Angels and Architecture | Imre Makovecz 90
"The real adventure of architecture is to connect heaven and earth."
Imre Makovecz
The exhibition Angels and Architecture | Imre Makovecz 90 celebrates the 90th anniversary of the birth of Imre Makovecz (1935-2011). The exhibition uses drawings, sound effects, original audio and film recordings, music, models, and photos to showcase the extraordinary architect's spirit, beliefs, imagination, and architectural creations.
Imre Makovecz believed in the existence of angels. These beings protect us and accompany us mortals throughout our earthly journey—through light, twilight, and darkness, and back into the light again. Makovecz's buildings are like angels: they provide shelter while connecting us and the earth we stand on with the sky above us on the wings of inspiration – and even with dimensions beyond.
Whether we stand under the ribbed domes of the galleries, lecture halls, and houses he designed, or under the winged roof structure of the village hall in Baki, or step inside the circular walls of the forest cultural center in Visegrád or the funeral home in Farkasrét, Makovecz's "building creatures" always surprise us and put us at the center – and at the same time, they are uplifting.
In his work to renew Hungarian villages, Makovecz used organic architecture, carpentry, local expertise, and materials as tools. Driven by his burning ambition, he created distinctive buildings that improved the morale of the people living there and fit in not only with their physical environment but also with their ancient spiritual and cultural environment: his buildings are imbued with local folklore, local legends, nature, and the old Christian faith.
The architectural design and construction of Makovecz's buildings are rich in symbolism in every element. And although the buildings draw on many different sources, they are primarily the products of Imre Makovecz's imagination and the talent and expertise of his numerous creative partners.
Schedule
This exhibition was organized and commissioned by the Imre Makovecz Foundation. The aim of the exhibition is to present the spirit of Imre Makovecz's architecture and to evoke the architect's emotional and intellectual world. We carried out our curatorial work in the hope that Imre Makovecz's last great work, the Church of the Resurrection, which he also referred to as the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, would also be realized.
Makovecz's buildings are truly "living beings." They helped restore spiritual content to Hungary and Hungarian architecture where it was in danger of disappearing. Was the assessment of this work controversial? Perhaps, but Makovecz and his colleagues were nevertheless the architectural angels of Hungary.
Jonathan Glancey, curator
Kunsthalle Budapest
The largest exhibition hall in Budapest, in Heroes Square, just the opposite the Museum of Fine Arts.