Art in the Desert 2 Selected artworks from the Desert-X Biennale

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Desert-X is a biennale of site-specific art installations in the desert, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, spread over a large area in the Coachella Valley, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The 2025 edition, its fifth, exhibited several artists from different parts of the world. The following is a selection we made, best visualized in the short documentary included here.

Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams, by Sarah Meyohas
Five things you can’t wear on TV, by Raphael Hefti
Five things…detail
Soul Service Station, by Alison Saar
Soul Service Station, by Alison Saar
The Living Pyramide, byAgnes Denes
The act of being together, by Jose Davila
Adobe Oasis, byRonald Rael
G.H.O.S.T. Ride, byCannupa Hanska Luger

Sarah Meyohas’s installation,  Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams, immediately caught our attention,. The fluid serpentine form of the sculpture relates to the context with an architectural quality. Following some research on this young artist, I realized that she is an original thinker. The range of the media in which she works includes photography, film, holography and artificial intelligence.

For the preview presentation, she brought a dance company from Los Angeles, Jacob Jonas, that performed in synchronization with Meyohas work. These two works, the installation and the dancing group, respectively, reminded me the works of two Israeli artists: sculptor Dani Karavan and choreographer Ohad Naharin (Mr. Gaga.)

On the opposite side of Meyohas’s freshness, was the Hungarian American environmental artist and writer Agnes Denes, 94.  She had been ahead of her time in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the principles of the Land Art movement were established. Here, in desert, she used the iconic form of a pyramid, titled The Living Pyramide, to express the life cycle of native vegetation.

Architect-artist Ronal Rael’s work Adobe Oasis built zigzagging walls entirely of mud, using a 3D printer and robotic programming. This approach could be meaningful for the future of architecture in many parts of the world.

Swiss artist Raphael Hefti’s Five things you can’t wear on TV brings the effects of great distance to proximity. The oscillating line blurs our sense of spatial perception, scale and distance and resonates with the surrounding landscape.

Alison Saar is an LA artist who created Soul Service Station, which was inspired by gas stations around the country.

Jose Davila’s made this installation, The act of being together, out of large marble blocks extracted from a quarry a few hundred miles across the U.S- Mexico border.

Canuupa Hanska Luger created G.H.O.S.T. Ride, an installation meant to house a family from an unknown time.

Into LA Art Show A Choice of Artworks

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The La Show of 2025 was the best of its genre that we have seen in years. We noticed a rise in the general quality of the art exhibited.

Poster

The short documentary included here shows the works of a few artists of which we knew nothing about before our visit.

The work that immediately caught my attention was “The Birth of the Niamand,” by Slovak artist Viktor Frešo, presented by the Danubiana Museum in Bratislava, Slovakia. I was also unaware of this institution’s existence. I was lucky to meet Frešo at the site. Although he seemed reclusive, he agreed to make a short statement on camera.

The Birth of the Niamand
The Birth of the Niamand
Viktor Frešo

There were other uplifting surprises. “The Journey,” by Guillermo Bert, showed 20 highly detailed, life-sized laser-cut wood sculptures honoring an army of immigrant heroes.

The Journey

The discovery of video sculptures by the Swiss artist Marck reminded me of Bill Viola’s work. Marck’s work is striking, particularly the one named “Black Hair,” which shows a woman whose hair is fuming.

Black Hair

Another surprise were the images created without using a camera through text-to-image AI software. Jerry Weber creates compelling images that hover between abstraction and reality.

AI-generated image by Jerry Weber
AI-generated image by Jerry Weber

Three works by four Argentinean artists were remarkable: a 120-foot long textile that commemorates LGBTQ communities by the duo Leo Chiachio and Daniel Giannone; Cristian Castro’s 27 dee-sea robotic fishes made out of discarded components to remind us of ocean pollution; and Luciana Abait, large-scale “Agua / Water”, a projected waterfall to foster a poetic awareness of water as a sacred resource for humanity, some details of which shows as a background to the credits in my film.

