PRESENTATION: MIES BY AGUSTÍN FERRER CASAS

On the 6th June Ivorypress hosted the presentation of MIES, a comic book by Agustín Ferrer Casas. The author was joined by the journalist and art historian Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, the architect Enrique Bordes, and the critic and architect Laura Martínez de Guereñu.

On the occasion of the different anniversaries celebrated in 2019 around the figure of Mies van der Rohe—fifty years of his death, ninety years since the construction of the German Pavilion for the Barcelona International Exhibition and a hundred since the creation of the Bauhaus School—the publishing house Grafito has published the graphic novel MIES.

MIES, with a prologue by Norman Foster, narrates the fictional biography of the famous German architect. A life the author explores and illustrates, after a long investigation process, using the aesthetic and architectural design of Mies’s legacy.

Agustín Ferrer (Pamplona, 1971) is a cartoonist and scriptwriter who loves clear lines and dark stories. He has a classic style both in drawing and in the technique used. He has gained experience in the world of comic competitions for more than twenty years, receiving over thirty awards in different categories. He has co-authored the books Gandhi, el maestro de la vida (Editorial Saure, 2004), La nueva era del sueño (Editorial Saure, 2005) and De muerte (GP Ediciones, 2016), among others. His solo work includes Cazador de sonrisas (Grafito Editorial, 2017), Arde Cuba (Grafito Editorial, 2015), Las apasionantes lecturas del Sr. Smith (2014) and Cartas desde Argel (West Indies Publishing Company, 2016), besides collaborating sporadically in the illustration of publications of the cultural magazine Jot Down. His latest work, MIES (Grafito Editorial, 2019), is a biography of the German architect Mies van der Rohe.

Laura Martínez de Guereñu (Legazpi, Gipuzkoa, 1973) is an architect, historian and design critic with expertise in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe and its relationship with the transatlantic world. An assistant professor at IE School of Architecture and Design, she has recently been awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2019). Her research has been supported by many other grants, including the first Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture (Mies van der Rohe Foundation, 2018), a Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators (BBVA Foundation, 2015), and an Artist in Residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation (JAAF, 2013). She has published many academic articles on the work of Mies and Lilly Reich (Architectural Histories, Archivo Español de Arte, Docomomo Journal, RA, Revisiones) and her current projects comprise the installation Re-enactment: Lilly Reich’s Work Occupies the Barcelona Pavilion, the co-direction of the conference Bauhaus In and Out: Perspectives from Spain, as well as a book on the impact of the Barcelona multi-scalar undertaking on Mies and Lilly Reich’s Bauhaus teaching and work. Laura is an architect, she received a PhD in Architecture with distinction from the University of Navarra, and completed a Master in Design Studies with distinction in the History and Theory of Architecture from Harvard University.

Enrique Bordes (Madrid, 1975) is an architect, currently living in Madrid, specialising in exhibition design, comics and digital imaging. He has designed installations in major exhibition spaces of the capital (including the Royal Palace, Matadero or the National Archaeological Museum) and has travelled all over the world, working for institutions such as Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the Instituto Cervantes and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). Apart from the project Madrid Bombardeado together with Luis de Sobrón, he is currently involved in projects around comics and photography, linked to his doctoral thesis or to his residence at the Spanish Academy in Rome in 2015.

Anatxu Zabalbeascoa (Barcelona, 1966) is a journalist and art historian specialising in architecture. For the last twenty-five years, she has been writing articles and interviews in the pages of the Spanish newspaper El País and its digital version, and in El País Semanal, as well as collaborating in other publications. She is a reference in the dissemination of architecture and design as the author of an extensive bibliography and has curated numerous exhibitions on these subjects, contextualising them in today’s society.