YONA FRIEDMAN. Mobile Architecture, People’s Architecture
The MAXXI dedicates the YONA FRIEDMAN. Mobile Architecture, People’s Architecture exhibition, curated by Gong Yan and Elena Motisi, which shall take place from 23rd June to 29th October 2017 to Yona Friedman (Budapest 1923), a legendary architect, an exuberant, creative artist transcending disciplines, whose thinking is extraordinarily relevant.
On the occasion of the MAXXI exhibition, Yona Friedman’s famous Ville Spatiale reaches Rome, and brings a fragment, which interacts with the unpublished graphic elaborations hanging on the walls, into the museum. But there is more: the exhibition includes unpublished drawings dating back to the 60s, his mobile and “improvised” structures and the instructions required to build them, photomontages, videos and a collection of animation films. Given that Friedman believes that contemporary museums should exhibit what really matters for people, he has created a temporary Street Museum containing objects that belong to citizens, which have been collected thanks to an open call by the museum.
Mobile Architecture...
This exhibition is an open window on Friedman’s universal language, which, if applied in different contexts, can suit the ecological, social and sustainability needs of contemporary societies. By use of sketches, models and animations, Friedman tells the story of his famous Mobile Architecture theory, conceived at the end of the 50s, which questions the very nature of architecture and the identity of
those who avail themselves of it from a sociological, psychological and building standpoint. At the same time, he explores the theme of improvisation, which he theorised as a “possibility” in the world of architecture.
...People’s Architecture
Friedman believes architecture should not be imposed on people, but rather be adapted to those who use it, keeping the daily life, needs, and wishes of citizens into account. It is a sort of “survival architecture” made of poor materials and simple shapes, built by craftsmen or even locals. Now more than ever, his work is extremely relevant: urban rearrangement can build a sustainable world, where the lives of people are valuable again. This vision, which may seem utopian, is in fact as realistic as all his other works are.
