Grand Exhibition celebrating world renowned Danish architect Jørn Utzon

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2 Grand Exhibition celebrating world renowned Danish architect Jørn Utzon Foreign cultures helped shape one of the most important architects in the world. The Danish architect, Jørn Utzon s travels throughout the world colored his view of architecture, forming the basis for some of his most extraordinary and iconic buildings of the 20th century. On 9 April 2018 he would have celebrated his 100th birthday and Utzon Center, the last building to be designed by Jørn Utzon, opens a comprehensive exhibition about Jørn Utzon s most significant works contributions to world architecture. The exhibition will then tour to Copenhagen and Sydney, Australia. In the exhibition, Horisont An Opera House and a World of Difference, visitors can follow in the footsteps of Jørn Utzon through a myriad of experiences provided by film installations and digital technology. In collaboration with world leading Danish textile company Kvadrat, The Utzon Center exhibition team led by curator Line Eriksen and Design Offfice Kollision have created an immersive experience exhibition mixing new media and old school story telling based on the world famous Utzon Archive. The spatial concept of the exhibition is based on a doubled draped textile curtain onto which Jørn Utzon s own 8-mm film footage and new films are projected, while photographs, drawings, models and other original gems from Utzon s archives are also on display. Lasse Andersson, Creative Director of the Utzon Center: I m thrilled about the collaboration with Kvadrat and Kollision. The effect by combining the tactile qualities of the draped textiles with digital media and a sensor based light creates an ephemeral experience, beautifully complemented by Utzon s wonderful original archival exhibition material. The exhibition invites visitors to a close encounter with the way Jørn Utzon worked and observed the world. From a Scandinavian outset Utzon s work gradually evolved into his famed and highly personal architectural language, based on ideas accumulated from foreign cultures throughout the world.

3 Anders Byriel, CEO, Kvadrat: Jørn Utzon s unique and profound architectural sensibility is an incredibly valuable contribution to world architecture, insisting on examining the relationship between the building and the landscape, between the building and the people inhabiting it. With his restrained, yet expressive work, Utzon s influence on Scandinavian design tradition and aspiration cannot be underestimated. The Significance of his Travels Even as a young man, Jørn Utzon was an outdoor person and an adventurer with a love of sailing, hunting and camping in Øland in Sweden. In the late 1930s, his studies at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen were coloured by a National Romantic approach to architecture. But the architect, Steen Eiler Rasmussen and Utzon s uncle, the sculptor Einar Utzon-Franck opened Utzon s eyes to the architectural wealth of the Far East. He became fascinated by the different style of building and a building culture reflecting philosophical principles related to the harmony between humankind and nature. In 1942, Utzon moved to Stockholm where he became part of a new movement with an approach to architecture, which drew substantial inspiration from nature: Japanese landscape architects and the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright played a particularly major role. Following a short, but important significant internship in the studio of the world-renowned Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto, Utzon began to travel in the world in search of inspiration food for thought. Tobias Løssing, partner at Kollision Design Office: Utzon s ability to draw inspiration from all over the world and from every culture is awe-inspiring. His hands-on approach to architecture and his eye for the sublime is apparent in every aspect of his work. Today, Utzon still serves as an inspiration to new generation of architects and his architectural language have helped shaped the exhibition in every aspect. Utzon s first major architectural adventure was a trip to Morocco in 1947, soon followed by journeys to countries as distant and diverse as America, Mexico, China, Japan, Nepal, India, Iran and the Spanish island of Mallorca: all this at a time when the aviation industry was in its infancy. Scandinavian Airways, for example, was first established in Lasse Andersson: Jørn Utzon possessed a unique ability to glean impressions from the entire world and shape them into architecture based on the individual person. Hitherto he has been regarded as an architect formed by a Nordic tradition, but the truth is he was one of the first real global architects to consider the entire world his home. That is precisely why today he can be deemed the greatest Danish architects of the 20th century with highly significant international buildings featuring almost archaic, universally valid qualities.

4 The exhibition spotlights two particular points that characterised Jørn Utzon s travels: on one hand, his fascination with a greener, simpler life, which he observed in authentic types of living in commune with nature; on the other hand, his small - but powerful - repertoire of architectural principles, consisting of the platform, the flying roof, the courtyard, the cave and the framed horizon. For Utzon, these represented the solution to architecture s attempts to organise and recreate a stronger relationship between the modern world and the unspoiled landscape. Line Nørskov Eriksen, the Curator of the exhibition: Jørn Utzon s Horizon exists between the plateau he discovered in Mexico s jungle and the flying roofs he encountered in the Orient. It gave rise to the Opera House and bestowed on the world the most iconic building of the 20th century. Today we can learn a great deal from Utzon s capacity to observe the world and translate it into genuine, high quality, humanistic architecture with a view of new horizons. The exhibition opens in Aalborg, and will be reworked for presentation in Copenhagen and Sydney, Australia 2018, and continue to Belgium and Switzerland in In cooperation with Louisiana Channel interviews with Utzon s employees and a number of the internationally acclaimed architects have been filmed and can be found online at Louisiana channel.

5 About Kvadrat Kvadrat was established in Denmark in 1968 and has deep roots in Scandinavia s design tradition. Kvadrat holds the leading position in Europe s high-quality contemporary textiles market. We supply architects, designers and private consumers across the world with textiles and textile-related products. Our products reflect our commitment to colour, quality, simplicity and innovation. Kvadrat textiles have been used in some of the world s most important architectural landmarks, such as Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Museo Jumex, Mexico City; 30 St Mary Axe, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, Oslo; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao and Harbin Opera House, China. At Kvadrat, we consistently push the aesthetic, technological and functional properties of textiles. In doing so, we collaborate with leading designers, architects and artists, including; Miriam Bäckström, Raf Simons, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Thomas Demand, Olafur Eliasson, Doshi Levien, Peter Saville, Finn Sködt, Roman Signer, as well as Patricia Urquiola. For more information, please contact: press@kvadrat.dk Lasse Andersson, Creative Director, The Utzon Center, LAA@utzoncenter.dk Lars Ulrich Hansen, Head of Communication, The Utzon Center, LUH@utzoncenter.dk Tobias Løssing, Director and Partner, Kollision Design Office, tobias@kollision.dk