A Life in Motion: Norman Foster
Norman Foster’s landmark buildings shape cities all over the world. Mercedes me Magazine spoke with the creative giant about the transformative power of cars, his co-curated exhibition “Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture”, and the ventilation of his 300 SL Gullwing.
Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture.
Sir Norman Foster, we are looking forward to seeing the “Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture” exhibition in the iconic Guggenheim museum of Bilbao, which you co-curated. Those keywords open quite an epic panorama. How did you approach the exhibition?
If you try to sum up what characterizes our age, then it is a post-horse-drawn age that is one of motion, speed, movement, dynamic – and the automobile is the very epitome of that. Cars are perceived by some, including me, as being like sculptures or paintings. Indeed, many have been created by people who were trained as artists, some by architects, some by those that come from artistic families. If you consider how cars are designed in a studio: it’s still all about sculpting in clay just like in the studios of the Renaissance.
And there’s a cultural link to artists who have anticipated the streamlined forms of vehicles – whether that’s Constantin Brâncusi or Umberto Boccioni, or the beautiful curves of a Henry Moore sculpture. There is an aesthetic dimension to the automobile which has created a symbol for the 20th century, however, perhaps we are now reaching the end of that epoch. So it is time to celebrate the impact of the automobile.
Read the full interview here.
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