Review: Radical Design

Abstract

Radical Design Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany 4 June–13 November 2016 Radical Design was the latest in a number of shows, including a special exhibition at the 1996 Architecture Biennale in Venice, devoted to the “radicals” of the 1960s and 1970s.1 That exhibition made clear that the “radical” approach did not concentrate on objects exclusively, but was in fact rather expansive: “from the spoon to the city.”2 In the beginning, Radical Design was an informal network, consisting primarily of young Italian architects who had forged friendships over their shared interests.3 Lacking building contracts, they began experimenting on a 1:1 scale, producing objects in practices that straddled the lines between design, art, and theory. This plainly adhered to the Italian tradition of architects who are active as designers and intellectuals as well. But in contrast to the representatives of earlier generations, these new Italian radicals came of age during a period of crisis. Graduates of architecture schools were extremely hard-pressed to secure building contracts in the 1960s.4 Their predicament was exacerbated by an increasing disillusionment with the “great masters” of modernism. Additionally, consumerism and mass production had become facts of life. The young Italians could not tolerate the idea of simply producing attractive objects that would then be absorbed by the systems of unfettered capitalism. Instead, they endeavored to develop designs that would resist mass consumption. Groups …