Experiments in Situation. Neo-Avantgarde and the Popular Tradition

Abstract

The design for a Mobile Theater by architect Javier Navarro de Zuvillaga was developed between 1970 and 1971 in the School of Architecture of the Architectural Association of London. This unbuilt project was based on a series of previous experiences of the author around what he called Experiments in Situation. These experiments were working hypotheses, midway between architecture and installation, with a strong theatrical base derived from the avant-garde of that cultural moment. This article describes the Mobile Theater project and accounts for some of its precedents and its counterparts. On the one hand, these situational experiments employed the parameters of the international avant-garde, but at the same time this project extensively drew from traditional architectural ideas and formalizations, directly linked to popular culture and its manifestations.