1980 Venice Architecture Biennale Exhibiting The Postmodern

"Exhibiting the postmodern traces the origins and significance of the First International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Situating the 1980 exhibition The presence of the past against the larger historical backdrop in which architecture exhibitions appear, and considering their proliferation in the postmodern era, this book claims that the exhibition, beyond heralding a shift in the history of curating, marked both the beginning of the end, and the end of the beginning of the postmodern turn in architecture. Looking at the institutional changes, exhibitions techniques and exhibitions spaces, as well as the discourse and controversies between advocates of the modern and postmodern architecture, this book narrates the development of the architectural exhibitions as a 'genre' of culture manifestations, while expanding on both the history of the Venice Architecture Biennale- and, more general, the Italian architecture in the 1970's- and the history of postmodernism. It also reveals how the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale announced a changing relationship between the worlds of art and architecture, and the consequent transformation of the architectural product as end object"--Page 2 of cover.

Mediated Messages presents a collection of original writing exploring the role played by the media in the development of postmodern architecture in the 1970s and 80s. The book's twelve chapters and case-studies examine a range of contemporary periodicals and exhibitions to explore their role in the postmodern. This focus on mediation as a key feature of architectural post-modernism, and the recognition that post-modernism grew out of developments in the media, opens up the possibility of an important new account of post-modernism distinct from existing narratives. Accompanied by a contextualizing introduction, the essays are arranged across four thematic sections (covering: images; international postmodernisms; high and low culture; and postmodern architects as theorists) and present a range of case-studies with a genuinely international scope. Altogether, this work makes a substantial contribution to the historical account of architectural postmodernism, and will be of great interest to researchers in postmodernism as well as those examining the role of the media in architectural history.

A rapid proliferation of large-scale perennial exhibitions has resulted in the biennial / triennial becoming an integral part of field of architecture. Biennials / Triennials questions a range of curatorial agents and visits sites of recent exhibitions that reveal what is at stake in the newfound ubiquity of the architectural -ennial.

If postmodernism is indeed 'the cultural logic of late capitalism', why did typical postmodernist themes like ornament, colour, history and identity find their application in the architecture of the socialist Second World? How do we explain the retreat into paper architecture and theoretical discussion in societies still nominally devoted to socialist modernization? Exploring the intersection of two areas of growing scholarly interest - postmodernism and the architecture of the former socialist world - this edited collection stakes out new ground in charting architecture's various transformations in the 1970s and 80s. Fourteen essays together explore the question of whether or not architectural postmodernism had a specific Second World variant. The collection demonstrates both the unique nature of Second World architectural phenomena and also assesses connections with western postmodernism. The case studies cover the vast geographical scope from Eastern Europe to China and Cuba. They address a wealth of aesthetic, discursive and practical phenomena, interpreting them in the broader socio-political context of the last decades of the Cold War. The result provides a greatly expanded map of recent architectural history, which redefines postmodernist architecture in a more theoretically comprehensive and global way.

Presents the movement as not merely an aesthetic vocabulary, but also as a subversive attitude - a new way of looking at the world.

Set within the broader context of post-war Austria and the re-education initiatives set up by the Allied forces, particularly the US, this book investigates the art and architecture scene in Vienna to ask how this can inform our broader understanding of architectural Postmodernism. The book focuses on the outputs of the Austrian artist and architect, Hans Hollein, and on his appropriation as a Postmodernist figure. In Vienna, the circles of radical art and architecture were not distinct, and Hollein’s claim that ‘Everything is Architecture’ was symptomatic of this intermixing of creative practices. Austria's proximity to the so-called ‘Iron Curtain’ and its post-war history of four-power occupation gave a heightened sense of menace that emerged strongly in Viennese art in the Cold War era. Seen as a collective entity, Hans Hollein’s works across architecture, art, writing, exhibition design and publishing clearly require a more diverse, complex and culturally nuanced account of architectural Postmodernism than that offered by critics at the time. Across the five chapters, Hollein's outputs are viewed not as individual projects, but as symptomatic of Austria's attempts to come to terms with its Nazi past and to establish a post-war identity.

Revisiting Postmodernism offers an engaging, wide-ranging and highly illustrated account of postmodernism in architecture from its roots in the 1940s to its ongoing relevance today. This book invites readers to see Postmodernism in a new light: not just a style but a cultural phenomenon that embraces all areas of life and thrives on complexity and pluralism, in contrast to the strait-laced, single-style, top-down inclination of its predecessor, Modernism. While focusing on architecture, this book also explores aspects such as urban masterplanning, furniture design, art and literature. Looking at Postmodernism through the lens of examples from around the world, each chapter explores the movement in the UK on the one hand, and its international counterparts on the other, reflecting on the historical movement but also how postmodernism influences practices today. This book offers the insider’s view on postmodernism by the author, a recognised pioneer in the field of postmodern architecture and a prestigious and authoritative participant in the postmodern movement.