Sensitive Matter: 10 Young Catalan Architects

“Sensitive Matter: Young Catalan Architects” was an itinerant exhibition, debates and documentary, about young Catalan Architects. Curated by Carlos Cámara, Joan Vitòria and Pere Buil, the exhibition was displayed in Lisboa (Galeria Nogo), A Coruña, Berlin (AEDES Gallery) and Barcelona (Architects' Association). In addition to the exhibtion, every itinerancy established bridges with local curators and young architects that resulted in debates and talks.

The exhibition was funded by Institut Ramon Llull, Consell Nacional de Cultura i de les Arts (Generalitat de Catalunya), and supported by Arquinfad, Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya, Ajac, and Nau Iwanov, amongst others.

From the website:

“Sensitive Matter: Young Catalan Architects” is an exhibition of architectural works by young studios established in Catalonia which are not only from the same generation but, above all, share certain attitudes and ways of understanding and practising architecture.

It is also a personal position (and thus, it is admittedly biased and risky) made by the curators, Joan Vitòria, Pere Buil and Carlos Cámara. It can also be seen as a possible answer to two important questions: What will happen to architecture now that the current model is being questioned? And how can Catalan architecture contribute in the context of the global crisis?

An architecture with an ability to reinterpret prior models and references in order to provide new answers is demanded. A sensitive, honest architecture where people are more important than the construction itself or aesthetics, which assumes the limitations of the context, the place, the commission and the available and transforms them into opportunities. Local architectures for a global world. Architecture that is sensitive to its roots, changes and how is lived and perceived by the people and its users.

Far from wanting to be opportunist or reactionary, “Sensitive Matter” is demanding a certain type of architecture, some values and a way of working which are not related to time but to convictions and good sense. This is something that the selected architects were already doing when iconic architecture was at its height.