The origins of brick go back to the Egyptians (30000 BC). Shaped from the natural raw material of earth, fired or uncooked, its production method has evolved considerably with industrialization and, more recently, in response to climate changes issues.
The Exhibition What do you want Brick?, whose title is borrowed from Louis Kahn, will feature some 50 works, from the modernist era to the present day. Architects have seized on the traditional standard brick as a building system, while diversifying their forms and materials. The structural elements evolve into facade motifs or claustras. Brick variations in bio-sourced raw materials and the reuse of waste from demolition and industrial overproduction represent major research alternatives applied to construction.
On a completely different scale, the artists and designers featured in the exhibition divert brick clay from its original purpose, giving it a whole new range of uses, both functional and symbolic, as many possible variations on this simple, multi-purpose form.
Artists, designers and architects
Alvar Aalto, Olivier Vadrot, Baptiste Meyniel, Patrick Fry, Harun Farocki, Jorge Méndez Blake, Bosco Sodi, Filip Dujardin, Pinaffo Pluvinage, Josef Albers, Raphael Zarka, Bijoy Jain, Bram Vanderbeke, Anupama Kundoo, Pierre Culot, Frédérick Gautier (FCK), Atelier Polyhèdre (Baptiste Ymonet et Vincent Jousseaume), Francis Kéré, BC Material, Basile Rabaey, Ellie Birkhead, Aurélien Veyrat, Studio Eidola, Floris Wubben, Booserm Premthada, François Azambourg, Aléa studio (Miriam Josi & Stella Lee Prowse), Marijke Jans, Maria-Elena Pombo, Zuzanna Skurka, Mercedes Klausner et Anna Saint-Pierre, BLAF architecten, Claude Courtecuisse, Julien Borel, Studio Biskt (Charlotte Gigan et Martin Duchesne), Floris Wubben.
Curator: Caroline Naphegyi
Set designer: Marie Douel
