Dame Zaha Hadid artworks on display

To mark ten years since the opening of the Investcorp Building at St Antony’s College, three artworks by Dame Zaha Hadid have been loaned to the Middle East Centre for public display. The works are on loan from the Zaha Hadid Foundation and Philip Michael Wolfson, former student of and later Head of Design for Zaha Hadid.

Dame Zaha Hadid (1950–2016) was one of the most influential architects of her generation. The Investcorp Building – one of the last buildings that Zaha would see completed – was designed to house the College’s Middle East Centre. The building’s distinctive curved form weaves through the existing architecture and trees of the College site, and has become a well-known and much-loved feature of St Antony’s.

The following works are on display in the Investcorp Building until June:

Untitled abstract painting
1985
Zaha Hadid
Acrylic on linen
This work was carried out over a few nights by Zaha Hadid alongside Michael Wolfson. It was made for Michael and his partner in Switzerland (who was also a close friend of Hadid’s).
On loan from the collection of Philip Michael Wolfson

CAC: Contemporary Arts Center, 1997–2003, Cincinnati, USA
2003
Zaha Hadid ArchitectsRelief model, white cardCollection of Zaha Hadid Foundation

CAC: Contemporary Arts Center, 1997–2003, Cincinnati, USA
Zaha Hadid Architects
Painting
Acrylic on card
Collection of Zaha Hadid Foundation

The Contemporary Arts Center was Zaha Hadid’s first competition-winning project to be built in the United States. It featured her ‘urban carpet’ concept and deconstructed the city grid to dissolve the boundary between the horizontal street and the vertical levels of her museum. The painting uses unusual perspectives to show this, and the relief uses positive and negative space to convey the building’s sculptural façade.