performa presents a free online exhibition examining live performance in architecture

taking place on performa’s online channel from may 15 to july 15, 2020, ‘bodybuilding’ is a free digital exhibition that examines the use of live performance by architects. featuring rare archival material, the exhibition charts a multi-generational lineage of designers and studios who have explored the built environment through actions.

aldo rossi’s ‘teatro del mondo’ (theater of the world) sailing past piazza san marco in venice, 1979
© eredi aldo rossi, courtesy fondazione aldo rossi / image by antonio martinelli

the central question of bodybuilding is: what happens when performance enters the world of architecture? for architects, performance can be a method for designing, a tool to transform users’ experiences, or an instrument of critique. in every case, performance is a blade that cuts into the matter of architecture. it slashes architecture open, but it can also reshape it. 

ugo la pietra demonstrating ‘il commutatore’ in milan, italy, 1970
courtesy archivio ugo la pietra, milan

bodybuilding features rare archival material from some of the most adventurous minds of postwar architecture — including choreographer anna halprin’s and architect lawrence halprin’s experiential scores; arata isozaki’s dancing robot-buildings at osaka expo ’70; moore grover harper’s live urban planning charrettes on local television; and aldo rossi’s teatro del mondo, a floating theater that sailed through the venice lagoon in 1979. these iconic works offer an alternative historical lineage for architects today — such as cooking sections, andrés jaque, bryony roberts and mabel o. wilson, or wolff architects — who have turned to performance in the face of new political, economic, and environmental challenges.

‘ReActor’ by alex schweder and ward shelley at art omi, ghent, NY, 2016
image by richard barnes

bodybuilding is curated by charles aubin (performa, new york) and carlos mínguez carrasco, (arkdes, stockholm). the exhibition includes works by ant farm, basurama + area ciega, ricardo bofill, cooking sections, coop himmelblau, decolonizing architecture art residency, diller scofidio + renfro and david lang, estudio teddy cruz + fonna forman, fake industries architectural agonism, didier fiúza faustino, anna and lawrence halprin, haus-rucker-co, hans hollein, arata isozaki and associates, andrés jaque / office for political innovation, francis kéré and christoph schlingensief, ugo la pietra, moore grover harper, new affiliates, nlé, oma, gaetano pesce, julieanna preston, raumlabor, jimmy robert, bryony roberts and mabel o. wilson with the marching cobras of new york, aldo rossi, alex schweder and ward shelley, SO – IL with anna prvački, bernard tschumi, nomeda and gediminas urbonas, and wolff architects.

artist corsin fontana demonstrating coop himmelblau’s ‘soul flipper II’ at galerie stampa in basel, switzerland, 1971
image by peter schnetz

the online exhibition is an extension of performa’s most recent publication of the same title — the first book to survey and examine the use of performance as a critical tool to rethink architecture, its agency, its goals, and its aesthetics. bodybuilding (2019) is distributed by artbook/d.a.p and you can view the exhibition on performa’s online broadcast channel here.

moore grover harper’s ‘design-a-thon’ in dayton, ohio, 1976
courtesy centerbrook architects and planners

‘l’air pour l’air’ by SO – IL in collaboration with ana prvački in the garfield park conservatory for the 2017 chicago architecture biennial
image by laurian ghinitoiu
see more on designboom here

‘marching on’ by bryony roberts and mabel o. wilson in collaboration with the marching cobras of new york. marcus garvey park, 2017
image by jenica heintzelman

exhibition info:

exhibition name: bodybuilding

by: performa

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.