For Rem Koolhaas, the Future of Cities Lies in the Countryside
Most artists and architects concern themselves with the future of cities. Questions of how we live, where we live and what we’ll live in inform many a blueprint, exhibition or fashion collection. You’d be forgiven for thinking Rem Koolhaas is one of them. The Dutch architect and urbanist earned a name for himself designing Prada stores in the early 2000s, and has since become one of the brand’s chief creative collaborators, designing runway shows and even the Fondazione Prada. But with his new exhibition at the Guggenheim, Koolhaas is turning his attention away from cities to focus on the other 98 per cent of the Earth’s surface: the countryside.
Laurian Ghinitoiu courtesy AMO
Laurian Ghinitoiu courtesy AMO
The exhibition, which is organized in collaboration with Samir Bantal, director of Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), looks at the radical changes happening in rural and remote areas. Koolhaas thinks that our artistic and academic focus on city life has removed us from what’s happening in the countryside.
Laurian Ghinitoiu courtesy AMO
In fact, many of the technological advancements that inform how we live, from big data, robots and AI artificial are actually being experimented with in the countryside – not the city. Through images, films, archival materials, objects and other artefacts, Koolhaas wants to get us thinking about how the role of the countryside in history – and how it’s shaping our future.
Luca Locatelli
David Heald
Countryside: The Future runs until August 14, 2020 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
