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| Sep 11, 2012 |
MoMA exhibit explores architects' influence on society
Boh staff
By Staff

Tomorrow the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will unveil "9 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design." The exhibition features 100 cross-departmental works from MoMA's collection to offer a series of fresh perspectives on the ways in which, over the last half century, architects have responded actively and redeveloped political attitudes to the ever-evolving conditions of urban society. The exhibition is organized by Pedro Gadanho, Curator, and Margot Weller, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

Hans Hollein, Aircraft Carrier City in Landscape, project. 1964.

The political potential of architecture was one of the founding credos of the avant-garde in the early 20th century. The exhibition will demonstrate how today this potential has been superceded by economic realities and by the sense that architecture is symbiotic with existing power structures. Also included are neo-avant-garde examples from the 1960s and 1970s, and by emerging practices in contemporary architecture today that bear witness to a rebirth of social and political engagement as an assertion of architecture's social relevance.

Didier Faustino, Stairway to Heaven, 2002.

Comprised of works spanning the last 50 years, the exhibition is divided into nine sections, plus a special performance piece by Andrés Jaque Arquitectos (at MoMA PS1 on September 16 and 23 at 3:00 p.m.).

Jason Crum, Project for a Painted Wall, 1969.

The exhibition presents a variety of institutional critiques through the full range of mediums in MoMA's collection, putting architectural stances in dialogue with the works of other urban practitioners: artists, photographers, and designers. It will remain on view through March 25, 2013.

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