Dear all,
I’m sorry it’s been a while- but the last few weeks have been busy, both here and with news coming from family in the UK. However, one of the joys of the busy-ness here is the people I have been running into, and their varying skills and talents.
A couple of weeks ago our resident latinist and I managed to get into a concert at the Swiss institute where composer and experimental musician Alvin Curran was joined by a group of students from the Bern Academy of the Arts. Neither of us were quite sure what we had let ourselves in for but it was astounding and brilliant. I have since tried to listen online but this type of music is better in person. It was a collection of sounds accompanied by a mixture of humming, whoops(?) and other vocals from the students. As Alvin played they moved around the room- using the changing acoustics of the space to create the overall harmony. It was immersive in a way very little music I have ever listened to was. I could almost feel the shape of the space the music was creating- most extraordinary.
We have also been lucky enough to have some rather talented people visit the BSR. Stirling prize winning architect Niall McLaughlin came to give a lecture at the BSR last week and stayed overnight. Roundly voted one of the best lectures anyone here had ever seen, he entirely bewitched us all with the descriptions of his thinking and the process behind the architecture he and his team build. His reverence for the process of construction, and the optimism he holds for the ability of this process to bind people together is inspiring and seductive. He had never been to the BSR before so I also had a chance to show him around the building the next morning.
The library (fast becoming one of my favourite places in the world) was a particular hit and his enthusiasm for ‘the endless potential’ of libraries. I’ve always loved libraries and collections of books but his description struck a chord. To paraphrase him- each book is a universe and will be different to both the author and each person who pulls it off the shelf- to be in a space that holds all that is very special.
Also inspirational- but in a different way- was a talk that artist Cornelia Parker gave this week on International Woman’s Day (she’s the artist who got the British Army to blow up a shed and then re-assembled the pieces). I’ve always liked her art and to see a collection presented by her was great fun. Her playfulness with everyday objects makes you look at things in a new way. She was also an award holder at the BSR in the past, living here for a few months in the late 1980s. After the lecture it was fascinating to hear her tales from life here then (fundamentally very similar to now!).
The faculty of architecture of Sapienza University next door also hosted a Stirling Prize winner this week. William Mann of Witherford Watson Mann architects gave a fascinating lecture about three of his projects. All three coalesced around the theme of working with existing buildings, heritage and interfacing with ruins. It was apt both for Rome, and for the challenges all architects are facing in adapting old buildings for new purposes as a more environmentally responsible alternative to building new. Something he said echoed Niall though- that buildings exist in time and cannot be static.
As if this weren’t enough several new residents have arrived, all established academics, greatly adding to the conversation at meals. Among them is Janet DeLaine, a Roman archaeologist. She initially trained as a civil engineer in Australia but, it being several decades ago, told me all she was offered were drafting jobs. Shifting gears into archaeology she has ended up creating a new sub-genre of the field by using her engineering and architectural knowledge to ask new questions about Roman ruins. She is, for example, the reason we know how many people it took to build the baths of Caracalla. Or at least, that’s what a fellow diner told me- she interrupted to insist that this was nonsense, all she knows is the minimum number of people it would have taken!
Janet also feels like a good example of why I think the BSR is quite so special- the conversations that happen here and the opportunities for thinking and researching are inherently cross disciplinary. They’re not all high minded and intellectual- as often as not people share tips on booking trains or a good spot for an aperitivo, but we often meander back to our research. Being exposed to so many differently trained minds pulls your assumptions in so many directions, and we all look at the same information and react in different ways. It’s exhausting at times but we are all feeling the benefit- both in our own thinking, and for the work we’re doing.
If only I could extend for another three months!
In unrelated news my book is now very much published, and we have met in person (available from waterstones amazon or direct from RIBA). It’s both very exciting to see it in the wild, and a little nerve wracking. Paul and I have written some words, but we have no idea how anyone will react to them… I am waiting with bated breath to find out!
Until next time!
Eleanor