New York, 1973.
Soho, a certain Gordon Matta-Clark, architect by training, deconstructor in the soul, together with young artist friends founded the Anarchitecture Group.
Anarchitecture; an anarchy of architecture, free from any scheme.
The anarchitects went in search of dilapidated structures destined for demolition, they did all that was unconventional and unusual.
Anarchitecture was a criticism, a reflection, a denunciation of the building speculation that characterized New York in those years, because the New York buildings, in those years, were continuously raised due to stratification, and then they were abandoned, demolished or replaced to give space for new real estate operations.
Gordon Matta-Clark was a multifaceted artist, architect, photographer, performer, and at times even an ecologist. Initiator of the so-called “building cuts”, he divided the entire house into two, created huge holes in the floors, distorting the built element and creating a void where there was not before.
“We talked about space, about how space and places subdue our emotional life. We heard architects talking about space and places but then, in their work, we never found these concepts expressed; we found beautiful details, sensual facades… but we never saw any strong spatial statements. This was our interest: the failure of architecture, not the promise of architecture. However, ours was not intended as a criticism of architecture, it was more about the absence of criticism of these concepts in our culture “(Richard Nonas, member of the Anarchitecture Group).
Text Camilla Gorini
