ICAM 1515TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ARCHITECTURAL MUSEUMS

15E CONGRÈS INTERNATIONAL DES MUSÉES D’ARCHITECTURE

May 29th – June 3rd 2010/ 29 Mai - 3 Juin 2010

CITÉ DE L’ARCHITECTURE & DU PATRIMOINE

Musée des Monuments français / Centre d’archives d’architecture du XXe siècle

CONTENTS

1 – The Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine

2 – Icam: the International Confederation of Architectural Museums

3 – The conference program:general outlay and sessions content

4 – The post-tour: general outlay

5 – Organisation

6 – Contacts

Palais de Chaillot © Nicolas Borel

1 – The Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine

Located on the Chaillot hill in the museum heart of Paris, and offering from its galleries some of the most beautiful views of the Eiffel tower, Paris’s new museum of architecture is an important stop for every tourist or visitor of the French capital. Its collections offer a geographical and historical journey through French architecture, from the 11th to the 21st century.

The combination in its title of the two terms of “architecture” and of “heritage” reflects the founding principle and the originality of the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. Its aim is to prove that architecture and heritage go hand in hand to help promote architectural awareness and architectural quality.

With a total surface of approximately 22,000 square metres, the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine combines permanent exhibition galleries, temporary exhibition spaces, an important archive centre and an architectural library, an auditorium, a bookshop and a café. Through a wide range of activities, exhibitions, conferences, workshops, the Cité targets both general public and specialists in architecture or town planning.

The Cité is made up of three departments: the Musée des Monuments français (the museum and the heritage department), the Institut Français d’Architecture (an institute devoted to French contemporary creation and the archives of 20th century architects) and the École de Chaillot (a prestigious school dedicated to the training of architects specialized in the preservation and restoration of historic buildings).

2 – icam: the International Confederation of Architectural Museums

The 15th icam conference shall take place in Paris, organised by the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine.

Icam is dedicated to fostering links between all those interested in promoting the better understanding of architecture. It was founded in response to the emergence of architectural museums as distinctive institutions. The founding members established the organisation on 22 August 1979, during icam’s first conference in Helsinki. In 1980, icam affiliated itself to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), as an international specialised body. The title ‘confederation’ recognises the wide range of institutions which fulfil the icam statutes, including museums, centres, archives, collections and libraries.

Icam and its members aim to:* Preserve the architectural record* Raise the quality and protection of the built environment* Foster the study of architectural history in the interest of future practice* Stimulate the public appreciation of architecture* Promote the exchange of information and professional expertise

Today, icam counts over a hundred institutional members, among which: the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Getty Research Institute, Columbia University, the Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (NAI), the Architekturzentrum Wien, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), etc.

The conference, a forum for professionals, takes place every two years. It usually lasts five days and concludes with a post-conference tour. The proceedings are published. Members share expertise and information about institutions, exhibitions, publications, architectural documents, architectural and museum issues and other matters of common interest.

The organisation also publishes icam-print, every two years. It contains interviews with key figures of the architecture scene and deals with themes as diverse as: education, the art market, exhibiting architecture...

In 29 years, icam has organised 14 conferences, in the following cities : Helsinki (1979), London (1981), Amsterdam (1984), Poland (Warsaw and Wroclaw, 1987), Montreal (1989), Stockholm (1991), Madrid (1994), New York City (1996), Edinburgh (1998), Rio de Janeiro (2000), Vienna (2002), Venice (2004), Athens (2006), Oslo (2008).

And Paris in 2010!

3 – The conference program:general outlay and sessions content

The conference is organised around 5 lecture sessions (introduced by an opening lecture), with site visits and visits to institutions.

Sessions

In a period of economic crisis, of urban and social mutations, is indefinite expansion still the expected future for architectural institutions? Are we engaged in a period of changes, concerning the organisation of our institutions, their budgets or their acquisition policies? Can this foster, for example, the merging of cultural institutions of various scope (on architecture, design, visual arts, etc.), or lead to a greater focus on ‘star’ people or material? What new opportunities stand in front of us? Three sessions shall explore these issues: in managing architectural centres (session 1, Mergers and Partnerships), in dealing with prominent figures (session 2, The Icon and the Star), and in building up an archival collection (session 3, Challenges and Opportunities).

Throughout the last conferences, icam has explored professional issues as diverse as the making of permanent and of temporary exhibitions, or the conservation of photographs, of architectural models, and even of buildings. This year, two sessions shall deal with exhibitions, raising issues never addressed so far in icam conferences: the architecture book as exhibit (session 4) and the use of text in exhibitions (session 5).

Session 1. Changing Institutions - Mergers and PartnershipsChair: Dietmar Steiner, Architekturzentrum, Vienna Round-table.

