We tend to think, according to the well-established principle of causality, that the events of the past influence the present, which, applied to Art History, would only emphasise the authority that the masters of the past exert over later artists. In this lecture we will argue that, on the contrary, it is the present that influences the past, acting retroactively towards it. We will therefore try to reveal this interested retroactivity of art and architecture, particularly “modern” art and architecture, which, in order to assert – precisely – their paradoxical modernity, have invoked all sorts of memorable origins and constructed all sorts of genealogies. Origins as prestigious as they are uncertain – as apparently noble as they are conveniently imaginary – suspended in a Time without time and a History without history. The “theory of suspicion” will be our beginning. And Benjamin’s affirmation of modernity as “the age of hell” will be our motto.
Spanish-language conference
Time: 60 min.
Soares dos Reis National Museum Auditorium
Free entry, registration HERE
Juan José Lahuerta Biography
Juan José Lahuerta is Professor of Art History at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB). He has lectured at universities such as the IUAV in Venice and New York University, among others. He was curator at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and head of collections at the National Art Museum of Cataluña. His latest books include: Religious Painting. Picasso and Max Von Moos (2015); Marginalia. Aby Warburg, Carl Einstein (2015); Photography or Life: Popular Mies (2015); On Loos, Ornament, and Crime (2015); Antoni Gaudí. Fuego y cenizas (2016) and Arte en la época del infierno (2022). He has curated exhibitions such as Picasso. Románico (MNAC, Barcelona, in collaboration with the Musée Picasso, Paris, 2015); Gaudí (MNAC, Barcelona and Musée d’Orsay, Paris, 2022) and Julio González. Being an Artist (IVAM, Valencia, 2023). He is a member of the scientific board of Casabella (Milan) and founder and director of the Mudito & Co publishing house (Barcelona, New York, Venice).
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Projecto de Investigação Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico no âmbito da Arquitetura de Álvaro Siza Vieira FCT: SIZA/CPT/0021/2019
Financed by:
FCT, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior; Ministério da Cultura; FAUP; CEAU.
Supported by:
Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis; Fundação de Serralves; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; CCA; Drawing Matter; Casa da Arquitectura; Fundação Marques da Silva, Irmandade dos Clérigos and Conservatório de Música do Porto.