Unplanned

Plans, Sections and Elevations is an insightful new art  exhibition that questions the function of architecture past and present.

Titles, especially in art, can be deceptive. And the current exhibition at the RIAI, Plans, Sections and Elevations, is a case in point. Despite the suspiciously architectural-sounding title, exhibition curator, Padraic E. Moore, states decidedly that this “is not an exhibition about architecture”.
Plans, Sections and Elevations hinges itself on an architectural theme, although these elements are not always apparent – one of the reasons the curator describes the exhibition as “conceptual in its aesthetic”. Moore's motivation is not the act of architecture itself, but the relevance of constructed environments as sites of activity and vessels through which history can unfurl and be re-accessed. With this approach Moore hopes to: “Interrogate the definition of architecture as something which is all encompassing and ongoing as opposed to simply buildings.”
Now defunct projectors and buildings such as the recently demolished Palast der Republik in Berlin – a symbol of communist ideals and a place full of happy memories for Berliners – are all celebrated. The installations often turn out to be homage's to lost and forgotten ideals. The architectural plans on display were drawn in '68, a year of intense ideological protest and feeling. While the exhibition mourns the passing of these ideals (as well as the architectural ones) it accepts it as a necessary function.
A number of architectural offices including Scale Architects and A&D Wejchert, the firm responsible for the Helix, have contributed to the exhibition, although most are artists with little experience of the architectural world, which adds a somewhat uncorrupted perspective to this installation.
Each artist has contributed 70-100 drawings for display. The image pictured here is ‘Parliamento II' by Gary Farrelly, a Paris based artist.

Plans,Sections & Elevations runs until 29 May
Royal Institute of Architects,
8 Merrion Sq
Dublin 2.