Diplomat, Mediator, Indecisive, Easily swayed,
Romantic, Charming, Flirtatious, Easygoing,
Sociable, Peace-loving, Self-indulgent, Gullible.
As Libra, symbol of the scales, Le Corbusier's love of balance can
be seen in two of his seminal drawings. One is the figure eight
diagram that he drew repeatedly throughout his career, showing
the perpetual movement of day into night. The second is his
drawing of the half sun half Medusa face. The Libra is known to
be attracted to beautiful things, beneath which are housed more
violent and monstrous undertones. Libras are also governed by
logic, stemming from the Greek concept of Logos. Le Corbusier
manifested his desire for Logos with his use of the golden ratio.
With a balanced sense of self, Libra men are often in touch with
their feminine side. Le Corbusier's Modular Man was tall and thin,
like Corbusier himself, with angular shoulders countered by large
feminine hips, reminiscent of pre-historic, Mediterranean, female
fertility Venus statues. The desire for proportion, rhythm and order
is also played out in the influence of music on Le Corbusier's work,
particularly that of the composer Iannis Xenakis who worked
in his office. Le Corbusier often borrowed from his "friends" and
"colleagues". The glass surfaces of La Tourette were derived directly
from a Xenakis score. With the romantic and meandering desires
of the Libra, Le Corbusier explored the most vivid imaginings of the
free plan, which began with the Domino House and culminated
in his Maison series. Le Corbusier's more composed rectilinear
exteriors are contrasted by an internal explosion of free form on
the inside, which relates to the body of the inhabitant as one moves
throughout the space. The acoustic effects as people move through
the interiors of Le Corbusier's spaces relate his architecture to music.
Le Corbusier dabbled in Eastern mysticism but it was with his trip
to India that his work changed dramatically in this regard. Moving
away from the rigidity of Greek, Doric structure he encountered
the more ancient female fertility divinities of Mother India. He
became interested in Jantar Mantar as a scientific observatory and
celestial sanctuary, as it combined the Libra's need for rational order
and cosmic romance. Ronchamp is not unlike an observatory with
its small windows that function like apertures, funnelling light
through thick walls and flooding the interior with light from the
heavens. The grounds of Ronchamp are landscaped with grassy
earth mounds linking the chapel to the cult of the prehistoric
Mediterranean matriarchal goddess. The bell tower of Ronchamp
is phallic in form, possibly referring to the Indian Lingam, used
in Hindu ceremony to represent the deity Shiva. The Lingam is a
symbol of the phallus and represents male creative energy while
the chapel, with its womb-like interior, perhaps refers to the Yoni—
the vessel that holds the Lingam and represents female creative
energy. Ronchamp seeks the Libra's need for balance between
the male and female body. The interior of Ronchamp holds three
shrines, each dedicated to an important female image. One shrine
is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, another to Le Corbusier's mother,
and the third to his wife. Le Corbusier's fascination with the bull,
which took form in the Chandigarh Secretariat Building represents
an interest in the return to the matriarchal pre-Greek, Cretan and
Minoan culture, where the bull was worshiped as a fertility symbol.
Dan Graham, Jessica Russell
As one of the most influential conceptual artists of his time, Dan Graham first emerged in the 1960s alongside the Minimalists. His work crosses multiple mediums including performance, film and video, exploring shifts in individual and group consciousness and the limits of public and private space. This has evolved into the installations and pavilions for which Graham is most internationally famous. All his projects are democratically rooted in everyday urban life.
Jessica Russell studied and practiced art in Melbourne, Australia, where she also worked in film and television before relocating to New York where she currently studies architecture at The Cooper Union.
Libra
The Libra's love of balance, proportion, rhythm and order can be found in abundance in Le Corbusier's drawings and oeuvre.
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- Dan Graham,Jessica Russell
- 22 September 2011
- New York