Benton Machine III

“Beton Machine III” presents the pieces developed during the AAVS Las Pozas concrete experimentation workshop held from 3rd to 24th August as part of the Visiting Schools program of the Architectural Association of London. On this occasion the workshop was composed of 12 architects and artists from Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, South Korea, Greece and Lebanon who were invited to perform experiments around the form and structural framework, the positive and the negative space.

The workshop began in Mexico City focusing on sculptural constructions. Great examples of the pre-Hispanic monumentalism and parallel explored projects of abstract modernism, movement led by Mathias Goeritz, where introduced at the workshop. Subsequently AAVS Las Pozas took as a base work Las Pozas, Surrealist Garden built on concrete basis for over three decades by the eccentric English Edward James in Xilitla, SLP. Once established in the Huasteca Potosina they performed dissections and detailed studies of the molds and construction techniques made by James and his collaborators. This was our starting point in the experimentation on the sculptural qualities of concrete.

A calculated advance in nature, the project without scale and the adoption of rudimentary and primitive techniques were the central axis of the process of production of this collection of forms hosted by Marso.