Brutalism Revisited

Speaker: Yehuda E. Safran
Discussant: Mustansir Dalvi
In collaboration with StudioX, Mumbai

March 18, 2014 | 6.30 pm
Studio X, Mumbai

Brutalism is a style of architecture which was part of the International Style of Architecture that demanded a different approach towards architectural design. The term New Brutalism was first applied in 1953 by the British architects, Peter Smithson and Alison Smithson. These two architects along with Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson, Richard Hamilton and James Sterling among others, formed the Independent Group, and in the same year, organized the exhibition ‘Parallel to Life and Art’ held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. New Brutalism has come to acquire strong political associations in Sau Paulo and elsewhere, with many architectural projects being conceived in this aesthetic. In some instances, its sublime qualities extend from churches to a flower-shop. The lecture will consider the ideas of New Brutalism in the context of the Group and the ICA, and the limitations of this conception. Expanding on the origin of the term (Jean Dubuffet), and its relation to certain continental preoccupations with age-old aesthetic qualities, the speaker will connect to other movements such as Outsider Art or Art Brut. This presentation will also seek to connect the recent search for a rhetoric of materiality and temporality with age-old preoccupations in art and architecture, and the debates which brought about the demise of some key buildings conceived and executed by Brutalists. References will also be made to the Metabolists, which was a group formed by young Japanese architects and city planners in the late 1950s, and as much pioneers as Le Corbusier. In a certain sense, this presentation is conceived as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the subject, and will also discuss such architecture in England and India.

Yehuda E. Safran studied art, architecture and philosophy at the Saint Martin’s School of Art, the Royal College of Art, and the University College, London respectively. He has lectured and held fellowships at many international universities and published widely in scholarly journals. Currently, he lives and works in New York, where he directs the Potlatch journal and the Research Lab for Art and Architecture and teaches at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Mustansir Dalvi is Professor of architecture at the Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai. He has published in well-known journals such as Domus, Art India, The Economic and Political Weekly, Marg and the Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects, among others. He also writes two columns in Time Out Mumbai and Firstpost, where he observes and critiques.