The stand-alone Architecture Museum, with the whole program of collection, research, exhibition, library, publication, education, excursion, is a relatively new phenomenon in the general history of Museums. The subject of Architecture in the context of a ‘museum’ appears in different positions. Historically established in departments of museums of fine arts, graphic collections or libraries, the idea of an Architecture Museum is nowadays confronted with cultural policies, which try to join or affiliate the subject of architecture again with other disciplines like design, the building industry, or getting integrated in general cultural institutions. This session will ask for the experiences of icam members who are concerned with this kind of policies as well as their analysis about future developments. On a more general level, the session will discuss the autonomy of architecture as a discipline of art and the connection with other system of cultural rules.

Session 2. The Icon and the StarChair: Ulf Grønvold, The National Museum of Art, Oslo

In the Middle Ages the Gothic cathedral was the proud symbol of its city. Today the Sydney Opera is the trade mark for a whole continent in the same way as the Eiffel tower reminds us of Paris. The modern cult of the star architect has made

the desire for the unique building much stronger: nowadays for instance a new museum shall not just function perfectly but also look differently from anything you have seen before. Buildings with special qualities will always present a main interest for architectural museums, but are we giving too much attention to the stars and the icon buildings and neglecting the general architectural fabric of our cities? This session will address the issues of iconic buildings used for city or country branding, of collecting materials from star architects, and of the balance between the ordinary and the unique.

Session 3. Challenges and Opportunities: Building up an Archive CollectionChair: Sofie de Caigny, Centre for Flemish Architectural Archives (Architecture Institute Flanders), AntwerpRound-table.

Never complete though overabundant, architects’ archives often lack important information. The number of architectural practices who still possess their records is tremendously beyond the number of holdings taken in charge by collecting institutions so far. How can those institutions – architectural museums and archives – build a documentation or collection strategy from such a fragmentary material? The issue raises many questions. Can sampling policies be imagined? Can different holdings enrich one another and build up consistent series? Should architects be warned against their attempts at disposing of some of their records, or against their various representation strategies? Does the new digital environment add pressure on these choices? Is an entire generation of born-digital architectural projects at risk of not being documented, putting the question ‘which archives of which architects to collect, how and why’ more at stake than ever? The session will examine how archives can define their mission statement, build up clear collecting lines, and follow them in spite of (growing) contingencies.

Session 4. “Do not Judge the Book by its Cover”: Architecture Books in ExhibitionsChair: Irena Murray, British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects

The architecture book has played a fundamental role in the dissemination of ideas, their cultural transmission and eventual transformation. The book remains an integral part of the architectural project today, while its sequential nature often defies its claims as an object in the context of architectural exhibitions. This session will draw upon the specificity of architectural books to explore how the 21st

century curators, conservators, book- and exhibition designers engage with architectural books alongside drawings and other types of visual representation. It will examine the means of enabling books as both narrative and physical objects in architectural space. Finally, it will explore the opportunities and modes of exhibiting books by virtual means or in on-line exhibitions. This session invites us to see how we can make architecture books in exhibitions more “present” to the visitors.

Session 5. Exhibitions: the Place of TextChair: Marc Treib, University of California, Berkeley

Given the widespread prominence enjoyed by images in today’s world, what is the role of the text in architectural exhibitions? While it is said that one picture is worth a thousand words, one can imagine certain situations in which several words might perform more effectively than any image or object. This session will

examine the place of text within exhibitions today: curator’s statements, identification labels, didactic explanations, tools of propaganda. Why and how should texts be constructed and take graphic form? What lengths and styles best engage and inform the visitor? How do the content, context, typography, and the positioning of text contribute to the legibility and impact of the exhibition? This session invites submissions from curators, educational staff, historians, and graphic and the exhibition designers that examine the considered use of text in printed or electronic form.

Architecture collection visits

The congress is a unique place for meeting and exchanging between professionals. Visits shall be scheduled to see the main French collections dealing with architecture, and exchange on the nature of these collections, the acquisition policies and the activities of these institutions. Program currently (May 2009) being prepared, available this autumn.

As for the collections of the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, they are threefold: founded in 1882, the collections of life-size casts and models of the Museum of French Monuments allow for a structural and decorative analysis of the architecture from the 12th until the 18th century. An additional collection of models was created in 2007 around the architecture of the 19th and 20th

centuries. Founded in 1989, the archive centre of the French Architectural Institute protects and curates a collection of more than 350 archives of French architectural agencies of the 20th century.

Museum galleries: the Gothic plaster casts, the Modern and Contemporary Architecture Gallery; watercolor by architect Henri Sauvage (Métropolis building, 1928)

Site visits

The conference program combines lecture sessions and field visits. Exceptional buildings, often part of the French National Heritage, shall be opened especially for congress members. The guides, experts in their field, shall deal with issues of conservation, restoration and urban planning.

