MATIÈRE GRISE - GREY MATTER

“Matière Grise” examines the strategy for materials in the midst of two crises: dwindling resources and the build-up of waste. The exhibition explores the issue of reuse at a pivotal moment, a time when architecture is seeking to reinvent itself in order to reflect environmental and economic concerns, as well as new uses.

The philosophy behind reuse is that raw materials are no longer under our feet or on the other side of the world, but in our cities, buildings and infrastructure. It is also a matter of realising that the materials present are not waste to be disposed of as far away as possible, but a form of capital to recover and conserve. The entire production chain and body of expertise has to be reinvented or reworked. The exhibition presents the theory that this new way of looking at materials is producing and will continue to produce a new approach to architecture and construction. Ingenuity will no longer manifest itself solely through drawings on a blank page, but through an ability and the opportunity to make with what is on hand.