On the 3rd of October Pippo Ciorra came to give a lecture at Cornell. Ciorra is the senior curator of architecture at the MAXXI in Rome, a position he has held since 2010. He is an architect, critic and professor of design and theory at the School of Ascoli Piceno at the University of Camerino in Italy. He is he coordinator of the Villard de Honnecourt international PhD program and advisor for the MVDR prize. He is also the member of the editorial board of Casabella, Gomorra, and Parametro and has authored a number of books including “Ludovico Quaroni”, “Peter Eisenman” and “Young Italian Architects”. He has curated and designed exhibitions in Italy and elsewhere including the Biennale in Venice.
Professor Wasserman introducing Pippo Ciorra
Professor Shara Wasserman, professor of the Contemporary Art in Rome class, introduced Pippo. During his lecture Ciorra described the nexus of architecture and art as the framework of public spaces. He spoke of the way a museum can be seen by others – a public zone for people to interact, a space to display art and a piece of art in itself (especially in the case of the MAXXI designed by Zaha Hadid). Ciorra spoke of the limitations and challenges in displaying in a place like MAXXI with its vast and open exhibition spaces.
In the second part of his lecture Ciorra focused mostly on architecture, and his own interests in reconstituting derelict urban spaces into new forms for architecture to inhabit. One of the firms he spoke of was Diller and Scofidio, who did the famous highline project in New York, reusing an abandoned railway line to make an open air park. Other firms he spoke of were LIN architects and Lacetos S Vassal.
At the reception afterwards, Ciorra was very interested in the architecture class’ studio brief this year – a recapitulation of Guiseppe Terragni’s Danteum project, so much so that he offered Prof Mark Morris to have our final review at the MAXXI! So stay tuned until the end of this semester when the architecture class will be displayed in one of the most renowned museums in the world!