Pride Flag
27 Peces
Agua / Water – Luciana Abait

I found creative humor in the work of two artists: Farad Harouni’s “Lips” and Antuan Rodriguez’s interactive installation of punching bags.

Parted Lips
Left and Right

Two contrasting artworks in painting were Walter Erra Hubert’s multi-layered abstractions and German artist Anton Hoager’s “Stop Smearing,” a skillfully painted work of social criticism.

Walter Erra Hubert paintings
Stop Smearing

Carol Bodlander brings a narrative that blends elements of classical mythology, astronomy, and indigenous wisdom traditions.

Our selection included the Korean artists Han Ho, who made a massive nine-part multi-media panel inspired by Michelangelo’s Last Judgement, and Anese Eun Cho, who created playful designs.

The Last Judgement
The Second Floor

An additional surprise was to meet Marisa Caichiolo, a curator of several of the works exhibited. After a brief conversation, we realized that we have common friends. Caichiolo is the founder of Building Bridges International Art Foundation, conceived to be a platform for critical thinking and researching.

Marisa Caichiolo

Nova and Beyond The Exhibition in L.A., Historic Context & Some Thoughts for Decades After Tomorrow

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The world has changed on October 7, 2023. During the barbaric horrors perpetrated by Hamas on peaceful civilians, many of the communities bordering Gaza fell victim to a contemporary pogrom, including Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Netiv Ha’asara, and Alumim, and the city of Sderot.  In parallel, 364 peace-loving youngsters were murdered at the Nova music festival.

The “Nova and Beyond” documentary included here provides a wide view of the massacre perpetrated, as shown at an exhibition in Culver City. Views of abandoned objects and burned cars belonging to the victims are included, testimonials by survivors, a historical context of the conflict, opinions by thinkers such as Yuval Noah Harari, Bernard-Henry Levy, and Thomas Friedman, and some possible ideas for the coming decades. At this time, I limit myself to the Nora music festival story as shown in the exhibition.

Nova before attack
Nova before attack
Nova before attack
Nova parking before attack
Hamas
Hamas’s attack places
Fires from satellites
Attacked areas
Kidnapped
Young women hiding from Hamas
Nova exhibition in Culver City
Nova healing cellebration in Tel Aviv
Nova healing cellebration in Tel Aviv

Some of the proposed ideas for “after-the-war” may take decades to implement. For example, the development of artificial islands along the Mediterranean coast of Israel and Gaza could accommodate three million residents, industries, health and educational facilities, and Israeli and Palestinian airports. This would free open space for agriculture, parks, and recreation.

Other proposed ideas include autonomous  small portions of Egypt and Jordan adjacent to an eventual Palestinian state to develop energy farming, industrial parks, and sustainable urbanization. In addition, developing a channel linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea could become a reality. Using the 400-meter difference to generate power, the flowing water will raise the level of the Dead Sea back to what was lost to evaporation, and through desalinization, it will irrigate arid areas along the southern border between Jordan and Israel.

On a broader geographic scale, a Mediterranean Express Train could be built stretching from Gibraltar to Tangier all around the Mediterranean. Segments of this train’s rail could run on land or floating structures along some of the coasts, having a minimum impact on the adjacent geography and the sea’s ecology. This approach could facilitate the creation of an Economic Mediterranean Market linking all the countries facing the Mediterranean. Subject to positive political changes in the future, this high-speed train could have extensions to Istanbul, Baghdad, Teheran, Damascus, Riad, and Dubai.

Two-states possible plan, 2024
Artificial islands
Artificial islands airports
Tunnels under Israel
Bridges over Israel
Jordanian Artificial Island
Mediterranean-Dead Sea Canal
Mediterranean Express Train
Yuval Noah Harari
Bernard-Henri Levy
Thomas Friedman

Hostages

Nobody knows what the future will be like by, say, 2050. However, while we can not predict it, we can invent it.

