WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE
Help the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art choose future films for the Architecture + Film series (soon to be re-named Modernism + Film). Take this short survey and let us know what films interest you most.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is one of Charlotte’s most inspired and inspiring spaces. Designed by eminent Swiss architect Mario Botta, the museum’s architecture displays a sculptural power that connects to the dynamic art inside it. To celebrate and explore the juncture of art and architecture, the Bechtler created the Architecture + Film series to investigate themes in modern and contemporary architecture through the lens of film.
Developed in partnership with the Charlotte chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture, the Architecture + Film series is offered the third Friday of each month and includes a presentation to engage audience members on themes highlighted in the film.
TIME AND TICKETS
An event reception with a cash bar and free light bites begins at 6 p.m. in the Bechtler lobby followed by the presentation and film screening at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Tickets are $8 for members, $10 for non-members and $5 for students with valid school I.D. (Student tickets must be purchasd at the visitor services desk.) Purchase tickets online, by phone 704.353.9200 or at the visitor services desk.
January 18 - The Gruen Effect: Victor Gruen and the Shopping Mall
In The Gruen Effect, an architect’s life, work, and critical humor become a means to make sense of the cities we live in today. The Viennese architect Victor Gruen is considered the father of the shopping mall. His ideas about urban planning, both influential and abused, have led to cities that serve the new gods of consumption. By tracing Gruen’s path from prewar Vienna to 1950s’ America and back to Europe in 1968, the documentary explores the themes and mistranslations that have come to define urban life. (Documentary, 50 minutes)
Speaker: Cathy Morrison, architect at Gantt Huberman Architects
February 22 - The Museum on the Mountain
Directed by Peter Rosen, this engaging and moving film details architect I.M. Pei’s quest to build one of the most challenging structures of his career, the Miho Museum, resting on the top of a mountain in Kyoto, Japan. Though he encounters many obstacles in its difficult construction, the challenge of the museum’s location and complexity ultimately inspires Pei and encourages him to integrate nature and architecture in a new and unique way. (Documentary, 60 minutes). Read more.
Speaker: Robby Johnson, co-founder of Raleigh Architecture and Construction Company
March 15 - The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
Destroyed in a dramatic and highly-publicized implosion, the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure among architects, politicians and policy makers. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth explores the social, economic and legislative issues that led to the decline of conventional public housing in America, and the city centers in which they resided, while tracing the personal and poignant narratives of several of the project’s residents. (Documentary, 70 minutes). Read more.
Speaker: Harvey Gantt, co-founder of Gantt Huberman Architects
April 19 - Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining the Lincoln Center and the High Line
With the almost simultaneous completion of two large-scale projects in New York City — the renovation of the High Line and the revitalization and expansion of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts — Diller Scofidio + Renfro has galvanized the public’s attention. This documentary explores the conversion of the once derelict High Line railroad tracks on the city’s West Side into a 1.5 mile elevated urban park. (Documentary, 54 minutes) Read more.
Speaker: Stuart Romm, Principal of Praxis3 Architecture
May 17 - Utopia London
The film observes the method and practice of the modernist architects who rebuilt London after World War II. It shows how they revolutionized life in the city in the wake of destruction from war and the poor living conditions inherited from the Industrial Revolution. Utopia London travels through the recent history of the city where the filmmaker grew up as he finds the architects who designed it and reunites them with the buildings they created. (Documentary, 82 minutes) Read more.
Speaker: David Walters, Senior Urban Designer at the Lawrence Group and Professor and Director of Urban Design Group at UNC Charlotte
June 21 - Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect
Rarely has an architect caused so much sensation in the architecture community as Rem Koolhaas. But Koolhaas’s work is as much about ideas as it is about constructing buildings; he is equally celebrated as a writer and social commentator. Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect is an engaging portrait of a visionary man that takes us to the heart of his ideas.(Documentary, 92 minutes) Read more.
Speaker: Charles Davis, Assistant Professor of Architecture History at UNC Charlotte
The Bechtler’s Architecture + Film series is developed in partnership with
