See an exhibition at the University of Melbourne and the State Library of Victoria, focused on the unique work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and his influence on modern art and architecture
See an exhibition at the University of Melbourne and the State Library of Victoria, focused on the unique work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and his influence on modern art and architecture
Learn about Giovanni Battista Piranesi and his influence on modern art and architecture.
© University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
ZOE NIKAKIS: The University of Melbourne and the State Library of Victoria have created complimentary exhibitions focused on the works of 18th Century Italian printmaker, Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
JENNIFER LONG: The Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne and the State Library hold the two biggest collections of Piranesi prints in Australia, and it was a fantastic opportunity to bring those two collections together.
NIKAKIS: Jenny Long used Piranesi's influence on modern art and architecture as part of the exhibition.
LONG: The Potter were very keen that this be a sort of innovative and not a traditional print show, so I thought it would be much more interesting to look at the effect that a Piranesi print has on you emotionally and physically. So I was looking for contemporary art that had the same physical effect on me.
Also, another thing that Piranesi did, was that he was very good at balancing contradictory kind of things. For instance, in this Peter Robinson, it's both-- it's a chain so it's very heavy, but it's made of polystyrene so it's very light. It has a relationship to the Piranesi imaginary prisons, which are full of chains.
NIKAKIS: Dr. Colin Holden, curated the State Library of Victoria's exhibition, Rome, Piranesi's Vision.
COLIN HOLDEN: Piranesi's print making has this remarkable intensity, as well as a fascination with the ancient world. And it's a combination of great art plus some serious research.
NIKAKIS: Dr. Holden says Piranesi's work is unique and remains incredibly relevant today.
HOLDEN: This is typical of Piranesi's treatment of ruins in his mature years. There is very dark, intense printing, but it's really Piranesi's combination of grand structures here, with all the suggestions that, if left to their own-- and at how grand they are-- nature eventually will take over everything. I think Piranesi looked at the ruins and saw, in many of them, the vanishing of much human ambition.
NIKAKIS: Dr. Holden says Piranesi's work was heavily influenced by his background and training as an architect.
HOLDEN: Piranesi, for example, received the training in architecture and, to some degree, in engineering. He signed many of his plates, Piranesi architecto-- Piranesi, the architect.
NIKAKIS: The university's chair of architectural design, Donald Bates, says Piranesi has been a strong influence on his own work, and consequently on his student architects.
DONALD BATES: Piranesi is one of the very well-known architects throughout history for the last 300 years, and yet, he only built one building. And so his influence really comes from the drawings. It was really about seeing both how space can be represented but also how the structure of drawing, of representation, changes how you perceive space. In projects like The Prisons, The Carceri -- there's a sense of almost infinite space-- of room after room after room.
But if you tried to imagine exactly how would it be built, there starts to be some uncertainties because things don't seem to line up, but a lot of that is very intentional on the part of Piranesi. That notion of space is really important, I think, in contemporary architecture. So even though these are 300 years old, they're actually very important in terms of how we understand architecture today. It's fantastic to have this exhibition here at the University of Melbourne. It's an incredible collection on public display that most people don't usually get to see, or even know exist in Melbourne.
JENNIFER LONG: The Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne and the State Library hold the two biggest collections of Piranesi prints in Australia, and it was a fantastic opportunity to bring those two collections together.
NIKAKIS: Jenny Long used Piranesi's influence on modern art and architecture as part of the exhibition.
LONG: The Potter were very keen that this be a sort of innovative and not a traditional print show, so I thought it would be much more interesting to look at the effect that a Piranesi print has on you emotionally and physically. So I was looking for contemporary art that had the same physical effect on me.
Also, another thing that Piranesi did, was that he was very good at balancing contradictory kind of things. For instance, in this Peter Robinson, it's both-- it's a chain so it's very heavy, but it's made of polystyrene so it's very light. It has a relationship to the Piranesi imaginary prisons, which are full of chains.
NIKAKIS: Dr. Colin Holden, curated the State Library of Victoria's exhibition, Rome, Piranesi's Vision.
COLIN HOLDEN: Piranesi's print making has this remarkable intensity, as well as a fascination with the ancient world. And it's a combination of great art plus some serious research.
NIKAKIS: Dr. Holden says Piranesi's work is unique and remains incredibly relevant today.
HOLDEN: This is typical of Piranesi's treatment of ruins in his mature years. There is very dark, intense printing, but it's really Piranesi's combination of grand structures here, with all the suggestions that, if left to their own-- and at how grand they are-- nature eventually will take over everything. I think Piranesi looked at the ruins and saw, in many of them, the vanishing of much human ambition.
NIKAKIS: Dr. Holden says Piranesi's work was heavily influenced by his background and training as an architect.
HOLDEN: Piranesi, for example, received the training in architecture and, to some degree, in engineering. He signed many of his plates, Piranesi architecto-- Piranesi, the architect.
NIKAKIS: The university's chair of architectural design, Donald Bates, says Piranesi has been a strong influence on his own work, and consequently on his student architects.
DONALD BATES: Piranesi is one of the very well-known architects throughout history for the last 300 years, and yet, he only built one building. And so his influence really comes from the drawings. It was really about seeing both how space can be represented but also how the structure of drawing, of representation, changes how you perceive space. In projects like The Prisons, The Carceri -- there's a sense of almost infinite space-- of room after room after room.
But if you tried to imagine exactly how would it be built, there starts to be some uncertainties because things don't seem to line up, but a lot of that is very intentional on the part of Piranesi. That notion of space is really important, I think, in contemporary architecture. So even though these are 300 years old, they're actually very important in terms of how we understand architecture today. It's fantastic to have this exhibition here at the University of Melbourne. It's an incredible collection on public display that most people don't usually get to see, or even know exist in Melbourne.