Architecture Is a Mediation Between the World and Our Minds”: Juhani Pallasmaa on Art and Imagination

This morning, I stumbled across these words of wisdom by Juhani Pallasmaa. I quote him every week on my architectural tours of the Audain Art Museum. He believed that architecture “domesticates limitless space and endless time,” giving the infinite world a human measure. I am sharing his words today, beautifully and softly spoken. TranscriptOne of the miracles of any great artistic work is that it is timeless. As Paul Valéry, the poet, writes, “An artist is worth a thousand centuries.” It is a fact that greatness is measured by this timelessness. Today, we enjoy a cave painting of twenty-five thousand years ago just as much as a painting of today. It is the miracle of art that it conveys the presence of the maker and the presence of human consciousness, and brings it right here. For any artist, I would say, or designer or architect, it is important to work on yourself, because each one of us is a construction. I have constructed myself; you have constructed yourself. It is this…