To change architecture, or rather the modernist doctrines which dominated critical thought in the twentieth century. With this in mind, in 1966 two friends in Florence, Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo from France, decided to found a group for radical design and architecture – they were soon joined by Alessandro and Roberto Magris and Piero Frassinelli and so Superstudio was born, set on challenging reality until the end of the seventies, (I thought I was changing the world, or at least architecture” recalls Natalini thirty years on) and with complete faith in design and technology.
Their visions – collages, photomontages, films and sketches taken from the archives of the five group members, heirs to the British group Archigram – are currently on show at the Design Museum in London.
The exhibition describes not only the story of their experiences but also highlights the inevitable influences on future generations – from Alchimia and Memphis in the seventies and eighties to Rem Koolhaas and Foreign Office Architects in more recent times.
1.3.2003 – 1.6.2003 Superstudio - Life without objects Design Museum 28 Shad Thames, London http://www.designmuseum.org
