Pedro Gadanho's first exhibition as Moma's Curator of Contemporary Architecture and Museum Design sees him putting the 'p' word - politics - back into architecture, which so often seems to be a politics-free zone, or one at least that is either in utopian cloud cuckoo land or so deeply embedded within the economics and hierachies of the existing status quo, that it's a lost cause.
But 9 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design seeks to throw a series of fresh perspectives on the potential of architecture to engage with politics, exploring work from MoMA’s own collections, in particular from the 1960s and 70s neo-avant garde, and from emerging practices that bear witness to a rebirth of social and political engagement today, whilst setting up a dialogue with the works of other urban practitioners: artists, photographers, and designers. The exhibition’s nine sections present a variety of critiques, from radicalism, institutional critique, and iconoclasm, to the blurring of social borders and the examination of public space. Amongst the many practitioners and practices in the show are: Will Alsop, Emilio Ambasz, Teddy Cruz, Diller Scofidio, Peter Eisenman, Rem Koolhaas, Lebbeus Woods, Gordon Matta-Clark, Jürgen Mayer H., Thom Mayne/Morphosis, Marjetica Potrc, Kazuyo Sejima, Superstudio, Bernard Tschumi, and West 8.
On 23 September at MoMA PS1 between 3.00pm to 5pm there is the second chance to see a special performance piece IKEA Disobedients by Madrid-based Andrés Jaque Arquitectos, and there are two gallery talks taking place on Sunday 4 November and Thursday 8 November, both at 11.30am
9 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design
12 September, 2012 – 25 March, 2013
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
