Exhibition: October 6, 2012 – January 12, 2013   
Past Futures  Opening:   October 5, 7pm 
Present, Futures  Opening:   October 26, 7pm 
 

 

The conception of time , and within it the invention of the future, is perhaps the most radical of human creations. Today, to think about and imagine the prospects for our existence seems more relevant than ever. While one could argue society is always in a state of crisis,  we are today constantly infiltrated by a discourse of crisis in economic, ecologic, social and political terms. Moments of crisis are moments of redefinition, when the institutionalized realms of power open spaces of experimentation and cultural debate to retrace the path toward the future. Utopian desires, the imagination of an other-better future, are part of the contemporary agenda. However, the social and political value of utopian thinking today is being monopolized by notions of self-sufficiency and sustainability, framed altogether by regulations and standard codes. The utopian desire, the image-ability of possible futures, and the poetics of new social forms and expressions are in a moment of directed experimentation. Art and architecture, beyond the production of new forms of capital or building solutions, have the power to re-imagine new forms of collective aspiration. Few cities occupy the public imagination like the island of Manhattan. From cinema and literature to architecture and real estate, New York City exists as a palimpsest of layered dreams and schemes, desires and delusions.  
 
Past Futures, Present, Futures  presented 101 unrealized proposals for New York City, dating from its formation to today with 101 reenactments  by inviting artists, architects, writers and policy-makers to create alternative visions for the present and future of the city. With the belief that art and architecture, beyond the production of new forms of capital or building solutions, has the power to re-imagine new forms of collective aspiration, the exhibition presented a past and future historiography of novel ideas in New York to open discussion about relevant actions in the city, their vectors of desire, methodologies, limits, audiences and agents.  
 
The exhibition opened with all 101   Past Futures on display. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, all Present, Future reenactments were added daily until the closing of the show. On  October 26 at 7pm, a second opening of the show was unveiled displaying all the commissioned reenactments.  

Invited Artists included: 

Aaron Jones [Detroit]
Adria Carbonell [Oman]
Alvaro Urbano [Berlin]
Andreas Angelidakis & Sotiris Vasiliou [Athens]
ABRUZZO BODZIAK, Emily Abruzzo & Gerald Bodziak [New York]
 
AMID.cero9, Cristina Dïaz Moreno & Efrén García Grinda [Barcelona]  
Ants of the Prairie, Joyce Hwang [Buffalo]  
Archmongers, Margaret Bursa & Johan Hybschmann [London]
Architecture Commons, Eugene Chang, Eric Ho & Rick Lam [New York]
 
Arqueología del Futuro/PKMN, Rocio Pina Isla & Carmelo Rodríguez Cedillo [Madrid]  
Arquitectura 911sc, Jose Castillo [Mexico City]  
asensio_mah, Leyre Asensio Villoria & David Mah [Boston]  
Beatrice Galilee [London]
BIG, Bjarke Ingels [New York-Copenhagen]
Bureau des Mesarchitectures, Didier Faustino [Paris]
 
Bureau Spectacular, Jiminez Lai [Chicago]  
SadarVuga, Bostjan Vuga, Andreas Cesarini & Victor Barbalato [Ljubljana]
Candy Chang [New Orleans]
Carolina Trigo [Helsinki]

Christy Cheng [New York]

Christian Kerrigan [London]

RuyKlein, Karel Kelin & David Ruy [New York]
Dennis Maher [Buffalo]
Dread Scott [New York]

dpr-barcelona, Ethel Baraona Pohl & César Reyes Nájera  [Barcelona]

DRDH Architects, Richard Marks [London]

Emre Hüner [Berlin]
Experiments in Architecture and Research (E.A.R.), Jordan Carver [New York]
Fake Industries Architectural Agonism, Cristina Goberna & Urtzi Grau [New York-Barcelona]
Felix Burrichter [New York]
Gaspar Libedinski [Buenos Aires]
Geoff Manaugh & John Becker [New York]
GMG Collective, Kostas Grigoriadis & Eduardo McIntosh [London]

Gravalosdimonte Arquitectos, Patrizia Di Monte & Ignacio Gravalos  [Zaragoza]
ikstudio, Mariana Ibañez & Simon Kim [London]
 
IwamotoScott Architecture with Benjamin Rice [San Francisco]
Jack Hogan [Dublin]

JDS, Julien De Smedt [New York]
Jonathan D Solomon [Syracuse]

