The touring exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw 11 www.artmuseum.pl ↩︎ explored architectural, artistic and pedagogical legacy of Oskar Hansen, Polish architect, member of Team 10 and author of the theory of Open Form. The theory, launched in 1959 and developed throughout his career, also in collaboration with his wife, architect Zofia Hansen, introduced an undefined, subjective and processual element to architectural design. Stating that architecture can no longer be constructed and perceived as a monument to its designers, Hansen promoted understanding of architecture as a passe-partout exposing every-day events, open to the participation of its user in the process of design and easily adaptable to their changing needs.
CENTRALA was responsible for the exhibition design for the whole international tour. Taking into account the processual aspect of Open Form and Hansen’s own rich experience with display designs, the arrangement of the touring exhibition has been turned into a research process of its own. Together with Aleksandra Kędziorek, curator of the exhibition, we undertook a journey throughout archives and museum collections to discover the specificity of Hansen’s historical exhibition designs and reveal the hidden grammar of his displays.
For almost each venue, CENTRALA prepared a new project, researching different exhibition tools used by Hansen in his displays (e.g. photo murals, photographic-graphic friezes, spatial relieves, visual essays, etalage, active/passive backgrounds). Moving from direct historical quotes to more subtle references, the sequence of designs for the touring exhibition became for us a hands-on learning experience on the theory of Open Form.
Featured photo Bartosz Stawiarski