Like Chirico's three-dimensional paintings or Escher's stairs to nowhere, the labyrinth Espai Corberó (Corberó's space) in Esprague near Barcelona defies architectural logic, "without planning, only subject to space and poetry" .
"This is not my home, this is where I build my sculptures with the help of patrons and buyers," said artist Xavier Corberó in an interview before his death in 2017 at the age of 81.
Now, 5 years later, the local council has recently acquired this labyrinth of over 3,600 square meters for 3 million euros, opening it to the public as a public cultural space. It is unclear what function Espai Corberó will be used for, but it is certain that visiting will be easier.
Xavier Corberó is regarded as one of the most important artists in Catalonia after Gaudí. His most amazing work is this private house, which even surpasses his sculptures, but he has never studied architecture.
Enclosed by medieval stone walls, 9 interconnected buildings and more than a dozen courtyards make up this idyllic labyrinthine mansion. Xavier Corberó just wanted a place to put his sculptures, think quietly and listen to music, but it took a frantic 49 years to expand from the original building to an entire complex, including his All sculptures.
Of course, in his view, between sculpture and architecture, "the boundary does not exist, it is usually fabricated, and it is completely nonsense."
Infinitely extending colonnades, more than 300 arches, and a kaleidoscopic kaleidoscope of light and shadow, this is an intricately surreal labyrinth. Stairs, cascades of stairs, straight, spiral; some lead to another level, some lead nowhere. "Who cares where it goes?"
There's even an underground theatre that can seat 300 spectators. More than one foreign guest found it easier to find their hosts within the enclave making international calls here. "There are some buildings I haven't seen in over a year," Corberó confided himself. However, while the magnitude is large, the impact is modest. "The space is big, but it's only psychologically big because the space is not bigger than any of the halls in Chicago. The good thing is the scale, and if you get the scale right, the space is no longer a space, it's a mind. This happens in sculpture , also happens in architecture.”
When a visitor asked Corberó what the purpose of all this was, he replied: "I keep creating, imagining something, and feeling the need to make it visible, and that's enough. That's art, or something like that. "It's not just a house, it's a place, a place. It's born out of a general need: spiritual, emotional, material...Ultimately, it's used to cover up ugliness. I don't Believe in property, and not in artist colonies. In the end, they're just smug self-centeredness. I don't believe in college either, because people usually get lost when they come out of college.”
Although the house was built slowly and incrementally according to his own ideas, he was shocked to find that he had already paid for hundreds of arched windows. "It's like life itself, one day, you get up, you shave, and you look up in the mirror and you're 70 years old and your hair is gray."
The early days were poor and bold. He spreads out color swatches in the kitchen to create a random effect. "I got these tiles because I was poor. I went to the factory next door and said to them, I want your cheapest tiles, the ones that are no longer in use, faulty or damaged." They showed him two piles of useless 120-year-old tiles and charged him a peseta each. "I saw one recently at a flea market here and they asked me for 5,000 pesetas (70 euros)!"
Back in 1959, he settled in this remote Esprague, much to the confusion of his city mates. "I remember a gallery in Barcelona saying, 'You're crazy, it's too far!'" Despite being only 11 kilometers from Ramblas, the bustling center of the metropolis, the metropolis has attracted the world to appreciate Gaudí and modernism. But Corberó's camp would be another world.
He created a dream place for himself behind a high stone wall and a haven for other artists. Over the years, he has hosted many artists here, without the mundane pressure of paying rent, and they have a lot of time here to explore their creative abilities, working and living in this fairy tale bubble full of infinite possibilities. "I try to do for them what I hope to be able to do in their situation."
"All kinds of people have lived here, like Robert Hughes and Elsa Peretti. The trick in life is to grow, and that means being self-sufficient. In order to achieve that, you need to follow a The road, but before that, you have to find it first. All of this takes time. Time. This is what we give to the people who live here. There are no rules. Well, two years: stay at least two years, don't talk about art "It's not that I don't like talking about art. But I don't like it becoming so institutionalized because it limits itself. I prefer to talk about the really important things in life, like the weather, whether the food is delicious, whether you have it or not." The flu, or whether you slept well."
As the owner of the land, he said, "I will try to be as low-key as possible, the lower the better. Because they come here to find themselves, not me." He is busy with his numerous projects and refuses to speak art. "I hate artists talking to artists. You have nothing to explain to each other."
So what happened during Corberó's years with famous dreamers like Dalí, Man Ray, Duchamp? "I didn't see Man Ray much, but when we had dinner, we had dinner together. We talked about women, chairs, finances, or who was going to pay for dinner, but not art."
Corberó's elegance is reminiscent of an elegant era, he was born in Barcelona on the eve of the Spanish Civil War. Survived smallpox and war, and grew up with art. His father and grandfather founded what is now the Massana Art School in Barcelona. At the age of 19, Corberó renounced his estate to devote himself to art without financial support. Dalí became his first patron, but he didn't know it until many years later.
"Many years later, when I had an exhibition in New York, Dalí came every day. I asked him why he came so often, and he said, because I think your work is very interesting. The only problem is that you are not very polite. I asked him why he said that, and he told me that he had bought all of my works in an exhibition before and made that call."
In addition to his own artistic creations, he also has a rich collection of furniture and artworks from different eras and different ethnic groups, Chinese screens, Middle Eastern carpets, Le Corbusier's lounge chairs, Louis Vuitton luggage... … "What I'm trying to do here is do something that's not boring, so if someone comes to stay, or visit or whatever, think about what they'd do if he came here more often."
"You have to open things up so that the other person likes or pays attention. I think when people see a work of art, they become artists, and they see what they see, not what really exists. .They help them see other things and they feel better because they see things they haven't seen before. That's what I like to do. That's why I did a little trick and put a picture of China next to the sculpture Bed with a Nicaraguan football next to it."
In addition to the labyrinth, he built a residential center in 1972 to provide studios for artists. He also designed the medals for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and served as art judge for then-mayor Pascal Mager, by persuading artists such as Anthony Caro, Roy Lichtenstein and Richard Serra Donate their work almost for free, contributing to the transformation of the city. Corberó may have had more influence on Barcelona than any artist since Gaudí.
For your next trip to Barcelona, there will be one more destination on your travel list, looking forward to experiencing the miraculous dream-like building of Xavier Corberó.
Article Source：景观周
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