RADICAL RADICAL AUSTRIA EVERYTHING IS ARCHITECTURE ENGLISH AUSTRIA RADICAL AUSTRIA EVERYTHING IS ARCHITECTURE ENGLISH RADICAL AUSTRIA RADICAL AUSTRIA From the adage ‘Everything is architecture’ formulated EVERYTHING IS ARCHITECTURE by Hans Hollein, he and his Austrian contemporaries The experimental work by Austrian architecture collec- shape their vision of the world in all possible domains: tives and designers from the early 1960s to mid-1970s from inflatable shelters to performances, from fashion has been described as ‘the Austrian avant-garde’. to furniture and from television programs to cities of the This exhibition is dedicated to the mind-expan ding, future. Early on they start experimenting with cyber ne- boun dary-shifting and socially critical work of these tics, space travel, drugs, media and gender. Finding designers. Not accepting limitations of definitions inspiration in pop culture, they often organise them- and disciplines, they created buildings, environ ments, selves as improvising collectives, like the example set objects, fashion, performances, furniture and even by psychedelic rock groups. experiences. The combination of experiment and analysis makes the Works by groups such as Coop Himmelb(l)au, Austrian avant-garde one of the most radical move- Haus-Rucker-Co, Zünd-Up and independent designers ments of that time. Their topics are still relevant today: and artists such as Walter Pichler, Hans Hollein and addressing the relationship between man and machine, VALIE EXPORT are a reaction to social and techno lo- communication versus isolation and the desire to create gical developments at large as well as to the specific personal bubbles. The visions these activist designers Austrian context. What sets the Austrian avant-garde had of the future were often predictive: instead of mak- apart from its Italian and British contemporaries is ing us look back, these works make us face the future that their designs often go beyond the concept phase. once more. Many works have actually been executed and allow the public to experience how new technologies would change the world in the near future. The first spacewalk by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 18 March 1965. 1 Haus-Rucker-Co Roomscraper, 1969 cardboard, plastic, acrylate, screen print courtesy Günter Zamp Kelp VIENNA 1918 – 1945 THE SIXTIES The transformation of a socialist city, vibrant with intellectual The Cold War, the quest for individual liberation and the rise of youth. and artistic life, into a deserted Nazi town. Austrian intellectuals, designers and artists continue their work in exile. The 1960s were a time of great change in the world, and also in Austria. The tension of the Cold War was constantly felt. The wars Until 1933 Vienna was a socialist city with its own signature. in the aftermath of colonialism, for example in Vietnam, often turned Austro-Marxism was a scientifically focused movement. The country- into a bitter struggle between communism and liberalism. Popular side, on the other hand, was mainly Christian Democratic and maga zines and new media such as radio and television delivered much more conservative. Inspired by Italian Fascism, Christian and the wars and famines with all their horrors into the living rooms. right-wing resistance to Austro-Marxism increased, culminating The sexual revolution and women’s movement resulted in processes when Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß seized power in 1933. Dollfuß of individualization in the West. The family became less and less suppres­­sed the socialists in the Austrian Civil War, but also banned important, young people wanted to be taken seriously and longed the Austrian Nazi Party. He was murdered in a failed coup by Nazi for more freedom. The first youth culture, defined in no small part by agents in 1934. The politics of Austro-Fascism were continued by his pop music, emerged. The young generation of the baby boomers successor Kurt Schussnigg until Austria joined the Third Reich in 1938. suddenly became a large commercial market. Student revolts broke The persecution of Jews started immediately. Many ended up in con- out in Austria, like they did in the United States and elsewhere in centration camps and were murdered. Tens of thousands of Austrians, Europe. Young artists and designers tried to integrate the achievements including many scientists, artists and architects, left the country from of youth culture into their work. Many of the Austrian collectives, such 1933 onwards because of race or political affiliation. This also meant as Haus-Rucker-Co, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Zünd-Up and Salz der Erde, their work and ideas were widely disseminated internationally. structured their collective and styled their appearance after jazz and rock bands, mirroring their presumed lack of hierarchy and constant VIENNA 1945 – 1955 improvisation. The journey of an allied-occupied city to become the neutral centre of world politics at the fringes of the West. THE PRINCIPLE OF CLOTHING Architecture as clothing: the Austrian tradition views architecture After the Second World War it took a long time for