With Piazzolla at the Bowl An Historic Event at the Hollywood Bowl Amphitheater

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The concert of Astor Piazzolla’s Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas / The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, at the Hollywood Bowl, on August 26, 2021, was of historic importance. A public of about 15,000 people came to the concert conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, with the performance of Karen Gomio as a soloist.

Astor Piazzolla

Unlike Vivaldi’s concertos, Piazzolla’s Four Seasons wasn’t originally intended to be in four movements.  Piazzolla wrote the first of the four compositions, Summer (Verano Porteño) as a standalone work for Alberto Rodríguez Muñoz’s play The Mane of Gold (Melenita de oro). Autumn (Otoño Porteño), Spring (Primavera Porteña), and Winter (Invierno Porteño) came around five years later, in 1970. Piazzolla alludes to some of Vivaldi’s melodies in his own series, yet his composition is unique. The pieces were conceived for his quintet of violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass, and bandoneon, of which he was a virtuoso.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel
Violonist Karen Gomio
Pablo Ziegler, Pianist and Composer
Fernando Suárez Paz, Violonist and Conductor
Joanna MacGregor, Pianist and Composer
Daniel Piazzolla, Musician

Piazzolla was not only one of the 20th century’s great musicians, but he was also one of the most prolific. His over 3,000 compositions include avant-garde tango music, opera, symphonic compositios, and music for film.

The concert at the Bowl brought the extraordinary performance of Karen Gomio, a musician born in Tokyo who developed her career in Montreal and New York. She now resides permanently in Berlin.

The coupling of Piazzolla’s Seasons with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 surprised me. It seems to me that the music of Bela Bartok, Stravinsky, Copland, and Gershwin are much closer to his spirit. And also the music of great jazz composers and performers, such as Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck.

In the film I included brief segments of interviews with some musicians that played with him for many years, such as Pablo Ziegler and Fernando Suárez Paz. To learn more about his complex life, Maria Susana Azzi’s detailed and knowledgeable biography is highly recommended, particularly the expanded new edition in Italian.

For brief a scheme of his life, you may watch my recent Piazzolla Con Brio film.

Hollywood Bowl Marquee

 

Photo: R&R Meghiddo, 2021 - All rights reserved.

The Ford in Hollywood Theater Setting as a Hidden Treasure

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When you go to the Long Beach Opera, expect the unexpected. The program fitted our expectations: Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (1912) and Kate Soper’s Voices from the Killing Jar (2012.), an all-women performance. Jenny Wong directed the music, the choreography was directed by Danielle Agami, and the singing was by soprano Laurel Irena. Yet the greatest surprise was its staging at The Ford Theater by the Cahuenga Pass, next door to the Hollywood Hall.

The Ford is, since its renovation, a hidden treasure, a cultural gem, one of the best-kept architectural secrets of Los Angeles.

The Holywood Bowl and The Ford Theater

Voices of the Killing jar, Long Beach Opera
Composer Kate Soper
Pierrot Lunaire, Long Beach Opera
Composer Arnold Schoenberg
Voices from the Killing Jar.
Soprano laurel Irene. Photo: Lina Ferazzi, Los Angeles Times
Voices from the Killing Jar

In 1918, Christine Wetherill Stevenson (1878-1922) bought a 60-acre land known as Daisy Dell, including the Hollywood Bowl area. An amphitheater was built in 1920 as a venue for the religious-themed Pilgrimage Play. In 1929 a fire destroyed the original theater, and in 1931 a new one was built made of cast concrete to resemble the ancient architecture of the Holy Land. In 1952 the Pilgrimage Theater closed for two years due to the construction of the Hollywood Freeway. It came to a final close in 1964.

Following popular periodical productions, including rock band performances, an extensive renovation started in 2014, designed by architect Brenda Levin and landscape architect Mia Lehrer. The renovation was dedicated in 2017. In 2019 the theater’s operation was transferred to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The Ford’s 1,200-seat setting is unique, not only by comparison to the nearby 17,500-seat Hollywood Bowl but also to classical amphitheaters. The Greek amphitheater was conceived to have a natural horizon behind the stage. The Roman amphitheater had its stage built, and therefore could more easily adapt to urban environments. What is unique at The Ford is that nature beyond the stage is steeply uphill, a background of a different character than historical precedents.

