Screen stars: Beka & Lemoine's complete work acquired by MoMA
![a still from Barbicania, a film especially commissioned by the Art Gallery of the Barbican Centre](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4XbswLt5PbvHPFyoCiVhZM-1280-80.jpg)
So often we are intimidated by the scope and scale of contemporary architecture, the expansive vaults, the soaring atria, the undulating walls. We might be unsure of our place in it; passive viewer or active participant? For a decade, Italian Ila Bêka and French Louise Lemoine, two young filmmakers, have taken us on an alternative journey, one which allows us to experience the built and natural environment from the perspective of those who interact with it on a daily basis. As well as speaking to the architects or designers (after the design process is complete), they also talk to everyone from construction workers to tenants, to passers by.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has recognised this novel approach and announced acquisition of their entire 16 film oeuvre – at once innovative in the realms of architecture and cinema. This gesture represents the Department of Architecture and Design's first foray into the medium of film.
'Film is becoming a significant tool for in-depth exploration and transmission of architecture and design experiences, and not only aesthetics and process… In focusing on the subjective experience of architecture,' wrote MoMA collection specialist Paul Galloway. 'The [films of Beka and Lemoine] further MoMA's ability to examine and present the relevance of building design to everyday life.'
Lemoine, who grew up in the house that launched the series, Koolhaas Houselife (2008), followed Guadalupe, the wry housekeeper, as she made her daily rounds in the challenging dwelling, which Rem Koolhaas designed especially for Lemoine's father who had been severely injured in an automobile accident. This process was intensely personal to Lemoine, but also gave the rest of us a chance to intimately experience the solutions of a world famous architect faced with an unusual family program while still delivering signature work.
Beka and Lemoine, who somehow manage to insert themselves in their works without stealing the show, elicit candid responses both from the architects and these 'human maps of the buildings', to capture 'the spontaneity of life', as Lemoine puts it. Projects from Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Herzog and de Meuron, Richard Meier and Bjarke Ingels have been matched by commissioned films from the Fondazione Prada and the Barbican Center and more environmental subjects like Paris's Place de la République, the vineyards of Pomerol, the island of La Maddalena, and most recently Bordeaux's La Garonne river embankment.
To actually polish a window or interact with neighbours or cycle by a river's shores is to form an ongoing dialogue with architecture or place and unveils an organic symbiosis that these thoughtful, slow-paced films gently, but clearly, expose. Neither precious nor fawning, and often charming and amusing, the work of these filmmakers leaves a singular impression.
In Koolhaas Houselife (2008), Lemoine followed Guadalupe, the wry housekeeper, as she made her daily rounds in the challenging dwelling designed by Rem Koolhaas especially for Lemoine's father who had been severely injured in an automobile accident
La Maddalena was conceived as a video installation commissioned by Rem Koolhaas for the last Architecture International Venice Biennale (2014)
24 Heurs Sur Place is an homage to Louis Malle, filmed in Paris
The art project Spiriti was commissioned by the Fondazione Prada and follows the last month of the ex-alcohol factory's construction works
The Infinite Happiness takes us to a Danish housing development in the outskirts of Copenhagen by architect Bjarke Ingels
INFORMATION
For more information visit the Beka & Lemoine website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
A wooden lakeside cabin in southern Chile offers a new twist on the traditional barn
Clad in local Coigüe timber, this lakeside cabin by Tomás Tironi and Lezaeta Lavanchy on Lake Ranco, titled Casa Puerto Nuevo, adds contemporary flair to the local vernacular
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
‘Life is strange and life is funny’: a new film goes inside the world of Martin Parr
‘I Am Martin Parr’, directed by Lee Shulman, makes the much-loved photographer the subject
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Saatchi Gallery is in full bloom with floral works from Vivienne Westwood, Marimekko, Buccellati and more
‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ at Saatchi Gallery, London, explores the relationship between creatives and their floral muses, and spans from fashion and jewellery to tattoos
By Tianna Williams Published
-
‘Life is strange and life is funny’: a new film goes inside the world of Martin Parr
‘I Am Martin Parr’, directed by Lee Shulman, makes the much-loved photographer the subject
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands on creating an electronic score for historical drama, Mussolini
Tom Rowlands has composed ‘The Way Violence Should Be’ for Sky’s eight-part, Italian-language Mussolini: Son of the Century
By Craig McLean Published
-
Meet Daniel Blumberg, the British indie rock veteran who created The Brutalist’s score
Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated Blumberg has created an epic score for Brady Corbet’s film The Brutalist, in cinemas this week; listen here
By Craig McLean Published
-
Remembering David Lynch (1946-2025), filmmaking master and creative dark horse
David Lynch has died aged 78. Craig McLean pays tribute, recalling the cult filmmaker, his works, musings and myriad interests, from music-making to coffee entrepreneurship
By Craig McLean Published
-
Architecture and the new world: The Brutalist reframes the American dream
Brady Corbet’s third feature film, The Brutalist, demonstrates how violence is a building block for ideology
By Billie Walker Published
-
‘It creates mental horrors’ – why The Thing game remains so chilling
Wallpaper* speaks to two of the developers behind 2002’s cult classic The Thing video game, who hope the release of a remastered version can terrify a new generation of gamers
By Thomas Hobbs Published
-
Wu Tsang reinterprets Carmen's story in Barcelona
Wu Tsang rethinks Carmen with an opera-theatre hybrid show and a film installation, recently premiered at MACBA in Barcelona (until 3 November)
By Emily Steer Published
-
Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series comes to life for Art Basel Paris
In ‘Tales & Tellers’, interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga brings Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series for Art Basel Paris to life for the public programme
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published