IIW 2023 Welded Art Book

nExhibit “The Two Architects”n Work commissioned by Unibail-Rodamco as a tribute to the architects Carlos Martínez and Jos Galán for the inauguration of the Glòries Shopping Center, in which both collaborated in a decisive way, under the slogan “25 years projecting Glòries and the new centrality of Barcelona”. The objective of the sculptor Jordi Díez for this artwork is expressed in one of his statements: “From the first moment I undertook this work I captured the deep human quality of Carlos and Jos, two hard-working, family men enthusiastic about the transcendence of their work for many people”. The monument is composed of the two fragmented life-size figures of Carlos and Jos, suspended with steel cables from a cubic structure 250 cm high by 150 cm wide and 150 cm deep, all made of AISI 316L stainless steel. The sculpture was oriented in such a way that the two figures focus their attention on a building, the modification of which they worked closely together on.

The monument was conceived as the first phase of a larger project intended to be installed in Plaça de Glòries, the centre that Cerdà planned for the city. In it, a colossal representation of Cerdà is dramatically fused to a sphere laden with energy, capturing a universal truth with his left hand as an antenna and casting it with vigour onto the ground, reality, with his right hand. It is, in the words of the sculptor Jordi Díez “A mental image. What happens in Cerdà’s mind when he captures the intuition of universal economy that will lead to the mosaic of octagons that he designed for Barcelona”. The monument consists of the figure of Cerdà, 280 cm high, on a spherical cap 150 cm high and 700 cm in diameter, located at the roundabout where the main access to the town of Centelles ends. It is made entirely of AISI 316L stainless steel.

It was unveiled in 2017 at the

inauguration of the Glòries Shopping Center in front of family, friends, and collaborators in a solemn and emotional act.

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Welded Art PHOTOGRAPHIC Exhibition – IIW 2023 Digital Collection