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Organised by the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and the Fonds
Régional d'Art Contemporain du Centre, (FRAC Centre), Orléans,
'Archilab: New Experiments in Architecture, Art and the City, 1950-2005'
examines those radical and visionary approaches to architectural
design and urban planning that have altered the way we think about
and use the city since World War II. The exhibition features 220
projects by 90 architects and artists, borrowed from the collections
of the FRAC Centre and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. The models and
drawings shown are organised into four sections: 'The Pulsating
City', 'The Endless City', 'The Deconstructed City', and 'The Contextualised
City', each section loosely corresponding to different decades and
concerns. Like a historical text, the exhibition brings us to the
urban utopias from the 1950s, analyses Deconstructionist works from
the 1980s, addresses the influence of new technology in the 1990s
and reflects on the future direction of the current avant-garde.
The first section, 'The Pulsating City - The Body
as Laboratory' explores the early renaissance of experimental architecture
in the 1950s and 1960s. This era of revolution saw the birth of
many thought provoking and, at times, absurd ideas on how the architecture
profession should react to the city. Among these are the luminary
works by English group Archigram, who applied the idea of 'mobile
architecture' to the reorganisation of the city itself. The group
conjured up fantastical images of structures such as the 'Walking
City' and the 'Instant City' - concepts which were to capture the
imaginations of many generations of architecture students to come.
Inverting the preconceived notion that cities must be literally
rooted to the ground, these visionary projects embodied the character
of mass-media networks or events, with the idea of perpetually moving
architecture becoming a metaphor for the liberation of the body
from the social and political ambitions connected to it.
'The Endless City - An Expanding Environment' features
projects exploring the ideology of architecture, transforming it
from a physical object into a system for total control over the
entire environment. 'Megastructures', by the Japanese Metabolist
group, explores the possibility for immeasurable extension and duplication
using industrial components. In so doing, architecture becomes no
longer a single object or building but rather a systemised environment
or an expansive spatial field without beginning or end. 'Spatial
cities', by the Hungarian architect Yona Friedman, further visualises
an imaginary metropolis, floating above existing cities and giving
its inhabitants the option to freely relocate their abode. One inhabitant
could bring their individual section of the city with them and live
in Shanghai, Tokyo or New York, all at the same time. These 'spatial
cities' create an open labyrinth with the possibility for relentless
experimentation.
'The Deconstructed City – Creating a New Syntax' brings us
from the late 1960s to the 1980s, during which time the proliferation
of cross-disciplinary collaborations between architecture and other
art forms flourished. Challenging the existing language of architecture,
particularly its forms of expression and ways of working, is the
underlying theme that connects the various experimentations. Groups
such as Superstudio and Archizoom combined architecture with other
artistic forms, producing work based on a confrontation with other
traditions, rather than the actual physical construction of buildings.
In the late 1980s, this reconsideration of the fundamental definitions
and conditions of architecture was further challenged by the appearance
of Deconstructivist architecture that revolved around the literary
works of French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Architects such as
Peter Eisenman, Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and
Frank Gehry (just to name a few) dismantled traditional forms, reinterpreting
them in the pursuit of a new architectural language. At times, their
works seemingly defied the laws of gravity with their striking visual
forms and were particularly inspiring for students of architecture.
Every aspect of modern society is affected by advances
in technology and architecture is no exception. 'The Contextualised
City – A Computerised Symbiosis' examines how the evolution
in material engineering and computing technology has affected the
way architecture is designed in this new era. It features the work
of some of the most exciting architects today, including Diller
+ Scofidio, Asymptote (Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture), R &
Sie (François Roche & Stéphanie Lavaux), Shigeru
Ban and NOX (Lars Spuybroek). The 'non-standard' architecture of
the digital era has replaced the 'standard' architecture of the
industrial era. This exemplifies the ability of architecture to
engage in a dialogue with its environs, absorbing and embracing
new influences and thereby creating new relationships and contexts.
This exhibition demonstrates the rich creative possibilities
of architecture, signifying that it is not only about what is built,
but that it is also a conceptual trajectory. By relating to concepts
from heterogeneous disciplinary fields, one would be able to relieve
architecture from all formal association and open it up to its future
development amid the greater social and political environs. Here
perhaps lies the true meaning of avant-garde architecture - to relentlessly
conjure up new possibilities of living. To the brave new world.
Meng Ching Kwah
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