Therme Art Program
Frida Escobedo
Frida Escobedo, Harry Richards Photography
Frida Escobedo born in 1979, Mexico City, is principal and founder of an architecture and design studio based in Mexico City. The projects produced at the studio operate within a theoretical framework that addresses time, not as a historical calibration, but rather as a social operation. This approach is inspired by Henri Bergson’s notion of ‘social time,’ which proposes that understanding of ourselves and our environments depends first and foremost on duration. Escobedo’s conceptual works, such as the El Eco Pavilion (2010), Split Subject (2013) and Civic Stage (2013), have articulated these ideas by creating social spaces that can be inhabited and experienced in multiple ways, by individuals and groups, encouraging social time to unfold at different speeds.
The work developed at Frida Escobedo’s studio ranges from art installation and furniture design to residential and public buildings. The firm’s projects include: ‘You know you cannot see so well as by reflection,’ a summer Pavilion designed for the central courtyard of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (2015); the exhibition design for ‘Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today,’ curated by Pablo Le6n de la Barra and organised by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York in collaboration with the FundaciOn Jumex Arte Contemporaneo (2015-2016); and ‘A very short space of time through very short times of space’, an art installation commissioned by Stanford University (2016).
In 2018 Therme Art acquired the Serpentine Pavilion designed by Frida Escobedo. The significance of this work for Therme Art lies in the crossing of boundaries between culture, urban planning and socio-environmental impact that defines Therme Art’s very mission.
The purchase of this iteration of the Serpentine Pavilion marked one of the first stepping stones in Therme Art and Therme Group’s mission to support the art community and enabling the creation of significant and long-lasting cultural heritage. The acquisition of the work will give the otherwise temporary pavilion a second life in the public realm, through its installation in Therme Group’s esteemed facilities.
One of the first things that came to my mind when we were speaking with Therme Group is that the pavilion is going to remain in constant interaction with people and that was one very important thing to me. — Frida Escobedo
SERPENTINE PAVILION 2018
Escobedo’s atmospheric courtyard-based structure draws inspiration from Mexican domestic architecture, while its pivoted axis refers to the Prime Meridian, which was established in 1851 at Greenwich and became the global standard marker of time and geographical distance. The Pavilion’s innovative and contemplative use of public space, along with the social inclusion it promotes, fully reflects the values of Therme Group.
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Frida Escobedo Serpentine Pavilion 2018