26 November 2013–20 April 2014
Opening: Tuesday 26 November, 6:30–10pm
Public program: Wednesday 27 November, 4–6pm
Maristella Casciato in conversation with Takashi Homma
Tom Avermaete in conversation with Yto Barrada
Canadian Centre for Architecture
1920, rue Baile
Montreal, Québec, Canada
H3H 2S6
T +1 514 939 7001
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) presents How architects, experts, politicians, international agencies, and citizens negotiate modern planning: Casablanca Chandigarh from 26 November 2013 to 20 April 2014. The exhibition suggests a new historiography of modern urbanism based on two major urban experiments from the early 1950s: new residential neighbourhoods in Casablanca, Morocco planned by Michel Écochard and a team of young French and Moroccan architects; and Chandigarh, the new capital of Punjab in northern India conceived by a team consisting of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew and local architects and planners.
Curated by Tom Avermaete and Maristella Casciato, this exhibition revisits the relationship between local conditions and the international language of modern architecture in the context of Cold War politics and of the growing economic and political cooperation promoted by the United Nations.
The exhibition and accompanying publication include a series of photographs commissioned by Yto Barrada and Takashi Homma, which offer a contemporary reading of these two cities and illustrate the capacity to allow for change, adaptation and transformation.
The exhibition is partly based on the Pierre Jeanneret fonds recently donated to the CCA by Jacqueline Jeanneret alongside loans from important international institutions including the Fondation Le Corbusier; la Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Gta/ETH Zurich; Aga Khan Trust for Culture; Architectural Association Archives; Avery Library Archives, Columbia University M.A.E.; Archives diplomatiques de Nantes, University of Bologna and TU Delft.
The exhibition shows nearly 400 objects, consisting of more than 150 historic photographs, models, drawings, maps, and publications comprising experts’ reports from international organizations.
About the co-curators and photographers
Tom Avermaete is a Professor of Architecture at the TU Delft with a special research interest in the public realm and the architecture of the city in Western and non-Western contexts. Avermaete is a co-editor of OASE Architectural Journal. His current projects include a contribution to the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2014.
Maristella Casciato is Associate Director of Research at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. She is a former Associate Professor of the History of Architecture at the University of Bologna; a Fulbright Fellow (1992); a Chercheuse Associée aux INHA, Paris (2004); a Mellon Senior Fellow at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (2010); and Chair of DOCOMOMO International (2002-2010). Since the late 1990s Casciato has been researching the work of Pierre Jeanneret and his involvement in the construction of Chandigarh.
Yto Barrada is a photographer and visual artist living and working between Tangier, Morocco, and New York City. Her work has been recognized by Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year 2011 award.
Takashi Homma studied photography at Nihon University in Tokyo and is guest professor at the Graduate School of Tokyo Zokei University. In 1994 he received the 24 Ihei Kimura Photography Award for Tokyo Suburbia.
Exhibition design
Tokyo-based firm Atelier Bow-Wow, specialized in architectural design and urban planning, has collaborated with the CCA curatorial team to develop a conceptual approach to the design of the exhibition. Graphic design of the exhibition is by FEED.
About the CCA
The CCA is an international research centre and museum founded on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Based on its extensive collection, exhibitions, programs, and research opportunities, the CCA is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society today.