The program is currently (May 2009) under construction. Possible visits include:

Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (Sainte-Geneviève library), 1839-1850, Paris 5Henri Labrouste (1801-1875), architect

Moulin de la chocolaterie Menier (Menier chocolate factory mill), 1871-1872, NoisielJules Saulnier (1817-1881), architect

Église Notre-Dame de la Consolation, 1922-1923, Le Raincy (Le Raincy Church)Auguste Perret (1874-1954), Gustave Perret (1876-1952), architects

Musée des Travaux publics (Museum of Public Works), 1936-1948, Paris 16Auguste Perret (1874-1954), Gustave Perret (1876-1952), architects

Villa Savoye, 1928-1931, PoissyLe Corbusier (1887-1965), architect

Maison Carré (house of Louis Carré), 1957-1959, Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), architect

Palais de l’Unesco (UNESCO headquarters), 1952-1958, Paris 7Marcel Breuer, Bernard Zehrfuss, architects, Pier Luigi Nervi, engineer

Siège du Parti communiste français (French Communist Party headquarters), 1968-1980, Paris 19Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Deroche, Paul Chemetov, architects ;Jean Prouvé, Bernard et Jacques Tricot, engineers.

Quartier Masséna (Masséna urban development district), 1995–2010, Paris 13, Christian de Portzamparc, architect, in charge of the master plan.

Auguste Perret: Museum of Public Works, 1939

4 – The post-tour: contents and program, general outlay

From June 4th to June 8th, towards Lyon

The post-tour lasts 5 days, from Friday to Tuesday included. Optional and on registration, it usually includes around 30 participants. In 2010, the post-tour shall travel from Paris towards south-east of France and provide a discovery of Lyon and post-war Le Corbusier in the surroundings.

It is now (May 2009) being prepared, but amongst the probable visits, there should be:

Lyon : the architecture of Tony Garnier 1904-1933the Saône river banks, 19th century the Confluence area and museum, under construction (Coop Himmelb(l)au)the Opera, 1986-1993 (Jean Nouvel)the Gallo-Roman museum, 1975 (Bernard Zehrfuss)and much more

Villeurbanne : the Cité des gratte-ciel (Skyscrapers avenue), 1931-1934 (Môrice Leroux)

Vénissieux : the public library, 1997-2007 (Dominique Perrault)

Éveux : the Dominican convent of La Tourette, 1956-1959 (Le Corbusier)

Firminy : the Unité d’habitation and Firminy-Vert, 1954-1965 (Le Corbusier) Saint Peter church, 1958-1965/2006 (Le Corbusier)

And many other sites, especially in Burgundy en route to Lyon …

5 – Organisation

Organising Committeeunder the presidency of:François de Mazières, President of the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine Hervé Lemoine, director of the Musée des monuments français

Corinne Bélier, curator, icam15 project manager, Musée des monuments français, cbelier@citechaillot.fr

Andie Segura, assistant, icam15 secretary general, Musée des monuments français, asegura@citechaillot.fr

Hélène Perrel, head registrar, icam15 events/organisation manager, Musée des monuments français, hperrel@citechaillot.fr

David Peyceré, head of archives/curator, icam15 sessions manager, 20th Century Architecture Archives, Institut français d’architecture, dpeycere@citechaillot.fr

Management Committee

Anne-Marie Le Guével, general director

Luc Lièvre, finance director

Guillaume de la Broïse, development director

Jean-Marie Guinebert, communication director

Executive Committee

President: Dietmar Steiner, Architekturzentrum Wien

Vice-president: Ulf Grønvold, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitectur og design, Oslo

Past-president: Michael Snodin, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Secretary General: Mariet Willinge, Nederlands Architectuurinstituut, Rotterdam

Treasurer: Anna Tonicello, Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, Archivio Progetti

Members: Corinne Bélier, Musée des monuments français, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, ParisBarry Bergdoll, MoMA, New YorkUlrike Jehle, Architekturmuseum, Basel Irena Murray, Royal Institute of British Architects, British Architectural Library, LondonJane Thomas, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh

Editor icamprint: Monika Platzer, Architekturzentrum Wien

6 – Contacts

Corinne BélierConservatrice en chef, galerie d’architecture moderne et contemporaineMusée des monuments françaisCité de l’architecture et du patrimoine1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre75116 Paris+33 (1) 1 58 51 52 42cbelier@citechaillot.fr

Andie SeguraAttachée à la directionMusée des monuments françaisCité de l’architecture et du patrimoine1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre75116 Paris+33 (1) 1 58 51 52 02asegura@citechaillot.fr

Guillaume de la BroïseDirecteur du développement et du mécénatCité de l’architecture et du patrimoine1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre75116 Paris+33 (1) 1 58 51 50 10+33 (1) 1 58 51 59 91gdelabroise@citechaillot.fr

Jean-Marie GuinebertDirecteur de la communication et des partenariatsCité de l’architecture et du patrimoine1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre75116 Paris+33 (1) 1 58 51 52 80+33 (1) 1 58 51 59 91jmguinebert@citechaillot.fr

Claude Le Cœur (1906-1999), « Aménagement de l’île de demain », visions utopiques de l’île de la Cité, Paris, non daté. Fonds Claude Le Cœur, DAF/CAPA, Centre d’archives d’architecture du XX

e siècle.

André Granet (1881-1974), Exposition internationale des arts et des techniques de 1937, projet d’illuminations « bleu-blanc-rouge » de la tour Eiffel. Fonds André Granet,

DAF/CAPA, Centre d’archives d’architecture du XXe siècle.