...MONACOPOLIS - WHAT MONACO WAS, IS AND COULD HAVE BEEN

Maki Suzuki, Martino Gamper & Nathalie Rosticher-Giordano

On Thursday, January 17th the New National Museum of Monaco invited the Press for the unveiling of the exhibition MONACOPOLIS that builds a true bridge between Villa Sauber and Villa Paloma to present the urbanisation and architectural projects in the Principality from 1858 to present.  The first thing you notice in arriving to Villa Sauber are the windows covered in prussian blue, as designer Martino Gameper explained, to connect with the method of blueprinting used in architectural plans, where the white blueprint paper is placed in an aqueous solution of potassium ferricyanide to become blue. Monacopolis is the result of 2 years work by Chief Curator Nathalie Rosticher-Giordano in collaboration with Martino Gamper in product design and åbäke (Maki Suzuki) in graphics plus an accomplished team, to locate and process archives in both institutional and private collections as well as promoters, a demanding task as in Monaco there is no national architectural file center. This ambitious project became a magnificent and colorful account of the buildings built, destroyed and those still standing plus the many projects submitted but not realized.

Dennis Cromptom from Archigram in London with renditions of their project

I had the chance to meet Dennis Crompton from Archigram an-avant garde architectural group formed in the 60’s in London, who back in 1961 presented an elaborated scheme drawing inspiration from technology to create a new reality, for the site today occupied by the Sporting d’Ete, the Grimaldi Forum as well as a design for Port Hercules that is still up to date in today’s standards. They worked on the planning during 14 year until 1975 when it was abandoned. He said he was happy to collaborate with this exhibition that brought back so many memories.

Archigram project for what is today the Sporting d’Ete
 

You are invited to discover Monacopolis: Villa Sauber (17 Avenue Princesse Grace), from Saturday January 19th to Monday, December 30th from 10 :00 to 18 :00hs - Villa Paloma (56 Boulevard du Jardin Exotique), from Saturday January 19th to Sunday, May 12th from 10 :00 to 18 :00h.

Photos by Celina Lafuente de Lavotha