The picnics areas are also very different than the ones at the Bowl; their terracing makes them humanly scaled, more intimate.

The project faced many challenges. First and foremost, a lot of water flows off that hillside. One of the deferred maintenance problems was the infiltration of water into the theater. There was also needed to stabilize the hillside. Acoustics was a significant issue, considering the proximity of the Hollywood Freeway.

Three levels
Acoustic wall detail

Besides its design qualities, The Ford’s renovation stresses the importance of the relationship between a building and its setting on the land.

Opera on the Rooftop Parking Long Beach Operas production of Les Enfants Terribles on the rooftop of the 2ND&PCH Shopping Mall

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The Long Beach Opera did it again! The production of Les Enfants Terribles at the rooftop parking of the new 2ND & PCH Shopping Mall follows a long list of avant-garde creations by this cultural institution. It includes, among many others, productions such as Orpheus & Euridice (at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool,) The Diary of Anne Frank (in two parking garages,) Fallujah (at the Army National Guard Armory,) Frida (at the Museum of Latin American Art,) and the Piazzolla-Ferrer’s Maria de Buenos Aires (at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro.)

Music by Philip Glass
Jean Cocteau
Conductor Christopher Rountree with pianists
Pianists Stephen Karr, Vicky Ray and Sarah Gibson
Practicing the score
Lights and sounds controls
Acting and singing on the parking
Acting and singing on the parking
Acting and singing on the parking
Shauna Davis
Watching and listening from the car

 

In architecture, “adaptive reuse” refers to the repurposing of an existing structure for new use. I can see here an analogy. Following the steps of former LBO director Andreas Mitisek, LBO’s new director, James Darrah, created a fantastic spectacle amid a pandemic crisis by repurposing a parking area for an opera performance. 

 

Jean Cocteau wrote the Les Enfants Terribles novel in 1929. It is the story of two siblings, Elizabeth and Paul, who isolate themselves from the world. Growing up without a father and a bedridden mother, they live through several dramatic episodes that end up in tragedy. Out of this story, Philip Glass created an opera. Its representation by the Long Beach Opera is an out-of-the-box creation. 

 

The parking roof was laid out, including ten screens, speakers, projectors, and theatrical lighting. The music could also be listened from the 89.1 FM radio station in the car. Most of the vehicles were parked on the edges, at Covid-safe distance one from the other, while at the center were three pianists directed by Christopher Rountree, the lighting and sound control equipment, and the wardrobe.  

 

While the public was acceding the area, projected pre-recorded videos were seen on the screens. During the performance, a cameraman recorded close-ups of the actors, singers, and dancers, which were simultaneously projected over the screens. The performers moved between the cars, creating a completely immersive experience. 

 

This event reminded me of Luca Ronconi’s production of Orlando Furioso in various Italian and foreign town squares (such as Spoleto and Milan) during the 1970s. It then shattered the theatrical structures built up over centuries and brought theater back to the streets and city life settings. This production, besides its qualities, sends a powerful message for the rethinking of post-pandemic architecture and urbanism. 

Dear Bernie – Notes on Architecture A visual open letter to Senator Sanders on his "Housing for All" program.

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Dear Bernie,

As the next President of the United States of America, and as one of the world’s leaders in times of global crisis, you will have to deal with many complex issues. From the thirty-three major items listed on your website, I will refer here only to the one titled “Housing for All.” In your program, it encompasses 10 million permanently affordable units at an estimated cost of $2.5 trillion dollars. This scope, big enough to generate many jobs, has ramifications that are much larger than just housing. It includes infrastructure for mobility, schools, hospitals, factories, sustainability, urban farming, and much more.

On Housing

The quantitative problem must confront some serious questions: what to build, where to build, and how to build. From the present US population of 330 million, the projection for 2050 is 440 million, that is, an additional 110 million people. If we calculate 2.5 people per dwelling unit, 44 million new dwelling units will be needed, at an average of about 1.5 million per year, for the next thirty years.

