Le Corbusier’s Fourth Dimension shows the free visual practice of the world renowned architect Le Corbusier, with drawings, paintings, tapestries and objects. The Danish artist Jakob Kolding engages in the exhibition and mediates between Le Corbusier, CoBrA and the public with the installation Corbulation.
Le Corbusier’s fourth dimension is an exhibition of the visual art practice of world-famous architect Le Corbusier. The exhibition contains drawings, paintings, sculptures and tapestries, some of which have never been shown before. The title is derived from a quote by Le Corbusier, where he compared his artistic process with a journey into a ‘miraculous fourth dimension’. The title also indicates a world beyond the established image of this influential and controversial architect and city builder, because although Le Corbusier’s architecture is usually seen as the very essence of rationalism and functionalism, it is apparent from his visual practice that he also gave space to the free experiment an the irrational in his practise.
Workplace for patient research
For 45 years, Le Corbusier spent half of every day in the place he called his ‘Workplace for patient research’, an intimate personal area where he would write, draw, paint, and create sculptures. At the same time, this workplace unlocked his research as an architect. Over the years, there have been many studies into the relationship between Le Corbusier’s visual work and his architecture, and how his visual thinking process was reflected in his practice as an architect
The exhibition ‘Le Corbusier’s fourth dimension’ shows how important it is to create space for the experiemnt by giving free rein to the irrational. The CoBrA movement advocated right from the start that the irrational character of man should be permanently acknowledged, and therefore given a prominent role in art practice.
Corbulation by Jakob Kolding
Upon the request of the Cobra Museum, the Danish artist Jakob Kolding (Denmark, 1971) presents Corbulations, a new work developed in response to the exhibition Le Corbusier’s Fourth Dimension. Corbulations makes optimum use of the various positions between the work of Le Corbusier, the work of the CoBrA artists and the perspective of the artist himself.
CoBrA and Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier and CoBrA are directly linked by one of the core members and intellectual powerhouses behind CoBrA: Danish artist and thinker Asger Jorn (1914-1973). As a young artist, Jorn worked alongside the famous architect, and as such became aware of the power of art and architecture to create emotion. From that moment on, the Danish artist was fascinated by architecture as the most public form of art, and continued to follow Le Corbusier’s activities. Incidentally, Le Corbusier’s radical ideas about purity and ideal relationships would lead him to engage with totalitarian ideologies like fascism in his later career.
The exhibition is a collaboration with Fondation Le Corbusier.