Kingelez’s mock-ups...
10:49 a.m.
07/23/18 - The MoMA in New York is currently exhibiting a retrospective of the detailed models of utopic cities created by Bodys Isek Kingelez (Zaire, today the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1948-2015). “I am a designer, architect, sculptor, engineer, artist”, said of himself this maker of intricate miniature cities. It’s enough to have a close look at Villa Fantôme (Ghost Villa) to discover his fantastic imaginery of towers, buildings, parks and even rivers. This mock-up is the artist’s most ambitious creation and it has no police stations nor any other building to house security and law-enforcement personnel. There are no hospitals either, as if illnesses didn’t exist. It’s a place of peace, where everybody lives in peace, a true paradise on Earth. In this utopic vision of Kingelez there’s a postal service, car parkings and even power supply. The scale though is a bit strange, because many buildings look too narrow to live in. There’s a virtual version of this mock-up, which is also exhibited at the museum, and helps us live the city from the inside. The result is colorful and surreal.
Villa Fantôme, by Bodys Isek Kingelez (1996)
What makes Kingelez’s architecture so interesting is the contrast between the overall look and the details of each one of its elements, done with cardboard, the use of a knife and glue.
Bel Atlas, by Bodys Isek Kingelez (1989)
Stars Palme Bouygues, by Bodys Isek Kingelez (1989)
“Bel Atlas” and “Stars Palme Bouygues” were made in Paris. The city’s architecture inspired the artist and in “Bel Atlas” he uses the shapes of the Grand Arche de la Défense, inaugurated for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. “Stars Palme Bouygues” is a call to the industrial conglomeration that financed the construction of the Grand Arche to push them to build a more up-to-date building, as the one proposed by the artist.
DAB (Development Australian Bank), by Bodys Isek Kingelez (2007)
Nippon Tower, by Bodys Isek Kingelez (2005)
Sports Internationaux, by Bodys Isek Kingelez (1997)
Some projects also include several found objects, such as milk containers, cans and light bulbs, all of them meticulously incorporated into each sculpture.
This mock-ups look quite complex and must surely require an intense conservation work, specially those done with cardboard. Through them the artist proposed better and more pacific contemporary cities, part of a world of peace.
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