An increase in density is inevitable, but how? We don’t want to create high-rise housing monstrosities. Higher density does not necessarily mean high-rise buildings. Paris has a high density with only 4-5 floors of high buildings and large green areas. There are many ways of increasing urban density.

An easy one could be done with the stroke of a pen, by allowing an increase of density on single-family units. One could hit two birds with one shot by requiring that owners adding units to their properties must own electric cars that could be parked within their land or in public parking structures within walking distance.

Another way of dealing with density is mixed-use. Today, in most cities, it means commercial on the ground floor and residential above it. This approach could be expanded by including on the first 2-3 floors commerce, institutions, and working spaces for the residents living above. This would lower their dependence on commuting to work.

Where to build should be thought as it relates to public mobility. At a macro level, a network of bullet trains throughout the country could influence the location of complex developments between the two coasts, and between Canada and Mexico. In cities, mobility should be based on a combination of walking, biking, public transportation, and shared cars.

Bullet-trains network concept

How to build must confront the equation scope-quality-cost. The key to deal with this equation is design quality. To raise the bar, a few actions are needed:

  1. Fund architecture R&D

  2. Educate the public about architecture and self-help.

  3. Define areas of experimental zoning, unconstrained by obsolete building regulations other than for safety and accessibility.

Scope-Cost-Quality interdependence diagram

Beyond “Housing for All” in America

The wellness and security of the United States depend on the wellness of the planet. If America is to assume a leading role in dealing with a world expected to have a population of 10 billion by 2050, and of 12 billion by the end of the century, creating a large scope for the needs of the US can impact the rest of the world positively. One way of achieving this could be by creating a University of Planetary Management that would converge multiple disciplines in science, art, and technology. Eventually, such a university could have branches in various parts of the world.

Meghiddo Concept for a University of Planetary Management. Image: The Why Factory, MVRDV, Netherlands

8House, Copenhagen. Bialke Ingels Group
Residential complex in Kiev, Ukraine
IJburg floating housing, Amsterdam.
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Moshe Safdie Architects.
Smart City for Masdar, Abu Dhabi. Atelier BNP Paribas.
Futuristic City by WireCASE3D
Futuristic City by WireCASE3D
Sky Table – Ayrat Khusnutdinov, Russia.
Vertical City. Prkov-Kutzenov-Garashenko, Ukraine.

I conclude this letter with two quotations. The first one is mine, published here on August 28, 2019:

“Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren bring leadership qualities that could help to invent the future with a wide vision and with greater optimism. (…) Why Bernie as number one? Because he thinks like a statesman. His broad agenda fits not only America’s long list of needs but also a world starving for leadership and direction. Climate change, sustainability, inequality, the arms race are not just American issues; they are global. If approaching them creatively, the planet could be transformed positively beyond anything we can think of today. Architecture could then play a pivotal role.”

The second is yours. It was made during your rally in Venice, CA on December 21, 2019:

“If we have the vision of a just and humane society in front of us, when we stand together, when we fight together, there is nothing that we can not accomplish.”

'>Vernissage at the Hammer The Opening of the Hammer Museum's "Winter Exhibitions Opening Celebration" Illustrates the Public's Attendance and the Works of Four Artists

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The Hammer Museum’s latest vernissage, “Winter Exhibitions Opening Celebration,” was unexpected at various levels. The biggest surprise was seeing how many people of all ages attended. It was a welcomed abnormality, a good sign that there is life after Trump, climate change, and long wish-lists of We The People. The first impacting artwork was at […]

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Architecture and the Politics of Ideas Bernie Sanders Ideas Illustrated and its Meaning for Architecture

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The world is at a critical moment. Architecture by itself can not generate the many solutions that is able to offer without a politically supported global plan. Enlighted and moral leadership are badly needed.

Thomas Jefferson’s Checkboard Towns

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City, 1935

 

“The only safeguard Democracy can have is a free, morally enlightened fearless minority. Fear is the real danger in any democracy.”

