lla Bêka and Louise Lemoine: The Experience of Space
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Homo Urbanus Petroburgumus. image / provided
"Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine are two of the foremost architectural artists working today. Their films focus on the relationship of people and space, emphasizing the presence of everyday life within some of the most iconic architectural projects of recent decades."
~Barbican Centre
Bêka and Lemoine have stood out in the international architectural scene for the last fifteen years through their cinematographic work known for its innovative nature and its tender and biting humor, which has disrupted the usual representation of contemporary architecture by putting people and uses at the forefront. A project which defeats the question of genre, by placing itself at the edges of the documentary and video art, through a singular and highly subjective style. Thanks to an authentic artistic perspective on architecture, Bêka and Lemoine open new horizons to the relationship between architecture and cinema.
Presented by The New-York Times as the "cult figures in the European architecture world", Bêka and Lemoine's work has been widely acclaimed as "a new form of criticism" (Mark) which "has deeply changed the way of looking at architecture" (Domus). Selected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as one of the "most exciting and critical design project of the year 2016," elected Game Changers 2015 by Metropolis Magazine, selected as one of the 100 most talented personalities of 2017 by Icon Design, the complete work of Bêka and Lemoine was acquired in 2016 by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for its permanent collection.
Their films have been widely presented in major biennials and international cultural events such as The Venice Architecture Biennale (2008, 2010, 2014), The Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016, the Seoul Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism 2017, Performa 17 in New York, among many others. Their films are also frequently exhibited in some of the most prestigious museums and international cultural institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Bêka and Lemoine's films have also largely been selected and awarded by some major film festivals such as CPH:DOX, Copenhagen; DocAviv, Tel Aviv; Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago; Torino Film Festival, Turin; among many others.
Bêka and Lemoine are regularly invited to lecture at universities including GSD, Harvard University, Boston; GSAPP Columbia University, New York; and AAP, Cornell University, New York. In 2018 they have been laureate of Villa Kujoyarna, a French residency program for artists in Japan, and Ila Bêka has been a laureate Italian Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Bêka and Lemoine have been invited as guest professors at GSAPP, Columbia University; the New York/Paris Program at Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Switzerland; Domaine de Boisbuchet, France; and HEAD in Geneva, Switzerland. They are currently teaching Diploma 16 at AA School in London.
Abstract:
Through a series of film excerpts, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine will present their evolving cinematographic research, from their first well-known films revealing the daily intimacy within contemporary iconic buildings to their ongoing film series Homo Urbanus observing the cultural variations towards our essential needs, behaviors, and habits in relation to urban space.
Talking about their unique and radical position against the main strategies of representation in architecture they will explain their working methodology as filmmakers and independent producers.
