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Sur, Long Island City, New York

An architectural model of a building made up of white composite forms resembling rhythmic skeletal fragments on a clear base.

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  • An architectural model of a building made up of white composite forms resembling rhythmic skeletal fragments on a clear base.

Date:

2005

Artist:

Hernán Díaz Alonso
American, born Argentina, 1969
Xefirotarch
American, founded 2001

About this artwork

Since its inception in the early 1990s, digital architecture has moved into widening frontiers, fusing with other disciplines to enable unexpected formal explorations and generate new typologies that are changing the way in which structures are aestheticized and fabricated. As the field has matured, Hernan Díaz Alonso, principal architect of the Los Angeles firm Xefirotarch, has emerged as a significant figure; his studio’s grotesque, animal-like forms exemplify just how far digital practice has evolved. Shown here is the model for Sur, the firm’s winning entry for the Museum of Modern Art/P.S.1 Young Architects Program. The piece is composed of an acrylic surface that supports three-dimensional forms printed from nylon composite. The actual pavilion was constructed of bent aluminum tubing clad with reflective fabric sheathing and fiberglass benches and platforms painted Ferrari red. The title Sur, taken from a popular Argentine tango, refers to the rhythmic forms of the work. While Díaz Alonso draws freely from a wide range of visual-arts disciplines—especially film and video—he combines these influences with digital manipulation and distortion to explore the limits of beauty and scale. His constructions reintroduce an experimental notion of figuration to the pedagogy and practice of digital architecture.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Hernán Díaz Alonso

Title

Sur, Long Island City, New York

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 2005

Medium

Acrylic and nylon

Dimensions

7.6 × 61 × 33 cm (3 × 24 × 13 in.)

Credit Line

Department of Architecture and Design Purchase Fund

Reference Number

2006.311

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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