Interior architecture and the visual arts have been growing apart. Both disciplines have their own exhibitions, books, institutions and research. Some decades ago this was different. At the moment of the establishment of the interior architecture training in Antwerp in 1946, there was a close relationship between interior architects and artists.
The research project Living in Color examines the encounters between interior architecture and the visual arts in the period 1945-1985. It focuses on the academic and artistic interrelations and exchanges between teachers and students from both disciplines within the Academy itself. In addition, it explores interfaces and common grounds between interior architects and artists in other contexts.The research aims to examine concrete, material production as well as less palpable subjects. It is based on archival sources, primary and secondary literature and interviews with interior architects and artists.
Through Living in Color we want to draw attention to former crossovers and alliances and in that way stimulate future interdisciplinary explorations.
This research project is a collaboration between The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and the Department of Interior Architecture at the Faculty of Design Science, University of Antwerp.
Image: Interfaces between interior and art. Conference room Library Couwelaar. Work by architect Jul De Roover and artist Rudolf Meerbergen.