Austria to become foremost as a form of clothing or covering. an independent republic again. The Allied occupation, under which Austria was divided into Russian, American, British and French zones, According to the nineteenth-century architectural theorist Gottfried lasted until 1955. An important Russian condition for total independ- Semper, the brickwork wall originated from the textiles used in earlier The Seven Veils of ence was that Austria stay neutral. As a result, Vienna became an im- times to protect fire. The development of new techniques resulted in the Male Stomach, portant base for international organizations such as the International giving the material more and more layers, eventually becoming a cross-section of a Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations Office for Outer Space wall. The wall always refers to the original fabric nonetheless. soldier’s uniform from Affairs and many other UN agencies during the Cold War. After New The etymological relationships between words such as ‘Wand’ and Bernard Rudofsky’s York and Geneva, Vienna became the most important seat of the UN. ‘Gewand’, wall and clothing, demonstrate this, according to Semper. 1947 publication OPEC, the organization of oil-producing countries, is also based in Clothing has therefore traditionally been an important theme in Are Clothes Modern?. Vienna. Austrian architecture. Adolf Loos not only conceived the Prinzip der Bekleidung in architecture, he also wrote extensively about women’s FROM 1955 and men’s fashion. In his essay Are Clothes Modern? Rudofsky shows Renewed focus on national and international intellectual and a schematic cross-section of a soldier’s body, surrounded by the layers artistic developments. Reconnecting with exiled Austrians. of his uniform. He questions the relationship of military clothing to the body and criticises its lack of functionality. He advocates improving Although Vienna had a thriving nightlife after the war, partly because these by introducing new technologies. of the presence of military personnel, from 1933 onwards an intellec- tual and cultural destruction took place. Vienna had become a gray, In the 1960s, spacesuits, capsules and inflatable structures increas- isolated city at the fringes of the West, with the consequences of the ingly appear as a kind of minimal architecture. Reyner Banham, war still visible for a long time. Young Austrian artists and architects the British architectural theorist, collaborating with architect Francois were looking to connect with new cultural developments abroad. Dallegret, extends Rudofsky’s diagram to include an inflatable home For them, the United States became the promised land. They discov- in his internationally influential essay A Home is not a House, publis- ered that Austrians in exile often played an important role there. hed in Art in America in 1965. SPACE TRAVEL Leary was a charismatic personality with many followers. With the The spacesuit and space capsule: architecture at its most minimal slogan turn on, tune in, drop out, he called on people to activate their and technologically advanced. nerves, to live in harmony with the world, to leave social conventions behind and to break down hierarchies. LSD was used by artists to Because the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is based stimulate creative processes. During the 1960s, a culture emerged in in Vienna, conferences and exhibitions highlighting both American which special spaces were created for LSD use. Discotheques were and Russian space travel are regularly hosted there. UNISPACE I was opened in New York where the psychedelic and spatial effects of the Yuri Gagarin during a convention and a spectacular exhibition of rockets, satellites and drug were simulated and enhanced with, among other things, light the first manned spacecraft in 1968. Alexei Leonov, the first cosmonaut to go on a shows and music. Andy Warhol organised a series of these kinds space journey with spacewalk, visited. The 20er Haus was a museum of modern art and of events with The Exploding Plastic Inevitable around his band The The cover of the Vostok 3KA-3 one of the focal points of the Viennese avant-garde. In 1970, Werner Velvet Underground. The most famous, however, was Cerebrum Club LIFE magazine (Vostok 1), on Hoffmann organised the exhibition Der Mensch im Weltraum there, in SoHo, a Jimi Hendrix’s favourite. Even the clothes handed out to September 9, 1966, 12 April 1961. elevating space travel to a cultural theme. Consequently, it’s no sur- visitors at the entrance were included in the design of the club. Haus- dedicated to LSD art. prise that space travel influenced the work of most Austrian architects. Rucker-Co and Coop Himmelb(l)au visited these clubs. LIFE magazine In their hands the spacesuit and space capsule become architecture devoted three cover stories to LSD, the new nightclubs and art influen- at its most minimal and technologically advanced. ced by LSD in 1966. CYBERNETICS MARSHALL MCLUHAN The rise of cybernetics causes speculation about its role in architec- Multimedia installations train people to handle the increase of ture and urban design.