Exhibition | No Place is Deserted. Ocean Swimming Pool (1960-2021). Álvaro Siza

31st July - 11th December, 2023, Gulbenkian Art Library, Lisbon

© DR

After its inauguration at FAUP in May 2022, the exhibition 'No Place is Deserted. Álvaro Siza: Ocean Swimming Pool (1960-2021)', curated by  Teresa Cunha Ferreira and Luís Urbano, is currently on display at the Gulbenkian Art Library in Lisbon from July 31st to December 11th, 2023.

This exhibition illustrates the multiple lives of one of the most emblematic works of 20^th century architecture, bringing together drawings, photographs, videos, models and objects – many of them unpublished – that allow us to reconstitute a critical narrative of the design process, construction and rehabilitation of this building designed by Siza Vieira and classified as a National Monument in 2011.

Contrary to what one might think, the Leça da Palmeira pool complex, designed and built between 1960 and 2021, was not conceived as a single project, but as a result of consecutive orders and revisions that dictated the gradual growth of the pool complex, from the construction of a tide pool to its recent renovation and extension to the north.

'No place is deserted' starts from the famous aphorism formulated by Siza Vieira regarding the multiplicity of references – natural, topographic, built, immaterial – that the architect finds in the place and that serve as a creative catalyst for the project.

The exhibition includes a set of photographs of Álvaro Siza's works inscribed on the indicative list of World Heritage, which were part of the exhibition 'Porto Poetic' curated by Roberto Cremascoli, organized by the Northern Chapter of the Portuguese Order of Architects.

'No place is deserted' presents the perspective of a group of photographers - Brigitte Fleck, Roberto Collovà, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Mimmo Jodice, Luís Ferreira Alves, Alessandra Chemollo, José Rodrigues, Fernando Guerra, João Morgado, Nicolò Galeazzi, Marta Ferreira, and Inês d’Orey - on the Ocean Swimming Pool of Álvaro Siza.

The initiative is part of the FAUP project financed through the 'Keeping It Modern' initiative of the Getty Foundation and is integrated into the UNESCO Chair "Heritage, Cities, and Landscapes. Sustainable Management, Conservation, Planning, and Design" awarded to the University of Porto through FAUP.

As part of the exhibition's parallel program, a Guided Tour with the curators is scheduled for September 21^st (more information coming soon).