A collaborative experimental exhibition, emphasizes a new way of thinking about authorship, inspiration, and ideas.
Inception became a manifesto for a more nuanced approach to the individual and collective aspects of creation. We propose to take the best of both worlds – to maintain the key value of individual contributions to the creative act, while at the same time embracing the shared nature of inspiration. This is a way to remove the imaginary borders between “mine” and “yours” that so often prevent inspiration from freely moving in the atmosphere.
111 of the world’s most remarkable architects were invited to co-author this exhibition of collective creation, by contributing artworks inspired by each other. We began by asking an architect Gary Bates to produce an original work in a medium of his choice by taking the painting The Rhythm of a Russian Dance by Theo van Doesburg (1918, Museum of Modern Art, New York) as a source of inspiration.
We passed on the piece created by the architect to other architects, asking them to produce works inspired by it and then handed the outcomes to still other architects in turn. Over the span of 42 months, we maintained a ceaseless flow of conversation, interplay and sharing — a dance of collective creation allon its own. The resulting chain of inspiration comprises 111 works by the world’s most remarkable architects.
