NERO MAGAZINE » Yona Friedman handbuch

Yona Friedman handbuch

June 28 – July 14, 2012

Chert gallery + Motto - Skalitzer Str. 68, 10997 - Berlin

Think and act by yourself is the massage behind Yona Friedman’s projects, made expli cit in his Manuels, the french original title of the exhibition. Yona Friedman’s projects Manuels (volume 1, 2, 3), Films d’animation (the animated flms) and Démocratie (Democracy) are statement works, made with improvisation in mind but flled with com municable techniques and know-how.Manuels (Manuals), volumes 1, 2, 3

Aimed at populations from all cultural background, Yona Friedman offers a series of manuals to think, dwell, care and protect oneself autonomously. Those “cartoons” were broadcasted and translated from 1975 to 1992 in more that 30 countries. The techniques showcased in these template-like manuals are clues and testimonies of the distance between preconceived solu tions versus imaginative solutions. Their aim is to trigger the capacity to think and act by your self. When he ceases to delegate its power to decide to the architect, the institution, the expert ; if he dares to use his natural capacities (thinking, language, drawing …), Man is able to create an un-paternalist society, a society were the decision-makers are the one living the conse quences of their decisions. Yona Friedman opposes to the architecture and urban planning spe cialist’s books a personal and expressive body of work : a rather improvised work flled with a technique and a know-how that, once decoded, are eminently transmissible. the three Manuels, volume 1, 2, 3 where published by Cneai from 2007 and 2009. They are aimed respectively at urbanism (volume 1), dwelling (volume 2) and thinking (volume 3). They’re offering the artist’s thoughts on rather concrete questions such as “Where does the city begins ?” ” What is a

region ?” ” How to protect the city”, ” How to give shelter to the homeless ? … up to the illustration of Leibnitz monadology.

Films d’animation (Animated flms), 1960-1963

That publication gathers twelve animated flms, twelve symbolic tales made with the Truca tech nique. Conceived between 1960 and 1963 by Yona Friedman and Denise Charvein, and broad casted at the time by Jean Rouch, the reels where believed to be lost before being fnally redis covered and turned into a DVD by Cneai in 2007.

Démocratie (Democracy)

Démocratie is an open political agenda whose goal is to promote autonomy for the cit izens and it’s also a humorous look on the stiffnesses acquired by the so called demo cracies. (published by Cneai, 2011)

Making the spacial city

The concept of spacial city and mobile architecture are central elements of Yona Fried man’s work since 1948, elements he theorized in his manifesto L’architecture mobile (Mobile architecture) frst published in 1958. Within the exhibition, the drawings from Ar chitecture without building and the screenings of Diapositives and Gribouilli are descri bing its particular universe where technical solutions are thinkable and utopias are fea sible.

Architecture without building

In this book, Yona Friedman describes the conception of an adaptable and combinable urban planning, always linked to the distinction between spaces for motor vehicles, commercial areas and housing areas, as well as the dissemination of urbanism, against the concentration, the “root of all evil”, political, economical and social. (published by Cneai, 2012)

Diapositives (Slides) 1958-2002

Like a true “immaterial exhibition”, the edition of Diapositives is a collection of the artist’s works. Published by Cneai in the shape of an archival grade folder holding almost 300 slides of Yona Friedman’s projects, many highlighted directly onto the slide itself. (publi shed by Cneai, 2011)

Gribouilli (Doodle) 1980-1990

Based on the same principle as his eponymous three-dimensional models, the Gribouilli drawings are the very defnition of the improvisation of forms. Here, they are drawn di rectly on the 16mm flm creating a concert of lines and sound since the movie inspired the musician Areski Belkacem who composed the original score for the flm. (published by Cneai, 2011)

Currently at Paris-Chatou, until September 30th, cneai= île des Impressionnistes -78400 Chatou, presents the exhibition Musée sans bâtiment (Museum without building) Outside life-size models and drawings : proteinic structure, street museum, bestiary. Drawings and models in the reftted Cneai space : by appointment.

Biographie

Architect, theoretician and writer, Yona Friedman (born 1923 in Budapest) is one of the key thinkers in the history of the 20th century architecture. At a time where the ques tions of urbanism, mobility, globalization and migration are becoming dominant, he in vented visionary concepts such as “mobile architecture”, “spatial city”,”doable utopias”,”self-planning” that are still very current today. He participated in many major interna tional art events (Lyons’ Biennial, Yokohama Triennial and Fiac in 2011, Venice Biennial in 2009 and 2003, New York’s Drawing Center in 2007, Kassel’s Documenta in 2002) making him a unique fgure crossing the boundaries between the disciplines. He wrote and drawn more that ffty books about his research on architecture, ecology and lan guage. For the past ten years, Cneai builds a close and fruitful relationship with Yona Friedman that resulted in several exhibitions : Dare to make your exhibition (2007, Chat ou) ; Gribouillis, models scale 1/1 (2007, Chatou) ; Tu ferais ta ville (You would be mak ing your city) (2008, partnership Cneai and Art en rêve / Capc, Bordeaux) ; Yona Fried man, Improvisations flms d’animation (1960-1963) et oeuvres sans planifcation (Impro visations animated flms and works without planning) (2009, partnership, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris and Cnea

Image above: Yona Friedman, handbuch, 2012, Istallation view