                                                                                          Frank Lloyd Wright

“Change does not depend on us (architects;) change depends on you (the people.)”

                                                                                         Luigi Pellegrin

Luigi Pellegrin’s ZEN Neighborhood, Palermo, 1970

Why “Architecture and the Politics of Ideas?”

Frank Lloyd Wright believed that architecture was a crusade on behalf of human civilization rather than a mere profession. In this sense, Thomas Jefferson was an architect, and so were Mahatma Gandhi and David Ben-Gurion.

Bruno Zevi thought that architecture and political ideas are indivisible, so much so that, at one point, he became a member of the Italian Parliament (Radical Party, 1987-1992) and a co-founder of the Liberal-Socialist Action Party in 1998.

Donald Trump’s ascension to power sounded a screeching alarm. It echoed the rise of Fascism with Mussolini, the ascent of Nazism in the early 1930s, and Fascist-Communism as led by Stalin in the Soviet Union and by Mao Tze-Tung in China. It echoed George Orwell’s 1984: “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Big Brother is Watching You.”

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren bring leadership qualities that could help to invent the future with a wide vision and with greater optimism. Their cabinet may include people like Kamala Harris as Attorney General, John Biden as Secretary of State, and other intelligent politicians, such as Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro, Marianne Williamson, Pete Buttigieg…It could include a still-to-be-found “new Daniel Patrick Moynihan.” It may also include a Republican such as John Kasich.

One Santa Fe, Los Angeles, 2015. Michael Maltzan Architecture.
Container Skyscraper for Mumbai, 2015. CRG Architects.
Dwelling for Seniors,msterdam, 2016. MVRDV Architects.
Mirador, Madrid, 2001. MVRDV and B. Lleo Architects.
Mixed-use Building, Oslo, A-Lab Architects
Oasis Terraces, Singapore, 2019. Serie and Multiply Architects.
OnOne Central Park, Sidney, 2017. Ateliers Jean Nouvel and DTWe Central Park., Broadway, Sydney NSW
CentralSt. Giles Court, 2010, Renzo Piano and Fletcher Priest Architects.
Habitat for the Future, 2018, Safdie Architects

Why Bernie as number one? Because he thinks like a statesman. His broad agenda fits not only America’s long list of needs but also a world starving for leadership and direction. Climate change, sustainability, inequality, the arms race are not just American issues; they are global. If approaching them creatively, the planet could be transformed positively beyond anything we can think of today. Architecture could then play a pivotal role.

'>Venice Art Walk 2019 – As We Saw It Eight Artists' Studios - The Artists, Their Work

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Venice is the hometown of many artists.  Once a year, the Venice Family Clinic organizes the Venice Art Walk. It is a fund-raising event that includes a silent auction and artists studios open to the public. After checking on the thirty-four artists having open studios, we shortlisted eight:  Laddy John Dill (with whom Ruth had […]

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And The Winner Is… Q&A with the five Foreign Films directors nominated for the Golden Globes Awards 2018

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“And the Winner Is…” brings segments of a Q&A with the five Foreign Films directors nominated for the Golden Globes Awards sharing their thoughts and experiences on the making of their latest films. Angelina Jolie, Ruben Östlund, Andrey Zvigagintsev, Sebastian Lelio and Fatih Akin sat next to each other at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater and answered questions posed by the moderator, Mike Goodrich, on their films: FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER, THE SQUARE, LOVELESS, FANTASTIC WOMAN AND IN THE FADE respectively, dealing with contemporary themes addressing the world today.

