UFO, performing architecture

On the occasion of the publication of the book UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT for contemporary architecture: UFO’s experiments between political activism and artistic avant-garde supported by the Italian Council, Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, Italian Ministry of Culture, under the scientific direction of professor Beatrice Lampariello and the co-editorial direction of Andrea Anselmo and Boris Hamzeian (False Mirror Office), the Frac Centre-Val de Loire is organising a monographic exhibition presenting the works of the group of architects UFO, deriving from its collection, in partnership with the Université catholique de Louvain. As an agitator and activist, the UFO group represents a trend of radical Italian architecture that is particularly representative of the Frac Centre-Val de Loire collection. From the late 1960s onwards, these architects wanted to liberate creative behaviour and the imagination through the use of techniques (cardboard cut-outs, polyurethane, inflatables) and fields of expression (including graphic novels, advertising, and film) that were radically different from traditional architectural language. Closely aligned with Umberto Eco’s semiological theories (1932–2016), UFO saw its architectural and design projects (Ristorante Sherwood, 1972) or objects (Paramount MGM lamps, 1969 and Dollar, 1969) as “signs” used to foster counter-communication.

Exhibition video presentation

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