Matta architect: an interview on architecture
Transcript of an interview with Roberto Matta by Ramuntcho Matta, originally presented in video format (SOMETIMESTUDIOS). Our thanks to Ramuntcho Matta for this material.
Ra /Ramuntcho Ro /Roberto
Ra: Let’s talk about architecture, about what you learned of architecture.
Ro: Architecture is…how to say it…In man there’s this deep need to conceive and express the “where”, the territory, the place where one is. And representations are like a card game, a house of cards, something virtual, hypothetical, but they have their origin in the first inhabitants. Like Dogon architecture, one of the oldest, that allows us to imagine the origins. And the first caves, which were a kind of “ready made”. All the variants of the universe were present. There were walls of water, of ice, walls of grass. That's all part of a story that is the history of the concept of "where", of where we are. And the more we move and we move into the depth of the "where" therein lie geometries that have not yet been imagined. (Continues while painting) Let’s see how it appears (referring to a figure, geometry in strokes). We have the deep tendency to copy and try to do better than nature, with its enormous flowers, miracles and wonders and impossible insects. Then, architecture is more than just bricks... As an architect I said to myself, what is to build? Instead of building with adobe and stuff like that, or with roofs, I think the important issue is to build awareness, a consciousness which may become almost universal before dying. Also, the eye knows. Morphology is (basic or magical, it is not understood in the original video) in function of the word. The word is like a knife, but morphology is a kind of small explosion, like flowers and plants do. Then it all started to make me think that it was better to draw than to make construction plans. I have used architectural plans that serve to understand how to build a house and I have applied all that to the design of spaces that could be called spaces of thought, representing how thinking works and how it uses signs and symbols, of course. Re: Your architecture thesis, The League of Religions, is that how you started? Ro: It all started with something like this (he opens and shows a sketch). I called it "Chilean architecture" (laughing). I imagined a city where all religious delegations came together... located at the foot of a hill, and on the top the meeting room, something like a temple. Then to study the interiors I was inspired by nude drawings. Within these square spaces there were rooms surrounded by courtyards made of curves (moves through the picture while explaining), I relied on nudes. Then it is more complex. And then, the construction plans, made with greater... Ra: Imagination? Ro: Greater precision ... The city was completely straight and all premises with flexible rooms and walls. At that time I called them flexible, and even inflatable. A real project should aim at building a human being. That has disappeared. If you are an architect you should worry about the strength of materials, of the quality of construction. But if you're a cynic, you do not need to build. It’s not about movement, what matters is growth. It’s not the house that grows, but he who lives in it. The resident must be in an environment conducive to its growth and awareness. And not in an environment that intimidates him and treats him like a piece of furniture. Basically, what happens is not movement but growth. It’s about growing. Then the image is not so much as a film, to change place or location, as it is of growing. It's like a tree, which depends on two things: roots and branches. The branches, so to speak, are what put you in touch with the present world, and the roots put you in contact with things that give you energy. It so happens that in general the image that people use is that of a trunk, but there are no roots or branches. Then it’s not a tree, it’s a stick. Most people have a concept of their being as a stick, and then they can’t take hold. The good image of the growth of consciousness is that of a tree that grows and grows and grows from a seed until reaching the sky and then dries, dies, becomes fire. (A little granddaughter appears on scene, to which Ramuntcho says: If you were to ask Matta something, what would it be? She then asks:) - Architect? I was an architect. And I changed to build architecture in the imagination.
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