Gordon Matta-Clark
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Anarchitect
Antonio Sergio Bessa and Jessamyn Fiore
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Format: HardcoverPrice: $45.00
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"Undoing is just as much a democratic right as doing."---Gordon Matta-Clark
This revealing book looks at the groundbreaking work of Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–1978), whose socially conscious practice blurred the boundaries between contemporary art and architecture. After completing a degree in architecture at Cornell University, Matta-Clark returned to his home city of New York. There he employed the term “anarchitecture,” combining “anarchy” and “architecture,” to describe the site-specific works he initially realized in the South Bronx.
The borough’s many abandoned buildings, the result of economic decline and middle-class flight, served as Matta-Clark’s raw material. His series Cuts dissected these structures, performing an anatomical study of the ravaged urban landscape. Moving from New York to Paris with Conical Intersect, a piece that became emblematic of artistic protest, Matta-Clark applied this same method to a pair of 17th-century row houses slated for demolition as a result of the Centre Pompidou’s construction. This compelling volume grounds Matta-Clark’s practice against the framework of architectural and urban history, stressing his pioneering activist-inspired approach, as well as his contribution to the nascent fields of social practice and relational aesthetics.
This revealing book looks at the groundbreaking work of Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–1978), whose socially conscious practice blurred the boundaries between contemporary art and architecture. After completing a degree in architecture at Cornell University, Matta-Clark returned to his home city of New York. There he employed the term “anarchitecture,” combining “anarchy” and “architecture,” to describe the site-specific works he initially realized in the South Bronx.
The borough’s many abandoned buildings, the result of economic decline and middle-class flight, served as Matta-Clark’s raw material. His series Cuts dissected these structures, performing an anatomical study of the ravaged urban landscape. Moving from New York to Paris with Conical Intersect, a piece that became emblematic of artistic protest, Matta-Clark applied this same method to a pair of 17th-century row houses slated for demolition as a result of the Centre Pompidou’s construction. This compelling volume grounds Matta-Clark’s practice against the framework of architectural and urban history, stressing his pioneering activist-inspired approach, as well as his contribution to the nascent fields of social practice and relational aesthetics.
Published in association with The Bronx Museum of the Arts
Exhibition Schedule:
Bronx Museum of the Arts
(11/08/17-04/08/18)
Jeu de Paume, Paris
(06/04/18-09/23/18)
Kumu Kunstimuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
(03/01/19-08/04/19)
Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA
(09/12/19-12/15/2019)
Antonio Sergio Bessa is director of curatorial and education programs at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Jessamyn Fiore is a New York–based curator and co-director of the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark.
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Bronx Museum of the Arts
(11/08/17-04/08/18)
Jeu de Paume, Paris
(06/04/18-09/23/18)
Kumu Kunstimuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
(03/01/19-08/04/19)
Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA
(09/12/19-12/15/2019)
Finalist for the 2018 Alfred Barr Jr. Award for Smaller Museums, sponsored by the College Art Association
ISBN: 9780300230437
Publication Date: November 28, 2017
Publishing Partner: Published in association with The Bronx Museum of the Arts
Publication Date: November 28, 2017
Publishing Partner: Published in association with The Bronx Museum of the Arts
184 pages, 7 1/2 x 10
90 color illus.
90 color illus.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
