The first sketch
The sketches presented are part of a collection that Prof. Gernot Nalbach has been compiling for over 30 years at his chair at the University of Dortmund and which are accessible to the public in a permanent exhibition at the chair. The collection is supplemented by catalogues and / or monographs of the artists represented in the collection and thus forms the foundation of ongoing academic work with the representational media in architecture. The increasing use of electronic media in architectural representation is clearly at the expense of the original drawing - which can be attributed to a person. The "original" is being replaced, but not superseded, by "plots" that can be called up at any time. The sketch, not unlike a personal handwriting, seems to be able to provide more information about the idea of a design than the photorealistic presentation of a first design idea: "you can't see, what you get, you must feel it". If one compares the examples selected in this exhibition, one will notice that the forms of presentation are just as different as the quoted text passages, which provide information about the architectural views of the architects represented. Likewise, there is obviously a connection between the phenotype of the designer and the work or its presentation. While this dialectic between image and likeness helps in understanding a work in terms of illuminating the working process, it is not a mandatory prerequisite when it comes to the built result. Frank Gehry, for example, shows us how the original in his early drawings mutates into the original in his late work in Bilbao and then - unfortunately - elsewhere: He said himself that the formal daring of his museums was only made possible by the use of computers. Does this necessarily entail the worldwide multiplication of an idea without much variance? To the same extent, however, it also facilitates the multiplication of a design idea in the sense of quoting itself. It is up to the viewer to discover these connections and others for himself, to evaluate them critically and, if necessary, to draw conclusions from them. In any case, it is not about the "beautiful" sketch, nor about the romantic transfiguration of a fading form of expression. Rather, the attempt should be made to work out the sketch to obtain a building as evidence of the thought process of a designer. The interpretation of the highly diverse sketches from an artistic point of view is not intended. Prof. Gernot Nalbach, University of Dortmund How does a medium-sized company from the province of East Westphalia come to support an exhibition at Aedes and a publication by the University of Dortmund, which is the nomenclature of international architects? And what makes the manufacturer of a banal commonplace product promote a work that publishes a university professor's precious collection of "First Sketches" by these same architects here for the first time? What we have in common with architecture faculties is our own examination of thinking with our hands. The expression of our being are products to be grasped, visibly beginning with the 'first sketch'. The authenticity of the original arises from the originality of the first draft. We are therefore pleased to support a work that documents the first drafts of architects from different nations and cultural backgrounds. It is intended as a contribution to the promotion of a mutually beneficial dialogue between learners and teachers. "You can't see what you get, you must feel it", the collector of the "First Sketches" and co-editor of this book, Professor Gernot Nalbach, wrote in his preface about the "sketch not unlike a personal handwriting". Now you can see it and you can get it.
Josef Leitner, Managing Director FSB
Speakers at the exhibition opening:
Kristin Feireiss, Berlin,
Gernot Nalbach, Berlin/Dortmund
Annemarie Jaeggi, Karlsruhe/Berlin
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, which can be ordered from the publishing house of the University of Dortmund.
