Osvaldo Romberg’s Installation, Scale of Melnikov House from Moscow, to Izmir

This exhibition review within the disciplines of contemporary art, installation art and architecture, focuses on artist Osvaldo Romberg’s installation Scale of Melnikov House from Moscow, to Izmir (Moskova’dan İzmir’e Melnikov’un Evi, Ölçek 1) exhibited in the PORTİZMİR’07 Mirage and Desire Contemporary Art Festival, Izmir 2007. In Scale of Melnikov House from Moscow, to Izmir, Romberg lays a footprint of Russian architect Konstantin Melnikov's Home-studio. The artist also integrates a text from the Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges. This research draws parallels between Romberg’s installation, intersecting cylindrical structure of Melnikov’s home-studio and the ideals of Soviet Union. The notions of non-hierarchy, equal distance to the center and equal distribution of the building’s weight are visible in Melnikov’s architecture who removed columns as central carriers. These notions can also be seen in the book Aleph, for the Aleph is a sphere. Whoever looks at Aleph sees simultaneity and infinity. Accordingly, this study inquires how Romberg revisited historical contexts and used these two references to convey his concerns on simultaneity and infinity. He invites the viewer to develop a new perception towards world history, time and space and interrelatedness of histories and places. To conclude, this review aims to reinterpret Romberg’s work in light of these two references.