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The Activist Drawing: Retracing Situationist Architectures from Constant's New Babylon to Beyond
Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys (b. 1920) developed his visionary architectural project New Babylon between 1956 and 1974. Emerging out of the remarkable activist group the Situationist International, the project was concerned with issues of "unitary urbanism" and the future of art in a technocratic society. It has had a major impact on subsequent generations of artists, architects, and urbanists. Exploring the intersection of drawing, utopianism, and activism in a multimedia era, The Activist Drawing not only traces this historical moment but reveals surprisingly contemporary issues about the relationship between a fully automated environment and human creativity.
Several decades before the current debate about architecture in the supposedly placeless electronic age, Constant conceived an urban and architectural model that literally envisaged the World Wide Web. The inhabitants of his New Babylon drift through huge labyrinthine interiors, perpetually reconstructing every aspect of the environment according to their latest desires. Walls, floors, lighting, sound, color, texture, and smell keep changing. This network of vast "sectors" can be seen as a physical embodiment of the Internet, where people configure their individual Web sites and wander from site to site without limits. With its parallels to our virtual world, New Babylon seems as radical today as when it was created.
The essays explore the relevance of Constant's utopian work to that of his peers in the Situationist International and experimental architectural movements of the 1960s, as well as later generations of architects and artists. They use Constant's revolutionary project as a springboard to reconsider the role of drawing in an electronic age.
Copublished with the Drawing Center, New York City.
Contributors :
Benjamin Buchloh, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Rosalyn Deutsche, Catherine de Zegher, Elizabeth Diller, Tom McDonough, Martha Rosler, Bernard Tschumi, Anthony Vidler, Mark Wigley.
Several decades before the current debate about architecture in the supposedly placeless electronic age, Constant conceived an urban and architectural model that literally envisaged the World Wide Web. The inhabitants of his New Babylon drift through huge labyrinthine interiors, perpetually reconstructing every aspect of the environment according to their latest desires. Walls, floors, lighting, sound, color, texture, and smell keep changing. This network of vast "sectors" can be seen as a physical embodiment of the Internet, where people configure their individual Web sites and wander from site to site without limits. With its parallels to our virtual world, New Babylon seems as radical today as when it was created.
The essays explore the relevance of Constant's utopian work to that of his peers in the Situationist International and experimental architectural movements of the 1960s, as well as later generations of architects and artists. They use Constant's revolutionary project as a springboard to reconsider the role of drawing in an electronic age.
Copublished with the Drawing Center, New York City.
Contributors :
Benjamin Buchloh, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Rosalyn Deutsche, Catherine de Zegher, Elizabeth Diller, Tom McDonough, Martha Rosler, Bernard Tschumi, Anthony Vidler, Mark Wigley.
152 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 17, 2008
This book is a must for anyone with even the slightest interest in architecture or urban planning - and if that sounds a bit dry, then you don't know the artist/artchitect Constant's work.
A member of the Situationist International, Constant started to make plans for a city 'New Babylon' that ties in with the future and humane living. It's urban life which consist of desire, exploration, and information. As the editors noted it is the Internet with the Internet.
The fascinating aspect is that we are doing this now in a sense, but totally run by chain shops. In Los Angeles we have fake cities like the Grove in West Hollywood, or the Third St. Mall in Santa Monica - and one can argue that NYC is now a well-layed out shopping mall. So yes this book is extremely important and Constant's drawings are remarkable as works of art.
A member of the Situationist International, Constant started to make plans for a city 'New Babylon' that ties in with the future and humane living. It's urban life which consist of desire, exploration, and information. As the editors noted it is the Internet with the Internet.
The fascinating aspect is that we are doing this now in a sense, but totally run by chain shops. In Los Angeles we have fake cities like the Grove in West Hollywood, or the Third St. Mall in Santa Monica - and one can argue that NYC is now a well-layed out shopping mall. So yes this book is extremely important and Constant's drawings are remarkable as works of art.
February 29, 2008
Excellent resource on a seemingly over looked contributor to Situationist International. The book catalogues an exhibition and conference surrounding Constant's near life-long project, New Babylon. One can gleen all sorts of interesting information on somewhat obscure european art movements, like the Letteritst, and some of the relationships and tensions that helped define late european avant-garde practices.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews