In Praise of Architecture XIV

«Exposiciones actuales

In Praise of Architecture XIV (1994), a sculpture by Eduardo Chillida in Corten steel, has been temporarily loaned by the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country, to which it belongs, for display in the permanent collection space at Chillida Leku.

The work is exhibited next to the Zabalaga farmhouse, offering a sculptural homage to the concept of architecture.

Formed by three volumes resting on a rectangular base, Chillida constructs a space that could be interpreted as urban. Although he left his architectural studies relatively early to focus on sculpture, the idea of building with space and matter became central to his artistic practice from the 1960s onwards.

For Chillida, architecture is, above all, a composition of volumes arranged in space, which take on form and meaning through their surroundings and the voids they enclose. Architecture, therefore, is understood in dual terms: as a container—the skin of an interior space—and as a series of constructive elements that, in this case, frame the open space.

This dual ability to define and construct space also appears in other iconic public projects by the artist, such as The Comb of the Wind XV (1977) in Donostia-San Sebastián and Plaza de los Fueros (1979) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, both created in collaboration with architect Luis Peña Ganchegui.