Frank Gehry: on the Vuitton Building and Architecture Generally

Frank Gehry is making the news in Paris this fall, with the inauguration of the Fondation Louis Vuitton building, which he designed, and a retrospective of his work at the Pompidou Center (October 8, 2014–January 26, 2015). While a number of his emblematic buildings, most famously the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, have public currency, his ideas are much less well known. A city planner as well as an architect, interested in developing digital design and fabrication tools, Gehry’s great concern is how to humanize architecture. Music and art are also central to his approach, as the interview below makes clear. The opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton will take place in three stages. It will start with a limited selection of works from the collection, including pieces by Gerhard Richter, Pierre Huyghe, Christian Boltanski and Thomas Schutte, as well as permanent works by Ellsworth Kelly and Olafur Eliasson. Works commissioned from Sarah Morris, Adrian Villa Rojas, and Taryn Simon will be exhibited temporarily. A program of performances will complete this presentation. The architecture itself will feature prominently. The second phase, in December, will focus more on the collection, notably with a big exhibition by Olafur Eliasson. Finally, a show planned for March 2015 will include important modern and contemporary works both from the collection and from other major institutions around the world.