Massimo Curzi curates and sets up the personal exhibition of Hélène Binet, one of the most significant authors of contemporary photography, showing how her work investigates the relationship between natural light and architecture.

From April 18th to 23rd Euroluce 2023, at Pavilion 11, presents the exhibition “HELENE BINET. Nature, Time and Architecture”. The work of one of the most important contemporary photographers, Hélène Binet, illustrated through an original selection – drawn from the archive of her most powerful work – on the relationship between natural light and architecture, between nature and time, taking the form of a narrative (in images) of works by the leading masters of architecture.

Helene Binet, Le Corbusier, Couvent Sainte Marie de la Tourette, Eveux, France 2002

The original and unmistakable poetry of a 35-year career in photography, using analogue technique and rigorous approach, demonstrates just how much better this artform lends itself to evidencing the specific qualities of designed and built spaces than many others.

Helene Binet, Peter Zumthor, Kolumba, Diocesan Museum, Germany 2007

“An extraordinary body of work in black and white, carried forward consistently and stubbornly, focusing on the eternal relationship between light and shade in some of the most important architectural works in history,” commented Massimo Curzi while Hélène Binet said: “In selecting the images for this exhibition, we started from my earliest photographs, like those that bear witness to the work of John Hejduk, working up to the more recent ones of traditional Korean architecture. The aim remained unchanged: with delicate associations, juxtapositions of images, shadows and silences, I hope to trigger the imagination of the observer and take them somewhere not too far removed from the architect’s initial sketch.”

Gottfried Bohm, Five churches, Germany 2020

The installation has been devised as an opportunity for pause and reflection during the constantly surprising and varied trade fair experience. A double architectural volume with a structure is made out of wooden boards, the outside covered with brushed aluminium, and the inside with sheets of midnight blue felt, all making for a powerful contrast between the interior and exterior of the exhibition space.

Helene Binet, Vals, Triptych A, Peter Zumthor, Therme Vals

The felt applied to the internal walls is designed to highlight the works on exhibit, whilst creating a muffled, silent acoustic environment designed to provide an illusion of suspended time, compared with the frenetic buzz outside. Soft carpeted flooring will serve to accentuate this spatial quality even further.

Helene Binet, Musmeci, Ponte sul Basento, Italy 2015
J. Utzon, Can Lis, Maiorca 2019
Suzhou, Gardens, China 2018