Golden Globes Awards 75th Anniversary
Golden Globes Awards
Foreign Films’ Directors Nominees
Symposium with the Nominee Directors
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) Sponsorship
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Director Ruben Östlund
Director Fatih Akin
Director Angelina Jolie
Director Angelina Jolie with Writer Loung Ung
Director Ruben Östlund
Director Fatih Akin
Director Sebastian Lelio
Director Andrey Zviyagintsev

The day preceding the Golden Globs Awards night we sat at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater in Hollywood surrounded by a public of creative people from the filmmaking community. The Q&A was moderated by Mike Goodrich. The directors, in spite of being competitors, were friendly and unassuming. Although my preferred film among the very good five was Ruben Östlund’s The Square, whom we had encountered the preceding day at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, I was very impressed by the humanity, eloquence and thinking of Angelina Jolie, well beyond her beauty and talent as an actress. Being acquitted with Cambodia’s genocide – back in 2008 we were commissioned to design a memorial in Long Beach, which has the largest Cambodian community outside of Phnom Penh – I thought that They Killed My Father First was important to raise the public’s awareness of the Cambodian tragedy.  The film was well crafted, besides its content.

Why was The Square my preferred film? Because I saw it as one of those films that mark a “before and after” point of reference, like La Dolce Vita in the 1960’s. It is a breakthrough in filmmaking, and I am glad that the Cannes Festival acknowledged that by awarding it the Palme d’Or. Many professional critiques disagree, and in fact, contrary to my predictions, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not award it, neither did it award Jolie’s film, which I considered the second best. The critique is that it is “disjointed.” Sure, and that’s the point. Östlund is perfectly coherent in the way he presents his social critique in a language consistent with the message. In a way, its satirical aspect reminded me the films of Luis Buñuel and the plays of Eugene Ionesco.

Fatih Akin’s input at the symposium was genuine. In the Fade is a very good thriller, but I agree with him that he would not have been there without the participation of Diane Kruger’s fabulous acting. The importance of this film dealing with terrorism and neo-nazi racism is that it focuses on the victim, rather than on the terrorists or the police investigators.

In Fantastic Woman, Sebastian Lelio confronted a difficult subject in telling the story of a transexual as a social message, to a great extent thanks to the performance of its star, Daniela Vega. He acknowledges that before the film he had had many prejudices about the subject, and only after long research he changed his mind.

Last but not least, Andrey Zviyagnitsev’s Loveless develop a theme that, unfortunately, it is quite universal: the victimization of children from an ugly divorce. The filmmaking is masterful in a  classical cinematographic way of painting a drama, but, like In the Fade, it is essentially a thriller.

Why would a filmmaker of architecture documentaries step on the field of feature films’ critique? An easy answer is ‘why not’? But the truth is that I see architecture as the ultimate expression of life itself, and it is nourished by all the arts and sciences. In many ways, I find that architecture and filmmaking have a similar process. As a personal note: in my first year at the School of Architecture of the University of Buenos Aires, we had a course named “Cultural Integration,” taught by Jorge Romero Brest. As part of the course, we had to go to watch assigned good cinema (Fellini, Antonioni, Tati, Kurosawa) every Saturday morning, and write a review by Monday. It was the way the school saw how to develop critical thinking in students that didn’t know a jota about architecture.

“And The Winner Is…” Obviously, YOU! 

Stranger Things

'>Netflix Night IDA's "Awards Spotlight" Night at Netflix, in Beverly Hills

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IDA’s “Awards Spotlight” event at Netflix’s quarters in Beverly Hills, organized by Amy Jelenko , was out of the ordinary. The spectacular staging was part and parcel of the panel’s presentation. While we listen to stories behind the scenes of four accomplished documentarians – Brian McGinn (Amanda Knox, Chef’s Table,) Ava Du Berney (13th,) Greg Whiteley (Last Chance U) and Ryan White (The Keepers) – moderated by IDA’s Executive Director, Simon Kilmurry,  the eye wandered through a multitude of lights, sounds and shapes. The catering added delight to the senses.

Documentarians are an extraordinary mix of artists-journalists with a passion for the truth, no matter how bitter that may be. Quite frequently they risk their lives to get the footage, of which a small fraction is distilled through long days of editing. A sample story was provided to us by John McDonald, director of “Mule,” now in post-production. Pilar Galvez also had interesting stories related to her Latin-American background. To observe a group like this in that kind of atmosphere was more than unusual: it was surreal.