Introduction
Brasília, the capital of Brazil, was re-founded, planned and built in less than four years under the presidency of Juscelino Kubitschek on a plateau in the geographical centre of the country. Celebrated as a symbol of the new Brazil during its construction and with its inauguration on 21.04.1960, Brasília was often questioned and debated in the following decades with regard to its urban scale and structure. Despite this, the urban layout by Lúcio Costa and the buildings, especially those by Oscar Niemeyer, have lost none of their uniqueness and fascination to this day. The centre of Brasília has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
The pictures from the city‘s formative years by photographers and photo reporters such as Marcel Gautherot, René Burri or Mário Fontenelle, continue to shape our visual memory of this place and bear witness to the ambitious constructions and to the country‘s new identity.
Photography
Galerie Gutermuth shows 7 pictures by Alexander Wagner, which were taken in April 2023 during an excursion through Brazil. They expose the clarity and pure beauty of Brasília's modern buildings. Diagonals, parabolas, curved and directed surfaces structure the picture compositions. Light and strong shadows create gradations of depth and convey the sense of space of the place. Surfaces, such as those of the light Brazilian natural stone, the filigree metal lamellae or the smooth plaster appear as a fine pictorial texture and are reminiscent of the themes of "straight photography" by Paul Strand or Edward Weston.
The warm, finely graded greys that characterise the pictures are a reference to the Brazilian red earth tones and are achieved through the piezography printing technique. The carbon-based pigments used develop their graphic, almost drawing-like effect on the matt paper, which is made in France in a traditional way.
Objects
In Lúcio Costa‘s design for the city layout, the „Plano Piloto“ (master plan), the cross of two main axes, similar to the basic structure of ancient Roman city settlements - consisting of Decumanus and Cardo - is placed in the seemingly endless expanse of the plateau and defines point zero of the new capital. Following the natural topography, the north-south axis is transformed into a wide arc.
Alexander Wagner transforms the ideal-typical, cross-shaped city structure into a delicate, floor-standing glass/steel object with four „quarters“ and into a flat wall object whose engraving traces the city layout and at the same time the elevation of the platform and the bowl-shaped volume of the National Congress.
PALÁCIO DO CONGRESSO NACIONAL I
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

PALÁCIO DO PLANALTO
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

PALÁCIO DO CONGRESSO NACIONAL ANEXO
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

PALÁCIO ITAMARATY
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

PALÁCIO DO CONGRESSO NACIONAL II
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

MUSEU NACIONAL DA REPÚBLICA
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

MUSEU NACIONAL
DA REPÚBLICA INTERIOR
Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília, Brasil
Frame options on request

SUPERQUADRA
2020
Stainless steel frame with glass plate 800 x 800 x 260 mm
Stainless steel profiles, 20 x 6 mm, finely sanded surface
Glass plate, float glass, 800 x 800 x 10 mm (LxWxH), laid loose
steel frame manufactured by Werk-Stoff, Basel; Glass by Demenga Glas AG, Basel

QUADRA
2023
Stainless steel plate sanded and milled 400 x 400 x 6 mm
manufactured by Zumbrunn, Sissach

ALEXANDER WAGNER
*1966, Schopfheim, D

Alexander Wagner graduated in architecture from the Berlin University of the Arts (HdK) in 1994. Until 2012, he worked on numerous projects in reunified Berlin with a special focus on urban development projects and urban architecture with Prof. Bernd Albers.
He was able to gain experience in the field of building for the healthcare sector as a project manager at Silvia Gmür Reto Gmür Architekten in Basel over the last 10 years. With the 1st prize achieved there in 2022 for the competition for the campus expansion of the Charité at the Benjamin Franklin Berlin Steglitz site, he was able to combine knowledge of Berlin‘s urban history and urban development with experience on topics of „Healing Architecture“.
His studies at the HdK and his professional activities in Berlin and Basel are accompanied by free photographic and sculptural works.