Operation Friedensreich
OPERATION FRIEDENSREICH
2012
Wood, mirror, MDF, glue, hardware, silicone, plants, soil, water, water pump
Architectural intervention that combined the legacies of two diametrically opposed historical figures in architectural history: Adolf Loos and Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Both from Vienna, but separated by a couple of generations, the former was one of the most dogmatic proponents of form-follows-function who understood ornament to be morally and socially degenerate, and the latter a proto-hippy free spirit visual artist who sought to undo the ‘sterile’ legacy of Loos by bringing curves, plants, mould and ornament back into modern building. Operation Friedensreich consists of a slick white unadorned facade of an interior column with 2×2-inch windows that open onto a hidden interior garden and water fountain constructed of irregularly-angled mirrors. The installation also recalls the artist’s experience growing up in British Columbia of the hobby industry of covert pot plant cultivation.
Installed at LE Gallery as part of Fata Morgana exhibition, Toronto, 2012