Galdric Santana: "Gaudí was a hundred years ahead of his time"

Gaudí Year Commissioner and director of the Gaudí Chair, Galdric Santana has been studying the architect for years from a perspective that goes beyond the cliché. He champions the Gaudí of knowledge, not just of aesthetics. A scientific, rational Gaudí, ahead of his time, capable of integrating art, technology, humanities, and symbology into a single work. In this conversation, he defends the need to explain "the invisible order": everything that is not visible to the naked eye, but which gives profound meaning to his architecture.

— What does it mean for you to have been able to work on the Gaudí Year program? What is the final message you want to convey?

--- The main objective, which, in fact, I set for myself when my access to the direction of the Gaudí Chair coincided with the Council's decision to promote the Gaudí Year, was very clear: dissemination. It's not that Gaudí needs dissemination, because everyone knows who he is, but in reality, he is not known.

— How is it that he is not known?

--- If you explain Gaudí objectively, with all that he represents in terms of content and knowledge, you discover that he is much more than an architect or an artist with a plastic accepted by many people. He is a man who contributes knowledge and a technique that, even a hundred years later, still contains discoveries not recorded by anyone. There is a whole invisible knowledge. If you look at the plastic, you see a universally applauded plastic; but if you analyze and study it, you find a series of contributions that go unnoticed. Hence the motto of the year: "the invisible order."

— What exactly do you mean by that "invisible order"?

--- Everything that is not seen and that has as much or more value than the final plastic itself. It is a way of understanding art and architecture by applying science and the latest technology of the time. Seeking the latest novelty to turn it into art or apply it to art. And in an art as capital and functional as architecture, that is essential. Because the architect, unlike the master builder, is a scientist. He can create modern, updated architecture. All this content is what is intended to be disseminated by taking advantage of the anniversary: to convey to tourists and also to the local public what is behind the "wonderful" and the "beautiful". Because behind every detail there is always a reason. There is nothing arbitrary.

— But that rationality also coexists with constant symbolism, doesn't it?

--- Exactly. Any element has more than one explanation at the same time: artistic, rational, functional, or constructive. We are talking about a character who was a hundred years ahead in many contemporary aspects, such as in terms of sustainability. At the time there was no sustainability problem, but an economic one, but he applied science to optimize resources. Today that is fully valid. That is, optimizing the form to solve a structural requirement with computers is something very recent; he was already doing it more than a hundred years ago. He had his own "computer," let's say. And yes, there is also a symbolic sense in every decision: in Bellesguard, for example, he analyzes local traditions, history, geology, place names, what is venerated there. He integrates the place in every sense: geological, sociological, historical. In addition, it is a summer house and optimizes solar radiation. He makes decisions based on knowledge and memory, such as the position of the sun throughout the year. All that summed up in a single element.

"I would like to reclaim him as Americans reclaim Einstein: as an intellectual who makes scientific, geometric contributions, systems of balanced form that no one had developed"

--- What is known about Gaudí is his plastic acceptance. But I would like to reclaim him as Americans reclaim Einstein: as an intellectual who made scientific, geometric contributions, systems of balanced form that no one had developed...

— Catenaries and paraboloids?

--- There's a lot of discussion. Not everything is paraboloids; he works with balanced curves. And he makes an extraordinary leap: he goes from the two-dimensional curve to the three-dimensional surface. Today, that is applied with computers. He built a kind of projective computer to solve calculations quickly. And that is the greatest value, little known. The plastic arts have made him famous, but almost everything behind it has more value.

— But science, only?

--- When I speak of science, I don't just mean that linked to technology, but also to the humanities. For example, here in Bellesguard, he analyzes what local traditions exist, what is venerated, what the place names are, the history of Martí the Human… Also on a geological level, knowing what stone was used. Or on a sociological level: in addition to history, which is already a place with a very clear history for Catalunya, he knows the passage of the Torrent de Betlem, the sanctuary that was here, the solar radiation of the place, the inclination of the sun throughout the year…

"The plastic arts have made him famous, but almost everything behind it has more value"

--- He lives in the moment of the Renaixença and vindicates his own architecture, but without complexes. Like the Greeks, who made an architecture that transcended them, he wants to transcend. When he works outside Catalonia, however, he adapts his architecture to the place. The place factor and the social context are decisive. Here in Bellesguard, for example, and as he already did in the Mystery of Glory of Montserrat, he establishes a very audacious parallel between Christian resurrection and the rebirth of Catalonia. He compares the dynasty of King Martí with that of King David. This generates detractors. The position of a shield was even changed because it put Christian resurrection and Catalan culture on the same level!

—Do you fear that the international character will eclipse its Catalan identity this year?

--- There are clear documents on the political issue. But I always say: let's be objective. We know who he wouldn't vote for, that's clear, but I think it's not appropriate to try to transfer it mimetically. The knowledge aspect is more interesting. His work has current applications that perhaps not everyone would like. He thoroughly analyzes Spanish centralism, yes, the territorial fit… "They are the ones who have the key to the pantry, but here we are the ones who produce," he says. But, of course, all that must be explained with rigor and documentation.

— What events would you highlight from the Gaudí Year?

--- There will be a congress to compile objective knowledge, an immersive exhibition to reach all audiences, and an exhibition of unpublished content, surprisingly unpublished after one hundred years. Also, at the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, his vision of Catalan identity will be analyzed.

— To what extent have all the institutions and Gaudí monuments coordinated to make a good Gaudí Year?

--- The entire Gaudí Year is organized by the Gaudí Council, which, exceptionally and as a novelty, has also been extended to houses located outside Catalonia. There has been coordination here and also beyond here.

"If in the Renaissance era progress was slow, jumping a hundred years in the 20th century is like jumping five hundred in the 16th century"

--- Bellesguard is a scenographic work.

— It does look a bit like Tim Burton.

--- Well spotted! If you take Gaudí's original drawing for the Passion façade, it could also be a Tim Burton drawing. Gaudí, as I was telling you, plastically jumps a hundred years forward. And if in the Renaissance era progress was slow, jumping a hundred years in the 20th century is like jumping five hundred in the 16th century. People don't perceive that an artist is capable of making that leap. And Gaudí did.