Josep M. Jujol (1879-1949) was, in our geographical area, one of the architects who worked with the greatest intensity over the shortest period of time. New constructions that are few in number but singular in nature, and virtually complete overhauls, stand alongside a numerous set of designs and interventions, ranging from the design of utensils to the use of paint as a catalyst for the narrative of his architectural proposals. All of this means that his passage through architecture powerfully attracts our interest.

Difficult to classify within the conventional historiography of art and architecture, and awkward to analyse under the customary tools of the historian, the work of Josep M. Jujol is read, today, as the trade of an inescapable creator if we try to follow the arc connecting Catalan tradition and modernity. For that reason, the architect Jujol’s redefinition of work is perhaps what best defines the present and the need to point to his work once again.

The series of lectures being presented here has a dual aim: firstly to recover the present-day situation with relation to the architect Josep M. Jujol, author of the work that kicks off the exhibition being shown on the third floor of the Fabra i Coats facility. This is a touring exhibition whose origin lies in the Arquitectures empeltades/Grafting Architecture pavilion which represented Catalonia at the 14th edition of the Biennale d’Architettura di Venezia Eventi Collaterali. And secondly, to take an in-depth look at those themes that may help us gain greater insight into his universe and his work.

Lecture 1
JUJOL AND GRAFTING ARCHITECTURE
Josep Torrents i Alegre

On Jujol and grafting. On the pertinence of a living and contemporary concept. On the capacity for finding grafted architectures at other times in history and at other places worldwide. On the idea of an unfinished list. On other origins of the exhibition.

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