Jane Neal: JN: How would you describe your project, then – as a sculptural
How did your ideas for the Bilbao bridge project come about? intervention?
Daniel Buren: DB: Well, yes, it could be described as a kind of sculpture, but it’s
They actually go back ten years. From the first time I saw the also a skin, a red skin.
La Salve Bridge, I felt as though it needed transforming in
some way. The bridge certainly wasn’t so good as a design, JN: Knowing how important colour is to your practice, how did you
but before the construction of the museum, it was realising its come to choose red for this work?
function perfectly. But after the construction it started looking
even more obsolete or strange or brutal. I believe that people DB: A little by chance. I thought about the colour of the roof of the
recognised there was a problem between the existing bridge Guggenheim – the titanium scales that transform from silver to
and the new construction right from the beginning. gold as the sun goes down – and I thought that the red in this
relation should work very well. But I also chose red because of
JN: So your ideas predate the recent competition? its contrast with the green of the bridge, which was repainted a
few months ago and which I have left intact. I wanted it to be
DB: Yes. Thomas Krens first approached me about doing a project vivid.
for the bridge in 1997. I sent him my ideas but I never heard
back. Then, around 10 months ago, I was contacted again. JN: And the edging of the structure will also have your trademark
black-and-white stripes?
JN: Gehry tried to integrate the bridge architecturally by creating
an intervention. Why do you think he did this? DB: Yes, the edges are black and white, and at night the piece will be
lit by thousands of lights. There will be a static light that will serve
DB: Frank did try to incorporate the bridge into his own design, but simply to illuminate, but also dynamic lights – like thousands of
he never touched the bridge itself. He always knew that the firecrackers going up and down the insides of the edges.
bridge was problematic, and that is the reason why the addition
from Frank after the bridge is not a piece of architecture but JN: So the work will morph into something else as night falls?
a sort of a structure or, if you prefer, a sort of sculpture with
absolutely no function at all, except to be aesthetic. DB: Yes, I wanted to change the look and change the form of the
work at night; it will become a kind of light show! But how it will
JN: How will your project function and improve the relationship look at night will be very much affected by the materials.
between the museum and the bridge?
JN: What materials have you chosen and how will they aid this
DB: As I said earlier, Frank Gehry always knew that this bridge, as process of transformation?
it is, was problematic. But as far as I know, such a connection
between the new museum and the bridge was never the DB: The surface will be formed from something close to Formica,
centre of any controversy. It is difficult for me to speak about and all the edges of the structure will be translucent. So during
the relationship between the museum and the bridge, but the day the edges will look white and black, but as soon as night
let’s say that I hope that I am creating a kind of a frame for the falls, the lights open underneath the translucent structure and
museum – something that will bring harmony. will show themselves by transparency. All the edges will be lit
from the inside of the structure itself. Then the lights will move
JN: How does your work address the problem of Gehry’s attempt up and down, fast and/or slowly, and everything will reflect into
to integrate the bridge with the museum? the water, another type of ‘transparency’. I think the reflection
will be extremely striking, and on a calm night you will have
DB: My project will play with the idea of an open door and people an effect almost like a mirror, except that the half-circle at the
going in and out of the city. It was important to me to draw bottom of the shape that resembles a ‘doorway’ will become a
people’s attention to the function of the bridge – I didn’t complete circle thanks to the lighting and the reflection.
want people to lose the sense of its function, but I wanted
to transform the arch of the bridge, because for me it didn’t JN: Last time we talked you stressed the importance of the viewer’s
connect visually with the elegance of the museum. participation. How do you expect people to engage with this
work?
JN: How do you think your intervention emphasises this role in a
way that the original arch doesn’t? DB: I have no idea. Before the piece is actually finished and installed
I never think about how it might be received. I can either be
DB: The original arch of the bridge is more like a gigantic ‘H’, a surprised, or just interested – objectively interested. I never
brutal structure having the function to hold and support the full have in mind what the viewer might do until the work is finished
bridge, and that’s all. This is in no way an arch. But what I am – and then I watch and wait to see what might happen.
building will look like an arch. I think that if you are looking at the
bridge today, you will understand immediately. I don’t like to Going Through will be unveiled in Bilbao this October; A Colored
speak abouth things which are obvious. Square in the Sky is currently on view at One Colorado, Pasadena
49 Artreview
BUREN.indd 3 10/8/07 09:52:08
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150