MARK WIGLEY, Constant Niewenhuys’ Biographer, LUDO VAN HALEM, Curator of 20th Century Art, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, WIEL ARETS, Dean of IIT Architecture, and Trudy van der Horst, founder of Fondation Constant, joined in a Dialogue on the artist Constant's “New Babylon" on Wed., Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in S. R. Crown Hall.
“New Babylon' was the 20-year project of artist, sometime Situationist, and - as Mark Wigley calls him - 'architectural impersonator' Constant Niewenhuys. It was a singularly determined impersonation. From the mid- 1950s to the early 1970s, Constant maintained a continuous production of models, montages, manifestos, films, lectures, drawings and paintings of a consistent architectural vision: a proliferating megastructure, premised on automation and the end of labour, that would simultaneously resolve global mobility with spontaneous creation of intense local ambiences in the Situationist game of 'unitary urbanism'.” – Architects Journal
This program is supported by Fondation Constant, of which Trudy van der Horst is a Member of the Board, and as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.