted around the civic center and got caught in some rush hour traffic. This gave me a chance to gaze longingly at the seemingly-abandoned biosphere, sitting as it does on a marshy area dotted with crusty 60s and 70s apartment buildings. (See drowning in culture for a hit of Safdie-esque détournement.) The Bucky dome, built originally for the 67 Expo, burned in 1976, but the bubble was restored in 1990 and now is home to, appropriately enough, an environmental museum.
Via Off the Fence, via Library and Archives, Canada.
I also missed an entry for my tiny file while zooming past the city. The a new photography show at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Naoya Hatakeyama: Scales features three series of images by the Japanese artist.
New York/Tobu World Square and New York/Window of the World depict scaled architecture models of New York City’s streets and skyscrapers. The photographs ape the high-contrast, modern tropes of photographers Berenice Abbott and Alfred Stieglitz, but also reveal the preciousness and artificiality of the models, and by extension, the fragile façade of the city.
New York/Window of the World
Naoya Hatakeyama
CCA collection
New York/Tobu World Square
Naoya Hatakeyama
CCA collection
I've been looking for that burning dome image for ages. It was in an exhibit Bruce Mau did ages ago at the Design Exchange in Toronto called Pop in Orbit. Where did you find it?
Posted by: chris | October 02, 2007 at 12:04 PM
Google image search, gotta love it. I'll search again and post the link.
Posted by: mimi | October 02, 2007 at 12:21 PM
no way. i did that for a few hours a couple of weeks ago. And I think you should qualify the 'canada' to 'eastern french-speaking, trying to break free canada.' just sayin'.
Posted by: chris | October 03, 2007 at 06:41 PM