Le Corbusier Derivatives

Le Corbusier Derivatives is a sculptural series inspired by Le Corbusier’s unrealized designs for the Olympic Stadium in Baghdad, later distorted by Saddam Hussein in 1981. Intended as a celebration of sports and Modernist ideals, the stadium was repurposed by Uday Hussein in the late 1980s as a site for training—and, disturbingly, for the torture of athletes who failed in international competitions.

These sculptures echo the aesthetic of modern furniture but incorporate materials and scales evocative of Medieval torture devices, aligning with the human body in unsettling ways. Through this fusion, the series critiques the manipulation of Modernist ideals for authoritarian purposes, exposing the potential for utopian visions to be co-opted into symbols of oppression.

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Le Corbusier Derivatives

Installation view

2009
Courtesy of BrotKunsthalle, Vienna

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L.C. I

2009

16” x 16” x 2”
Wood, stain, aircraft cable, metal screws, paint

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L.C. II

2009

15” x 15” x 2”
Wood, stain, metal, paint