A HOUSE FOR DURER

Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) lived at a time when the medieval spirit was still alive, at least in that part of the world where he lived, while the Renaissance was already established. Perhaps we cannot justify everything historically, but one certitude we do have: Dürer had a polar personality, being equally attracted towards the rational suggestions coming from the Renaissance and the "shadows" of the Gothic. In certain ways, perhaps, we live now in a period of time that we might describe as "transitional." The "lights" of the Enlightenment are less bright, to say the least, while the seductions of the darker side of life seem to animate us again. This is not to suggest that a new medieval spirit might just be "around the corner…" But perhaps several aspects of life (spiritual and practical alike), neglected by modernity, might be appealing again. We initiate the following: we intend to organize an exhibition and possibly publish a book with the title: A House for Dürer. Everyone is welcome! We expect to receive proposals that, inspired by the very essence of Dürer's work, to initiate a dialogue between our time and his and, even more, to offer suggestions for a possible future, "enlightened" enough, yet still "mysterious." This event is organized by the Romanian Order of Architects, the Sibiu (Hermannstadt) branch and the opening exhibition will take place in this medieval town from Transylvania. But we expect to make it a travelling exhibition throughout Europe, and maybe beyond, without avoiding, of course, Nürnberg, the birthplace of the great German artist. There are no restrictions of any kind regarding either the format, or the content of the proposals. The only requirement is that this house would be done in such a manner that a present day "Dürer" might have been quite happy to dwell in. But even in the absence of such a prospect, the attempt to unite art and science, reason and feeling, "light" and "shadow" is a noble one, and highly necessary…