Presented in a time when form is often reduced to function and space to profit, the exhibition Odile Decq at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro (MSUCG) reminds us of architecture as a sublime and unique art that can be both an attitude and poetry and a voice and a game. The exhibition "Beyond the Looking Glass" by the famous French architect, designer, urban planner, and artist does not ask you to understand it, but to feel it and communicate with it, and not to look at yourself in the mirror, but at the numerous possibilities that the world and space offer, only if we imagine them differently, if we dare to be braver, freer, more beautiful...
The exhibition by Odile Decq, which opened on Thursday evening at the Petrović Castle, in front of a large number of visitors, invites us to reexamine the spaces that surround us, reflecting a braver and freer world, emphasizes the curator of the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro (MSUCG), Blanka Marković.
Welcoming those present at the opening, Decq emphasized that she was very pleased to be back in Montenegro, a year after she was on the jury of the international competition for the conceptual architectural design of the MSUCG building. That's when the idea came to present herself to the Montenegrin audience with an exhibition.
"I enjoyed that opportunity. Everyone thought that maybe I could exhibit at the Museum and suggested it to me, to which I said, why not? I asked how I should introduce myself, to which they told me that I could do whatever I wanted. So I thought that maybe this was an opportunity for me to show that being in a contemporary art museum is not the same as being in an architecture museum. So, to show that, but also to show that for me architecture is everything. First of all, you have to know that architecture is the passion of my life. I live, breathe, dream, I do everything with architecture. But also, that was not (wasn't) enough. Architecture led me to art, contemporary art, design, urbanism, cities, discovering the world. That's what I want to show and express through this exhibition, showing some artwork, some designs and my projects, all together," said Decq at the opening.
The ceremony was held in front of the gallery space of the Castle, in Kruševac Park, which has become a kind of practice, and which gives a more solemn tone to the event itself. And then, at the very entrance to the Castle and the world of the exhibition, a mirror stops you... Not so much because of your own reflection that you see in it, but because of everything that is hidden behind it and that can be seen further. The door opens to a world in which architecture is not just a functional framework, but begins to breathe, communicate and invite play, interaction, reflection, and all through a dialogue with the space, outside of all assumed frameworks.
The industrial approach is particularly striking, as well as the minimalism and fluidity of the form in contrast with the expressive colors, dominant red, black and white, which give the impression of power, strength, passion, but also contemporary elegance with a touch of a playful futuristic fairy tale. Although everything occasionally seems simple, it is extremely thoughtful and layered. The presented works are not slaves to borders, walls, corners, or thoughts. Using shadows, reflections, illusions, Decq introduces the viewer to a different perception of space in which a drawing, a lamp, a table, an installation, a building... become part of the same story.
Marković points out that Odile Decq's monumental creative opus represents a fusion of architecture, applied, and contemporary art, opens up space for multidisciplinarity, and connects the audience with architecture, not only as a technical discipline, but also as an artistic and life practice.
"Her practice reflects the specifics of her academic and professional path. In a world where architecture and design often become uniform, erasing cultural, historical and social specificities, Decq has been building an authentic, clearly recognizable direction from the very beginning. Black, red, steel, metal and glass, with their opulence and insight, dart through space and time, while simultaneously demonstrating softness, tenderness and ease of execution - characteristics that the artist herself embodies. Her personal and creative temperament is extremely expressive and unconventional, and as such she quickly stood out and advanced in the profession, and more than that - in an environment that shunned what was different, Decq managed to turn her aesthetic uniqueness, but also gender inequality, into an inexhaustible force," notes Marković.
The author's contemporary artistic practice, adds Marković, is based on various media. Sketches, drawings, graphics, objects, sculptures... often arise as an extension of architectural ideas or vice versa - new architectural concepts arise from artistic research. It is important to know, the curator points out, that, according to Decq, architecture is a space in which people move, live and feel freely, and must be humanistic regardless of whether it is a museum, an apartment building or offices.
The exhibition, Marković reminds, is divided into three segments: art, design and architecture, which are intertwined, creating the impression of the creative dynamism of form, materials and ideas.
"The architectural segment presents some of the most prominent projects of the Odil Decq studio, including the Antares Tower in Barcelona, which is an example of an architectural project as a total work of art, then three types of residential houses, and three museum projects. The design-oriented segment of the exhibition includes pieces of furniture, lighting fixtures, porcelain objects and other utilitarian objects exhibited around the world and integrated into architectural projects. The exhibition is specially adapted to the ambience of the Petrović Castle and Kruševac Park through two in-situ installations. These spatial interventions boldly communicate with the architectural environment and as such reflect the recognizable principle of Decq's work," emphasizes Marković.
The "Flying Squares" installation is located in the main room of the Castle, made of black aluminum rods and does not usurp the space, Marković notes, but rather emphasizes its existing forms, creating a specific interplay of old and new. On the other hand, the concrete installation "Seating in the Air" in the park, with its broken structure, evokes the brutalist aesthetics of the monuments of the former Yugoslavia. It is compositionally integrated into the ambience of the Kruševac park, thus becoming an additional architectural element that invites the observer to interact, Marković concludes.
To step into Odile Decq's mirror(s) and all that lies behind them is to step out of the realm of the known and into a world where architecture does not imitate, but creates space, meaning, feeling. It is a space where walls speak easily, shadows dialogue with light, and every object, be it a table, a drawing, or an installation, has its own memorable voice. To step into these mirrors is to accept an invitation to play, freedom, and exploration of the possible.
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