MOS: instant untitled

‘instant untitled’ by MOS all images courtesy MOS

as part of venice biennale’s architecture exhibition this year, the U.S. pavilion will showcase the work of seven architects and collectives who act independently as forces for social change. curated by michael rooks of the high museum of art and jonathan solomon of 306090 – workshopping: an american model for architectural practice consists of ground breaking projects. ‘instant untitled’ by MOS architects is a site specific installation for the courtyard of the pavilion. the project is a suspended cluster of mylar weather balloons filled with helium, forming a canopy that will shade the crowd, at the same time signifying the outdoors. model of ‘instant untitled’

MOS writes about their project: if you’ve seen the structure, i’m sure you’re wondering, ‘why is it made out of helium balloons, why does it make a canopy, why is there seating, etc… is it referencing other projects? is it analogical? is it utopian? is it micro-? is it urban? is it domestic, what is it? is this even architecture?’ (unfortunately, we can’t answer that last question. this type of project is like diet-architecture, a copy without the calories. it’s got a sort of bitter aftertaste that you might grow accustomed to, or you might not. that’s ok. we like fake architecture.) we’ve been wondering, what kind of architecture would haruki murakami make? well, when we finally write our text we would definitely tell you that it does, indeed, mean something and it does reference things, but why would you really want to know all of that anyway? do you really think it would make it better? I mean, what about just enjoying this weird artifice, this fake social space? hey, it wiggles. look at this strange alternate environment made of reflections and repetitions. enjoy the visual noise. have you ever seen N.A.S.A.’s echo project? google it. what can we say, we just love the aesthetics of radar reflectors and inflated satellites. they are of another reality. seriously, even if we wanted to fully explain it to you at this very moment, we couldn’t. even though we’re trying not to be, we’re only human. also, they need this text before we’ve finished the design. did we mention that we are working with the son of andy warhol’s ‘silver clouds’ fabricator? we’re very excited about this. he lives in duluth.

strap study model, one of a series of models to study the system of tie down straps for ‘instant untitled’