Maison Mirbel, an interior designer and partner of Architecture de Collection specializing in the preservation and enhancement of modern and contemporary architectural heritage, presents the exhibition “Brasilia, A Time Capsule,” running until September 22, 2025.
The work of Vincent Fournier, a French photographer, stands out for its exploration of imagined futures—both past and projected. His artistic approach is deeply influenced by childhood memories, particularly his visits to the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, which sparked a lifelong fascination with scientific wonder.
© Vincent Fournier / “Brasilia, a time capsule”
“Designed and built in just four years in the heart of the desert by architect Oscar Niemeyer, the city of Brasília embodies and captures the vision of the future as it was imagined in the 1960s.” It is the radical nature of this project and the beauty of its architecture that captivate photographer Vincent Fournier, the creator of this exhibition.
Brasília’s “Pilot Plan,” designed in 1957 by urban planner Lúcio Costa, coincides with the dawn of the space age and the launch of Sputnik, Earth’s first artificial satellite. At the height of the space race, Brasília—with its architecture evoking flying saucers—appears as a frozen modernist temple, a utopian future that never fully materialized. Fournier is particularly drawn to this construction, exploring its relationship with time and fiction. The project is unique in its scale and state of preservation, remaining unchanged since its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Fournier stages the city as a backdrop for its inhabitants. His walks through Brasília evoked the stories of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges and “the strange empire that a map covers.”
© Vincent Fournier / “Brasilia, a time capsule”
Le Corbusier and Brazil
Le Corbusier played an active role in the development of modern Brazilian architecture, both nationally and internationally. He influenced and collaborated with a generation of young architects from Rio de Janeiro, including Oscar Niemeyer, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, and Jorge Moreira, as well as members of the São Paulo school, such as Vilanova Artigas and Paulo Mendes da Rocha.
Notably, he worked with Lúcio Costa on the Maison du Brésil within the Cité Universitaire Internationale de Paris, as well as on the Palácio Capanema, listed as a national historic and artistic heritage site and known as the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Health.
© Vincent Fournier / “Brasilia, a time capsule”
Exhibition until September 22, 2025
Maison Mirbel
Unité d’Habitation – 280 bd. Michelet
Appt. 403 / 4th floor
13008 Marseille
maisonmirbel.com
Vincent Fournier
A graduate in sociology and visual arts, Fournier continued his studies at the École Nationale de la Photographie in Arles, where he earned his diploma in 1997. His works are now part of the permanent collections of major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (MET), the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the MAST Foundation in Bologna, the Dragonfly Collection at Domaine des Étangs in Massignac, the LVMH Collection in Paris, the Baccarat Collection in New York, and the Science Gallery in Dublin.
