Architecture Without Architects, 1964: divergences between the exhibition and the catalog

Abstract

Czeck architect Bernard Rudofsky opened in 1964 the exhibition Architecture Without Architects in the Museum of Modern Art of New York as curator. Comparison between the items displayed in the exhibition with the contents of the catalog reveals several differences. Analysis of these differences is interesting not just for exposing the development of the project by the author together with Ellen Marsh, but also for revealing in the curators strategy a system linking the displayed materials, composed only of photographs, with an open structure: a method that proposed a simultaneous vision that facilitated the exchange of information, an approach related to contemporary production methods. Furthermore, the exhibition, considered minor at first in the architectural department of MoMA, became a reference for the following architectural exhibitions because of the curatorial strategy developed by Rudofsky, opening a new line of interest and research in the field of architectural communication.