The legendary exhibition Archigram experimental architecture 1961-1974 first went on show in Vienna in 1994. After travelling half the world, the exhibition has now arrived in Rotterdam. Models, installations, panels covered in drawings - all projects by the English Archigram group exudes the popular culture so typical of the 1960s.
Archigram expressed their focus on the importance of the city through its vitality and its total environment. Their desire was to recreate the city and thus recreate an whole environment in an effort to provide shared experiences, to capture a mood, a climate, an awareness of the spectator within himself. If this spectator were cut off from everyday situations, perhaps he could enjoy the complete structure, the organism of the city. Archigram's goal was not to map out the precise elements of the city - their search was for symbolism, for dynamics, for its dependence on situation as much as established form.
A related notion concerns the inborn human desire to be involved in aspects of life where the experience is seen as part of what is happening. Against this stands the paradox, the reaction to the physical nature of the metropolis, the thinking that we want to be able to enjoy everything yet stay where we are. The travelling metropolis (seen in the Instant City) consists of a package that comes to a community, to give it a taste of the dynamics of the metropolis, to create a national hook-up that serves as a network of information, education, and entertainment.
For further information please visit http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/%7Emdbader/arch346/archigram/welcome.html
(source: Archigram)
