Explore connection between Art and Architecture at Jeanneret house
The Pierre Jeanneret House Museum in Sector 5, Chandigarh has been home to artist Cristian Chironi for the last one month. The Italian artist uses various mediums to express his creativity. He is in Chandigarh as part of the long-term project, ‘My house is a Le Corbusier’, which started in 2015. The artist will live in 30 habitable homes by Corbusier in 12 countries as part of the project. He will live, work, showcase ideas in these homes by Le Corbusier, as per his concept about the project.
He is in Chandigarh, for the project and is putting up at the Sector 5 house designed by architect Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier’s cousin. Chironi has been exploring many aspects of Corbusier and Jeanneret’s architecture. Apart from that he is trying to explore more about, the city Beautiful, its residents, spaces and how Chandigarh has changed over the passage of time. Pierre Jeanneret lived in the house for 11 long years from 1954 to 1965. During his stay, he implemented many projects by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. Later, the home was turned into a museum dedicated to Jeanneret’s work and vision.
A Tribute to the legend
Chironi has been studying many aspects of Corbusier and Jeanneret’s work for the past few weeks. The Jeanneret house was open to the public on Sunday to mark the 50th Death anniversary (December 4) of Pierre Jeanneret. He was the first chief architect of Chandigarh. The exhibition showcases many aspects of architecture and design elements by Corbusier and Jeanneret. The Jeanneret House Museum is spread over different rooms. Chironi defines their work in Chandigarh as perfect. Apart from studying some iconic buildings by the legends, the artist interacted with the public. He even explored the city’s periphery, and how it helped change the city’s texture.
Chironi explained, “During my residencies, I gather suggestions and input, and then I respond to them in various creative interdisciplinary ways that combine installation, video, photography, writing, drawing, and performance, as you can see here in this showcase. Each building has its own special quirks and my work involved exploring the areas around these living spaces.”
Chironi exclaimed, “The idea is to create a connection between the inside and outside, as the architects had envisioned.” The artist has created a cement sculpture in the shape of a flower near the eye-shaped window in Jeanneret’s room. Apart from this, he has created a new design by folding two different pages of a book. This design depicts two of Corbusier’s buildings. He has super-imposed a table’s image designed by Jeanneret by using freshly cut grass and placed it in a box.
A gift to the Museum
He further added, “My gift to the museum is a cast iron manhole cover, with a pattern depicting the grid system of Chandigarh and surroundings. It also depicts asymmetrical shapes representing the periphery of the city, which has changed its essence. This cover bears the name of the project, ‘My House is a Le Corbusier’. The gift will be placed at the museum’s entrance.” He also added, “It has been an enriching experience and I have many more ideas that I wish to explore here and at the end of the project create a book or video.”
Furthermore, Chironi talked about the importance of these artistic endeavors. Therefore, he said, “Conserving the work of both is a duty. Their studies on the issue of living because of this, one can find solutions to some of today’s problems. Be it a vast growth of cities, lack of new living spaces and uncontrolled urban expansion.”