Kokkugia, Roland Snooks & Robert Stuart-Smith [New York-London]

Leong Leong, Chris Leong & Dominic Leong [New York]
Liam Young [London]
Lydia Kallipoliti & Sofia Krimizi [New York]
MAS, Philipp von Dalwig [New York]
 
Nooka, Matthew Waldman & Manuel Oh [New York]
Miguel Robles-Durán [New York]
Mimi Zeiger [Los Angeles]
MMX Studio, Jorge Arvizu, Ignacio del Rio, Emmanuel Ramirez & Diego Ricalde [Mexico City]
 
MODU, Phu Hoang & Rachely Rotem [New York]  
MvS Architects, Paul Minifie, Jan van Schaik & Finn Warnock [Melbourne]  
N, David Burns, Adrian Lahoud & Sam Spurr [London-Sydney]
NABITO Architects & Partners, Ale Faticanti & Bebo Ferlito [Barcelona]
NaJa & deOstos, Nannette Jackowski & Ricardo de Ostos [London]
Nancy Nowacek [New York] 
NAO, Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss [New York]
 
Office for Political Innovation, Andrés Jaque  [Madrid]  
Patrick Tierney [San Francisco]

Pedro Gadanho [New York]
Pep Avilés [Barcelona-New York]
Popular Architecture, Casey Mack [New York]
 
Sam Jacoby [London]
San Roco, 2A+P, baukuh, OFFICE KGDVS, Salottobuono [Milan]
 
SCHAUM/SHIEH, Troy Schaum & Rosalyne Shieh [Houston-New York]
STPMJ, Seung Teak Lee & Mi Jung Lim [New York]
SUPERMANOEUVRE, Iain Maxwell & David Pigram [London-Sydney]
 
Snohetta, Laia Clema, Karli Molter, Samantha Stein & Justin Shea [Oslo-New York]
SOFTlab, Michael Szivos [New York]
SO-IL, Florian Idenburg & Jing Liu [New York]
Sou Fujimoto Architects [Tokyo]
Space Group, Gro Bonesmo, Gary Bates & Adam Kurdahl [Oslo]
 
Spec.Ae, Carla Leitao & Ed Keller with Jillian Crandall [New York]  
Sporaarchitects, Adam Hatvani, Tibor Dékány, Orsolya Vadász, Bence Várhidi &
Studio Dror, Dror Benshetrit [New York]  

Tibor Várady [Budapest]
Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim, Maria Aiolova & Melanie Fessel [New York]  
VKN, Giancarlo Valle, Isaiah King & Ryan Neiheiser [New York]  

W/– Projects, Jiminie Ha & Pete Deevakul [New York]

WEATHERS, Sean Lally  [Chicago]
XEFIROTARCH, Hernan Diaz Alonso [Los Angeles]

[list in formation]






 

About the Exhibition Design

The exhibition design by Leong Leong dematerialized the space of the gallery by creating a “heterochronic” landscape through a vertical field of dates and descriptions that emerged as a kaleidoscopic forest of movable thin walls, displaying and reflecting the stories that described the past and future projects contained within the exhibition. Inserted within this field, the F* Room was a circular soft space to be entered barefoot that collapsed images of the visionary projects with the reflection of the visitors through a mirrored wall and 8 screen displays. The exhibition design explored the canonical limits of space and time by disrupting depth perception through a playful use of acoustic, physical and visual fields.

 

A special sound piece inaugurated a permanent audio infrastructure, part of a growing interaction platform embedded within Storefront’s gallery, to enunciate the titles of the projects as passersby walk down the sidewalk in front of the gallery, delivering one word per stride, expanding the acoustic imprint of the gallery by blurring even further the distinction between inside and outside that the Acconci-Holl façade produces.


An upcoming publication of all the projects will allow the exhibition to offer a space of reflection rather than display using the fragmentary nature of the archive as a mode of exhibition and content performance.


Curated by Eva Franch

Exhibition Design by Leong Leong
Graphic Design by Project Projects 

Digital Strategy by the Storefront Technology Committee with technology implementation by Control Group, Arup and Digi

Image Support by Planar

Curatorial Research Team: Chialin Chou and Greg Barton

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This exhibition was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and Control Group.  Technology support is provided by Planar and the Storefront Technology Committee. Additional support for Storefront for Art in Architecture’s exhibitions and programs are made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; The Peter T. Joseph Foundation; by its Board of Directors, members and individuals.

 

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