Detail from František Polák’s interpretation of Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 residential complex
Curator Adam Štěch of Czech design collective Okolo invited a group of ten graphic designers and illustrators to take part in a visual research project focused on experimental architectural projects from the second half of the 20th century.
Maria Makeeva’s interpretation of Guy Rottier’s Holiday home
In Habitus, present-day graphic artists offer their own first-hand response to specific projects by modernist architects and designers dating from between 1935 and 1975, coming up with their own visual interpretations of experimental housing modules, socio-architectural visions, or unique interior design schemes.
Michal Bačák’s interpretation of Zvi Hecker’s Ramot Polin housing development
“[Habitus] embarks on a journey into the recent past, rediscovering ten crucial architectural experiments which offered in their time solutions alternative to the traditional concept of and approach to the phenomenon of space and the various ways it can be treated by its users.” says Okolo.
Martina Marešová’s interpretation of Kenji Ekuan’s Tortoise House
“The second half of the twentieth century ushered into the process of constituting a modern-age residential space and the development of humans´ attitudes towards it, new and unexpected opportunities for experimenting. The concepts of a housing module, or a symbolic home of the future, formulated in parallel studies by several leading figures in various parts of the world, turned into catalysts of experimental design and architecture, pointing to new possibilities of structural construction, materials, and above all, spacial relations, involving visions of near-future perspectives for patterns of human residence.”
Jan Kloss/Matěj Činčera’s interpretation of Jean Maneval’s Bubble dwelling unit
Even though most of the visions eventually proved to be utopian, the Habitus exhibition brings into relief several more or less well-known experimental projects dating from the golden age of architectural modernism, in the light of parallel interpretations by several present-day Czech illustrators and graphic designers.
Participants include: František Polák, Maria Makeeva, Jan Kloss/Matěj Činčera, Michal Bačák, Mütanta, Jan Horčík, Kristína Ambrozová, Lukáš Kijonka, Ex Lovers, and Martina Marešová.
The Habitus exhibition is on now until December 22, 2013 at the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace in Prague.
