Speculating about MAAT...
INTRODUCTION
Museum
Art
Arquitecture
Tecnology
MAAT are the
initials for the Museum of Art, Arquitecture and Technology based in
Lisbon: a new cultural project focused on those three areas. I'm in love not only with the art it
provides, but with its architecture, its atmosphere and its soul.
To begin with, it
is always nice to go into the roots, and the roots are always in the
linguistics, as Derrida said “nothing exists outside the text”.
The initials have a proper meaning by themselves: Maat or Ma'at
refers to the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order,
harmony, law, morality and justice and to the Goddess who personified
them. She regulated the stars, seasons, and the actions of mortals
and deities who had brought order from chaos at the moment of
creation. Her significance developed to the point that it embraced
all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the
universe. Maat regulated everything, opposing to chaos and it is
comparable to the Greek concept
of logos.
This is such a
beautiful name for an art space, such a beautiful comparison. She
represents the ethical and moral principle that every citizen was
expected to follow throughout their daily lives: they should act with
honor and truth in every field. So talking about art, it gives the
museum a very honorific connotation: it makes us think the museum as
a reference place for our behavior and daily lives, it brings the
museum a temple's connotation. As the architecture critic Jonathan
Glancey mentions, it is “one of Europe's most lyrical new museums”.
The Egyptian law
preserved the rights of women, who were allowed to act independenlty
of men, and the Goddess is sometimes depicted with wings or with an
ostrich feather on her head. In our culture, feathers and birds are
related to freedom: it is a lovely idea that of representing art as
a free and powerful woman.
ARQUITECTURE & ATMOSPHERE
The museum is
placed on the River Tagus (Tejo), to the west of the city centre, in
the district of Belém. It is composed by two buildings: the new
building and the Tejo Power Station, a steam factory which is an
example of Portuguese industrial architecture from the first half of
the XXth century. Both are connected through a corridor designed by
the Lebanese architect Vladimir Djurovic.
The objective of
the EDP Foundation is fulfilled: to revitalize the historic Belém
neighborhood. It is placed in one of the most historical monumental
areas of the city where we can find constructions such as the
Jeronimos Monastery, the Belém Cultural Center, the Belém Tower,
the Monument of the Discoveries or the Palace and Museum of the
Presidency of the Portuguese Republic.
KEY WORDS: subtlety,
tradition, modernity, elegance, tiles, lightness.
Remembering the
ancient culture, the architecture of the new building is light as
Maat's ostrich feather, the symbol of the truth. It also remains to
our actual, although not true, image of the ancient Greek
architecture: all in white. We cannot forget its shape, a soft arch,
one of the oldest forms of western architecture. In a very elegant
way, the old meets the modern, linking historical and contemporary
architectural concepts.
There is no need of colours on such a building, the architecture is great by itself and the colours are given by the city itself and by the brilliant sunsets by the river, all involved in that shiny Portuguese culture.
Facade
It's curved, elongated and oval. It's composed of a mosaic of white pieces. The angle and position of these tiles were planned in order to create specific luminous effects, according to the time of the day and year, reacting to the changes of light and water reflections. It works as a mirror of Lisbon's soul, reflecting every time the state of the city.
The
shape doesn't disturb the area, as it is only
12 meters high, avoiding covering the historic buildings behind and
the panoramic views. Its undulating shape also fits perfectly with
the sense and state of the river, reminding us of a wave.
Pedestrian roof
It starts from the ground and rises on a gentle slope from where you can see views of both the Tagus river and the city. It also has a garden area, very attractive for tourists.
Interior
It comprises four exhibition spaces totaling around 3,000 square meters: the Oval Gallery, the Main Gallery, the Video Room and the Project Room.
The Oval is the first exhibition area, with 800 square meters, along a curve, offering a path through the interior of the building and its special projects. There, they are held in site specific projects, being a very interesting space due to its big capacity.
The Main Gallery is
about 1,000 square meters and is located on the lower floor of the
building. It is a versatile space that, depending on the programming,
can be presented as a single unit or can be configured in several
spaces.
In
turn, the Project Room and Video
Room are two rooms for the presentation of projects in film or video,
installations, among other media.
Amanda Levete
The artist who
designed this building is the British architect Amanda Levete.
She was a partner
of Future Systems, a firm characterized by the development and
production of organic architecture, from the use of high
technologies, which enabled the expression of forms of nature. It was
founded by who was going to be her professional and personal partner,
the Czech neo-futurist architect Jan Kaplicky, and it was recognized
for bloblitecture works such as the Selfridges building in
Birmingham. But since 2009, she is the owner of her own firm, Amanda
Levete Architects (A_LA). And in 2017, she
was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for
services to architecture.
