At Les Abattoirs, Frac Midi Pyrénées in Toulouse, a group exhibition called ‘Les Pléiades’ took place from 28th September 2013 to 5th January 2014 to unite in a single venue all the different cartes blanches, that were presented regionally. For this event, the Frac Centre chose to call upon a figure prominent in its collection: Bernard Tschumi.
For this exhibition Bernard Tschumi used, for each of the years concerned, one or several projects by artists or architects that at some point made a proclamation or manifesto, a vision of the city and of architecture.
The radical period of architecture (Superstudio, Archizoom in Italy, Archigram in the United Kingdom to take just two examples) indeed proves itself extraordinarily rich in concepts and critical manifestos that challenge the CHRONOMANIFESTES discipline of architecture to form hybrids with artistic production and to advocate a political position.
Through his critical perspective Tschumi links the radicalism of experiments in the 1960-70 period and architecture that questions its own limits within a wider cultural and political field. For this internationally renowned French architect, ‘without an event, activity or function it is not architecture (...).’
The ‘Chronomanifestes’ exhibition by Bernard Tschumi was first of all presented at Les Abattoirs in Toulouse. In 2014, the Turbulences – Frac Centre presents the exhibition again.
A book accompanies the exhibition, written by Bernard Tschumi, narrating the adventure experienced by radical avant-gardists, deconstruction and the emergence of digital, in conjunction with key events each year on an international level.
Venue.- FRAC Centre. 88 rue du Colombier. 45000 Orléans. France.
Dates.- 30/04 - 10/08/2014.
