In 1973, far from the rich Western countries, in provincial Breslau, the architect, urban planner and architectural theorist Stefan Müller read with dismay the report commissioned by the Club of Rome - "Limits to Growth." The analysis of the future of mankind in the face of population growth, increasing consumption and depleting natural resources clearly indicated that civilization in its present form was headed for certain self-destruction....
Müller then began to develop a revolutionary concept for building a new total world - Terra X. His project was that we should at least partially leave the Earth and take the "Life Zone" between the clouds, to the surrounding planet - a multifunctional truss. In this scenario, nature was to take the lead on Earth, and humans would only visit it for relaxation.
Stefan Müller, Terra X, board exhibited at the Terra 1 exhibition in 1975.
© organizers archive
In 1975, instead of a truss surrounding the planet, Müller created the real Terra - a series of exhibitions and discussions, an innovative platform for exchanging ideas about the future of Earth's civilization.
Two international exhibitions presented at the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, Terra 1 in 1975 and Terra 2 in 1981, were intended to present manifestations of so-called intentional architecture from around the world. Intentionality was the key here - these were to be visions, not projects ready for realization.
The exhibition "Terra X [-∞] Archive of the Future".
Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw
5 Bernardyńska St.
25.10.2019-2.02.2020 r.
More than forty years after the first exhibition, ten proposals selected from the Terry 1 archive (1975) return to the Wrocław Museum of Architecture, with which contemporary concepts by architects and artists working within the framework of the European Future Architecture Platform program will be juxtaposed.
Traumnovelle, Escape
© organizers archive
The presented projects tell the story of thinking about the future and possible (or those completely impossible) scenarios for building a vision of tomorrow. In addition to archival works by such artists as Stefan Müller, Rem Koolhaas, Elia Zenghelis, Madelon Vriesendorp, Zoe Zenghelis, Natalia LL, Anna Szkurat-Wojno and Superstudio, the exhibition presents concepts by Daniela Arias Laurino, Volodymyr Babia, Ayfer Idil Kemaloglu, Traumnovelle and Anna Maria Fink. The exhibition is curated by Malgorzata Devosges-Cuberand Michal Duda, Robert Kuśmirowski is responsible for its arrangements, and Feliks Marciniak is responsible for the visual identity.
More information about the exhibition can be found on Facebook, and Future Architecture Platform on its website.
Illustrations courtesy of the organizers
