Contemporary Art Gallery

ARCHIGRAM - Experimental Architecture 1961-1974

January 22 (Sat.),2005,to March 27 (Sun.),2005

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©Archigram　Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito

Archigram is the name of a group of experimental British architects active from the 1960s to the early 1970s, and is also the title of a magazine that they published.

Peter Cook (b. 1936) and the five other architects who were the members of Archigram operated freely between the fields of poetry, architecture, and design, among others, creating their expressions of pop graphics and collages making reference to images from the period's advertisements and science-fiction comics.

Their "Walking City" portrayed a giant city with insect-like legs that would move to wherever its residents wished. Also, their "Plug-in City" represented a city assembled from detachable spatial units intended for a variety of uses, such as condominiums, offices and stores. Their fanciful ideas never left the pages of Archigram, remaining in their experimental form, without ever once having actually been built.

Nonetheless, their avant-garde approach, full of humor, not only had an effect on other architects, such as Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid, but also influenced such designers as Paul Smith. Having won the most prestigious award in the world of architecture, the Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in 2002, the reputation of Archigram is now undergoing a reevaluation, with their foresightedness garnering new attention.

The retrospective exhibition, "ARCHIGRAM -- experimental architecture 1961-1974," made its debut in 1994 at the Kunsthalle in Vienna, and having moved next to the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Design Museum in London, it has finally made its way to Japan after 11 years of traveling through Europe, North America and Asia.

The 300 drawings, collages, and models shown this time - the displays designed by the group's members themselves - will represent the first comprehensive exhibition of Archigram in Japan, and recreates the vivid atmosphere of their period. The only place at which Archigram's exhibition will be held in Japan is Art Tower Mito.