THE MIES PROJECT - Inaugural conference with Arina Dähnick and Michelangelo Sabatino

The MIES Project. Architectural Portraits, Arina Dähnick

Photographer Arina Dähnick presents for the first time her work in Barcelona in two emblematic places: Fàbrica Casaramona, originally built by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in 1912 and transformed into CaixaForum Barcelona by Francisco Javier Asarta, Roberto Luna, Robert Brufau and Arata Isozaki in different phases culminating in 2002; and the Barcelona Pavilion, originally built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich in 1929 and rebuilt in 1986 by Ignasi de Solà-Morales, Fernando Ramos and Cristian Cirici.

Her delicate photographs portray the details of Mies van der Rohe’s works in different lighting and weather conditions that interact with the buildings and become architectural portraits. Previously presented in the IIT College of Architecture in Chicago, Farnsworth house in Plano and Villa Tugendhat in Brno, the photographs now interact with visitors in Barcelona.

“Certainly, these images are not just formal architectural photography, they represent a different way of seeing and reveal a poetic quality in Mies’s work that has so far largely been undiscovered. Dähnick works without a tripod, and while these images are not staged, they are nevertheless composed by a very discerning eye that often captures a moment that is not repeatable.”
Dirk Lohan, architect, Chicago

“The MIES Project reveal how, contrary to what advocates of postmodernism have claimed, Mies’s buildings engaged with their surrounding context. Thus, with their reflections and shadows, Arina Dähnick ’s architectural portraits add yet another layer of understanding to the complex legacy of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Michelangelo Sabatino, architect, preservationist, and architecture-art-design historian, Chicago

The presentation of the photographs is complemented by the publication Arina Dähnick – Architectural Portraits. The MIES Project.