In the MARCO's line of activities, "César Portela, architect" signifies an important turning point as for the first time a monographic exhibition is included in its temporary exhibitions, which are generally group shows and thematic in nature.
There is a good reason for this novelty, as one of the MARCO's goals is the plurality of disciplines, the need to include in its programme disciplines that have been key to contemporary aesthetics such as architecture, design, film, the audiovisuals and so many other forms of expression. As is well known, group or thematic exhibitions on architecture are almost non-existent.
Hence the reason why we chose this project, and designed it in such as way as to be bring the professional and artistic persona of César Portela closer to the public, as his career is one of the most interesting and international of the last few decades in Spain.
The exhibition offers a tour of his entire work, from his earliest projects - such as the paradigmatic gypsy houses in Pontevedra - to Azuma Bridge in Japan, the Project for the 14th Block of the Seafront in Havana and the Bus Station in Cordova, right up to his most recent projects in Galicia, such as the Verbum-Casa de las Palabras in Vigo, the Maritime Museum in Vigo, whose first version was co-designed with Aldo Rossi and completed by Portela-, the Cemetery of Finisterre in A Coruña and the project for the future Convention Centre of Vigo.
The installation of the show converts the rooms of the first floor into a tour of the life and work of the architect, structured into the following thematic/chronological/geographical areas:
1. Reconstruction of interiors: the architect's studio
2. Works in Vigo
3. Reconstruction of interiors: a display of the materials used in his works
4. Works in Galicia
5. Semi-detached houses
6. Slide show of images taken from his personal album
7. Works outside Galicia
César Portela's buildings are characterised by their search for the essence, by a kind of wish to return to the origins, a neo-minimalism ornamented with fragments of slate like decorative frescos or tatooed skin covering the buildings, and at the same time, by the need to create an order inside the natural environment.
Aware that the protagonist of the exhibition has little to prove, the show is openly educational and communicative, and learning about architecture by viewing it is more important than any other criterion. With this in mind the layout follows criteria of chronology and situation, and includes models and photographic reproductions of the buildings that make up series of five images each in different formats, as well as large-scale reproductions of each one of his most emblematic buildings. The photographic series are complemented by a space devoted to video-projections and a documental room in which the visitor can obtain more information about the architect's work.
What is especially novel is the recreation of the architect's studio for the viewers to get to know first hand the aesthetic, literary, musical, cinematographic and philosophical influences behind the work of César Portela over all these years, and even his collection of masks and Mexican votive offerings. Both voyeurs and the curious are drawn to his creative place, which reveal the most private environment of the architect as the "creator of worlds", with all the responsibility that this implies.