He created, greened, rebuilt, improved, while displacing, clearing, demolishing and destroying. The comic biography of the American civil servant-visionarytitled. "Robert Moses. The Hidden Ruler of New York" will be available at the Architecture Center starting June 29.
The protagonist of the comic book is Robert Moses (1888-1981) - modernist urban planner, clerk-visionaryand, as Jane Jacobs called him , "New York's greatest vandal." It was his decisions that shaped the modern face of New York - from subways to skyscrapers, from swimming pools to beaches, from the suburbs of Long Island to the financial city of Manhattan.
The controversial urban planner has been the subject of scholarly research and a pop culture hero for decades. Many books have been written about him, exhibitions and films have been created, even a musical and an opera, but thanks to French authors Pierre Christin (screenplay) and Olivier Balez (drawings), he is coming to the world of comics for the first time, and thanks to the Center for Architecture, translated by Tomasz Swoboda - to the Polish market.
© Center for Architecture
Moses ruled for several decades, at one point even holding twelve positions simultaneously! He managed parks, urban planning, roads or the World Exposition. He was praised for his concern for public space, but accused of racism. He organized playgrounds, beaches and parks, but cut the city with highways. He did much to make ordinary people's lives better in the city. However, he did not ask them if they wanted the changes he was imposing on them.
The comic book is available for pre-order here.
