Metropole Europe / Europa Metropolis: Yona Friedman

From 25 June, MUSAC’s Showcase Project shall be dedicated to Hungarian architect and theoretician Yona Friedman, on occasion of the publication of Volume 2 of the Collection Art and Architecture AA MUSAC. In his work Friedman places priority on the word of the individual, his needs and the power implicit in the freedom to decide, thus granting him a fundamental role in society. This project is at once a tribute to one of the most influential, dynamic and visionary theoreticians of our time and a prolongation of our reflections on architecture and its role in structuring the contemporary city.

About the exhibition Métropole Europe / Europa Metrópolis

The exhibition, designed by Friedman, will emphasize his reflection on the advantages of realizing the idea of a European metropolis, the “biggest non-city in the world”. As he has expressed in several of his writings, the groundwork for the creation of this European metropolis, consisting of a network of big cities connected to each other by systems of fast trains, already exists. With the rail infrastructure, as long as prices remain affordable, this network of interconnected cities would give rise to increased mobility among citizens, the social fabric would be restructured and new strategies in the labour market and cultural life would be embraced. The consequences may be complex but they would enable alternative approaches to the economic, social, cultural, political and administrative problems that the recent financial crises have brought to light. As Yona Friedman points out, for this to be put into practice, or at least for a consideration of it to begin, all that is necessary is a political decision in the European sphere.

About thex publication Architecture with the people, by the people, for the people. Yona Friedman Edited by María Inés Rodríguez, designed by the Michel Mallard Studio and published by MUSAC / ActarBirkhäuser, the publication includes previously unpublished texts by Yona Friedman and special contributions by Kenneth Frampton, architecture critic and historian, Professor at Columbia University; Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator, Director of International Projects and Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes at the Serpentine Gallery, London and Manuel Orazi, PhD in History of Architecture and of Cities with a thesis on Yona Friedman and editor of Quodlibet. Additionally, the publication sports a copious collection of images by Yona Friedman. The Collection Art and Architecture AA MUSAC propounds a transversal reading of the works of artists and architects who advance a critical vision of the contemporary world through their production. In this order of ideas, Yona Friedman’s monograph analyses, in various texts, the fundamental aspects of his work as well as the context from which it emerges. Frampton visits Friedman’s theoretical contributions and the close working relationship they had in the 1960’s; Orazi on his part makes a profound analysis of Friedman’s reflections on Mobile Architecture, the Spatial City and the user’s role in its construction. Hans Ulrich Obrist contributes with two interviews featuring Yona Friedman’s impressions of his latest projects, his idea of the expanded museum and the future of his archives. The unpublished texts Friedman wished to share with us for this publication address his concerns about the role of the contemporary museum and the projects he himself has undertaken in this regard. He also analyses Europe viewed as great metropolis with its possibilities for mobility, interaction and social development.

About Yona Friedman

Yona Friedman was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1923 and lives and works in Paris. He studied at the Technical University in Budapest (Budapesti M?szaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem) and in Haifa. His work has spanned areas ranging from architecture, art and animated film to education and writing. He has participated in numerous art biennials including Shanghai, Venice and Documenta 11. His highly visionary ideas have nurtured various generations of architects and urbanists, influencing groups such as Archigram and even Kenzo Tange, who declared as such in 1970 in Osaka.

In 1956 he published L'architecture mobile, his manifesto which conceived of an urban structure on piles, appropriate for spaces where building is not possible or permitted. This also became the foundational document of the GEAM, Groupe d'étude d'architecture mobile. He created urban concepts such as the Spatial City, based on the free organisation of a city by citizens using low-cost mobile and reusable modules. In 1965 he founded, together with Ionel Schein, Walter Jonas and others, the GIAP, Groupe International d'Architecture Prospective.

From the 1960’s he also became interested in animated film making which would lead him to propose a series of do-it-yourself construction manuals with simple pictograms addressing basic questions, which we could summarise under the title L´habitat c’est mon affaire. Comment habiter la terre (Habitat is my business: how to inhabit the earth). These were edited by the United Nations and given broad distribution in India, South America and Africa.

Metropole Europe / Europa Metropolis
Yona Friedman
Kurator: Maria Ines Rodriguez