Artsmarts
Palaces, Prisons, Books: “Paper Architecture” by Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Why did Piranesi become not an ordinary architect, but a ‘paper’ one, and why it turned out not to be a defeat, but a victory for him? How did Piranesi create his own myth about Rome and why do we still look at the Eternal City through his eyes? Why did Piranesi wander at night among the Roman ruins, and did he use opium, inventing his Imaginary Prisons? Why would Escher, Eisenstein and the…