MoMA EXHIBITION PRESENTS INNOVATIVE WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION THAT EXPLORE ARCHITECTURAL UTOPIAS AND FANTASIES

Dreamland Includes Original Model and Drawing by Daniel Libeskind
 
Dreamland: Architectural Experiments since the 1970s is an exhibition of works drawn from the Museum’s collection of Architecture and Design that explores the ways in which the singular landscape of New York has inspired architects since the 1970s with visions of utopia. The city has served as a model for architectural projections and reflections, and also as a metaphor for the complex relationship between the limitations of reality and the infinite possibilities of architectural thought. The exhibition begins with projects for New York, then extends its focus to other locations. Dreamland is organized by Andres Lepik, Curator, with Christian Larsen, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, and will be on view in The Robert B. Menschel Architecture and Design Gallery, third floor, from July 23 through March 2, 2009.

“Looking at the recent work of many contemporary architects,” Mr. Lepik explains, “It
seems worthwhile to look back to their early ideas, which still seem very radical and unrealistic.”

The exhibition explores these imagined projects, as well as the ways that these experiments eventually resulted in real projects such as family houses and skyscrapers. Fantastic villas set outside city limits provide stark contrast to architects’ urban utopias and represent a desire for freedom from the confines of the city. Dreamland features the architectural process of rendering visions and dreams that, in some cases, are made real.

The explosion of architectural thought and experiments that took place in the 1970s resonates to this day. Raimund Abraham, Peter Eisenman, Rem Koolhaas, Steven Holl, and Hans Hollein are among the well-known architects practicing today who are inextricably linked to both the practice and theory of the 1970s. During this time, the city as a site for building—and New York especially—became the screen for the projection of architectural fantasies and utopias.

Other works in the exhibition include a model by Daniel Libeskind as well as a drawing, ‘Micromegas,’ given to MoMA by the Robert K. and Barbara J. Straus Family Foundation, Inc.  Other recent acquisitions in the exhibition include works by Diller + Scofidio and Simon Ungers.

The centerpiece of the gallery is a display of architectural models organized as a kind of fantasy city juxtaposing in close relation both unbuilt visionary projects and realized buildings.
The walls of the gallery feature architectural drawings that complement and supplement the dreamscape of models.

WHAT:          Dreamland: Architectural Experiments since the 1970s

WHERE:        Museum of Modern Art
                     The Robert B. Menschel Architecture and Design Gallery, third floor

WHEN:          July 23–March 2, 2009

CONTACT:     Museum of Modern Art: Press Office      
                     pressoffice@moma.org

                     Studio Daniel Libeskind:  Lynn Krogh 
                     (212) 497-9114; (917) 378-9302
                     PublicRelations@daniel-libeskind.com