February
22 – May 16, 2005
Adriaan
Geuze / West 8 in exhibition Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary
Landscape at MoMA
Groundswell:
Constructing the Contemporary Landscape presents 23 landscape-design
projects that reclaim and transform urban spaces—many
derelict and in need of rehabilitation—into public parks
and gardens. Groundswell features examples of the new artistic
richness and critical debate in the design of public spaces,
from small urban plazas to large parks for post-industrial sites
to long range plans for entire urban sectors. The exhibition
is organized by Peter Reed, Curator, and Irene Shum, Curatorial
Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum
of Modern Art.
Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary Landscape presents
23 landscape-design projects that reclaim and transform urban
spaces—many derelict and in need of rehabilitation—into
public parks and gardens. Groundswell features examples of the
new artistic richness and critical debate in the design of public
spaces, from small urban plazas to large parks for post-industrial
sites to long-range plans for entire urban sectors.
In the last
20 years, the most significant new landscapes have been designed
for sites that were reclaimed from conflict, degradation, or
abandonment. These include Martha Schwartz’s Exchange
Square, (1996– 2000), in downtown Manchester, England,
the site of a terrorist bombing; and Kathryn Gustafson’s
Garden of Forgiveness, to be completed in 2006, a symbol of
the transcendent power of landscape in Beirut’s war-torn
city center. Peter Latz’s Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord
in Duisburg, Germany (1990–2002), a former Thyssen steelworks
encompassing some 600 acres, defines a new kind of park that
embraces nature as well as the physical beauty of monumental
industrial ruins. Several projects in the exhibition highlight
major projects on waterfronts, railroads, airports, and landfills
no longer in use. These include Crissy Field, a military airstripturned-park
in San Francisco, designed by Hargreaves Associates (1994–
2001), whose restrained design balances ecological processes
and the public demand for recreational activities. Other sites
featured include industrial riverfronts in Bordeaux and London
and constructed landforms for parks on new landfill along Barcelona’s
waterfront.
Many of
the projects’ transformations are tracked through before-and
after visuals to underscore these dramatic shifts in use and
topography. Conventional modes of representation such as models,
drawings, and photographs, are complemented by large scale video
projections—many created for the exhibition—conveying
the space, time, context, material, and palette of each project.
The projects, located throughout North America, Europe, Asia,
and the Middle East, were selected for their outstanding design
and to show a variety of scales, contexts, materials, and types
of spaces found in the contemporary landscape. Groundswell is
one of the first exhibitions on view in The Joan and Robert
Preston Tisch Gallery on the sixth-floor of the renovated and
expanded MoMA.
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue. An
engaging text by curator Peter Reed and a full-color plate section
demonstrate how these innovative projects expand the definition
of the modernist landscape while responding to a variety of
conditions, such as program, social function, and the transformation
and reclamation of urban sites. Catalogue entries for each project
provide a succinct description of the site and its transformation,
and design concepts are illustrated by photographs, drawings,
and models. The book is being published by The Museum of Modern
Art and will be sold in MoMA stores and available to the trade
through Distributed Art Publishers (D.A.P.) in the United States
and through Thames & Hudson in Europe.
Schouwburgplein
(Theater Square) Rotterdam, The Netherlands 1991–96 Adriaan
Geuze, West 8 urban design & landscape architecture bv,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
About
the curators
Peter Reed was named Curator in the Department
of Architecture and Design at MoMA in January 1999. He joined
the staff in 1992 as an Assistant Curator, and was appointed
Associate Curator in 1994. Mr. Reed’s most recent exhibition
was AUTObodies: speed, sport, transport, an exhibition devoted
to the Museum’s automobile collection (2002).
Irene Shum joined the staff of The Museum of
Modern Art in January 2004 to work on Groundswell. She holds
a Master of Architecture from Yale University (2000) and a Bachelor
of Arts in Art History-Architecture from Barnard College, Columbia
University (1994).
Sponsors
The exhibition is the third in a series of five exhibitions
made possible by The Lily Auchincloss Fund for Contemporary
Architecture. Additional support is provided by the Estate of
Florene M. Schoenborn and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.
The accompanying publication is made possible by Elise Jaffe
+ Jeffrey Brown and Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan
Fund. The accompanying educational programs are made possible
by BNP Paribas.
Contact:
Matt Montgomery
Tel.: 212-708-9757
matthew_montgomery@moma.org
Daniela
Carboneri
Tel.: 212-708-9747
daniela_carboneri@moma.org
http://ndm.si.edu