She
studied not only Architecture,
but Art
and History.
Regarding her artistic and personal life, she was an outstanding
student, but also a very rebel and creative teenager, being expelled
from school for taking naked sunbaths. Another aspect of her
versatility, is
her role as a regular writer. Her textual
productions are published in several media outlets. All of these
personal events can be seen on her works, probably as well as the
fact of possessing Portuguese roots, creating this work of art so
subtle and so respectful of the environment and culture.
The
Tejo Power Station was a thermoelectric power plant which supplied
the entire Lisbon region with electric power from 1909 to the 1970s.
The facades display several artistic styles, from art nouveau to
classicism, and
in 1986 it was classified
as an Asset of Public Interest.
Since
1990 it is used as an Electricity Museum. The museum’s permanent
exhibition, called the Power Station Circuit, presents
original machinery in a perfect state of conservation, which tells
the story of this old plant, as well as the evolution of electricity
up to renewable energy.
In
2016, the Tejo Power Station also became one of the sites for MAAT,
reinforcing its vocation as a space to present contemporary art.
Interior
It
is composed of several rooms. The turbine hall is a large room which
offers a fabulous view of the river, the condenser room and the
conference room host smaller events.
I
would like to stand out an exhibition I attended on September 2018.
It was a site-specific installation by the North-American artist Gary
Hill, a pioneer in exploring the artistic potential of new
technologies. This installation can be inscribed in his works that
explore the relationship between sound, language and electronic
image. It was presented at the Boiler Hall and it consisted, as we
can read on his webpage, on images spread throughout the space,
appearing as spectral presences, “taking us to a mysterious
preindustrial and post-apocalyptic realm”. It was such a unique
sensorial experience, where you could immerse yourself in a
preverbial environment. The lights metamorphose the surfaces of all
the space, and together with the abstract electronic sound, they
immerse you in a space and time different from the real ones.
The
relationship of the old boiler with the modern lights and sound made
me feel like drugged. It was a very interesting relationship, with a
very heavy and cold surface tying you to the ground through touch and
an almost-futuristic sound and visual space taking you up: I could
dance the space and I could feel the love there.
This building also offers a very active square called Praça do Carvão (Carbon square), where a lot of events are held during the summer season.
COLLECTION &
EVENTS
It is a very recent
museum – it just opened in 2016. This is also a sign of
contemporary that I enjoy. Its aim is to present national and
international exhibitions, not only by contemporary artists, but also
architects and thinkers. It also shows exhibitons from the EDP
Fundation's art collection, which is just about contemporary
Portuguese artists.
Pedro Gadanho is
the director, former curator of the MoMA in New York. Inês Grosso is
the curator.
MAAT
offers you several different events, such as conferences,
performances, happenings or even concerts. It also provides
orientated and thematic tours, with a logic of knowing to interpret,
supported by the dialogue. From time to time you can also join some
workshops, exploring various materials and techniques as a way of
appropriating and building knowledge, developing creativity as
a result.
PERSONAL
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SPACE
In this case, the building and the space itself is such an important part of the museum. It is a very touristy place due to the viewpoint the roof and due to the possibility of sitting, lying down and walking around. The magnificent architecture itselfs provokes people to visit the outer place, and probably the interior space.
It
is remarkable the fact that here, tradition meets modernity.
Postmodernity is about this. It is about mixtures, about bringing the
historical issues into the modern issues. MAAT reflects both the
preservation of our cultural heritage and progression: its steel
structure is covered in a skin of white tiles, modernizing a
Portuguese tradition. It embraces the idea of facing the future
without forgetting the past. Not only on the aesthetic side, but on
the content. It is thought as an art space for temporary
exhibitions... and what is more postmodern than the concept of
ephimerity?
On the riverside, you can also appreciate this concept with a Pedro Cabrita Reis' sculptur, Central Tejo. It consists of two connected aluminium towers, which are lit up. Miguel Coutinho, the director of EDP Foundation, stresses the symbolic nature of the piece: “This work symbolises, in our view, the spatial relationship between EDP Foundation and the river and, above all, the continuous commitment of our institution towards contemporary art. It is also a work of art for the city of Lisbon not just because of its location, but also because of an agreement between EDP Foundation and the artist.”
Going
back to the Egyptian times, they believed that in their underworld,
the Duat, the hearts of the dead were weighed against the “Feather
of Maat”. The heart was seen as part of the soul and if it is
lighter or equal in weight to the feather, it meant that the person
had a virtuous life, so they would go on to Aaru (heavenly place).
And in fact, there must be for sure a relationship between the
mythology of ancient Egypt and this museum, because with no
hesitations, every time I visit it, my soul seems to remain lighter.
