Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines, 196X to 197X

An explosion of architectural little magazines in the 1960s and 1970s instigated a radical transformation in architectural culture with the architecture of the magazines acting as the site of innovation and debate. Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X - 197X takes stock of seventy little magazines from this period, which were published in over a dozen cities. Coined in the early twentieth century to designate progressive literary journals, the term "little magazine" was remobilized during the 1960s to grapple with the contemporary proliferation of independent architectural periodicals. The terms "little" and "magazine" are not taken at face value. In addition to short-lived radical magazines, Clip/Stamp/Fold includes pamphlets and building instruction manuals along with professional magazines that experienced "moments of littleness," influenced by the graphics and intellectual concerns of their self-published contemporaries.

The exhibition's annotated timeline serves as a cross-section, tracking the progression, upheavals, and transformations of the magazines. A selection of original magazines surveys the variety of unique formats, re-introducing rare examples from private collections, and is supplemented by complete facsimiles for visitors to browse. Audio interviews with editors and designers of these publications punctuate the room, with transcriptions appearing in the Storefront's newsletter. In addition, many of these editors and designers have been invited to respond to the exhibition through the series Little Magazines / Small Talks held at the gallery. An implicit aim of the exhibition is to invite reflection on contemporary uses of media in architecture. Assembling all these remarkable documents for the first time offers a unique view of a key period of architectural innovation and challenges today's architects to provoke a similar intensity.

Exhibitions

Storefront for Art and Architecture   (www.storefrontnews.org)

New York City, USA
November 14, 2006 - January 31, 2007

Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)   (www.cca.qc.ca)

Montréal, Canada
April 12 - September 9, 2007

ARCH+ at Documenta Magazines   (www.archplus.net)

Documenta 12
Kassel, Germany
June 16 - September 9, 2007

Architectural Association   (www.aaschool.ac.uk)

London, UK
November 12 - December 7, 2007

Norsk Form Gallery   (www.norskform.no)

Oslo, Norway
May 15 - August 3, 2008

Contemporary Art Gallery  (www.contemporaryartgallery.ca)

Vancouver, Canada
September 12 - November 9, 2008

Exhibition Images: Storefront for Art and Architecture,  Canadian Centre for Architecture,  Arch + at Documenta,  Architectural Association,  Norsk Form Gallery,  Contemporary Art Gallery

Information

The exhibition has been a collaborative research and design project by a team of Ph.D. candidates at the School of Architecture at Princeton University led by Professor Beatriz Colomina and is the outcome of two years of seminars, interviews and visits with the editors, architects and theorists who produced the magazines. The project team includes Craig Buckley, Anthony Fontenot, Urtzi Grau, Lisa Hsieh, Alicia Imperiale, Lydia Kallipoliti, Olympia Kazi, Daniel Lopez-Perez and Irene Sunwoo.

The exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of: the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown; the School of Architecture, the Program in Media and Modernity, the Department of Art & Archaeology, and the Graduate School of Princeton University.

References

Clip/Stamp/Fold official website
New York Times review by Nicholai Ouroussoff (Feb 8, 2007)
Interview with Beatriz Colomina on Clip/Stamp/Fold (02/23/07) by ARTSCAPE

Martin Braathen, "Histories på boks- Neo avant-garde op postmodernism I små formatter/ Canned History: neo Avant-Garde and Postmodernism in Small Formats," Arkitektur (Oslo), June 2007, pp. 32-39.
Ryan Bigge, "Little Magazines Thinking Big," Toronto Star, Sunday August 5, 2007, Section ID, pp. 1, 4.
Derek Webster, "Radical Dreamers: A Dynamic exhibit at the Canadian Centre for Architecture asks: Is there a role today for little magazines?" Maisonneuve 24, Summer 2007, pp. 18-21
Adele Weder, "Clipped,Stamped, Folded," Canadian Architect July 2007, pp. 12-14.
Kevin Pratt, "Space Exploration," Artforum May 2007, pp. 113-114.
Reinhold Martin, "Was ist so klein an kleinen Zeitschriften?" Archplus 183, May 2007, pp. 6-7.
Steven Howell, "CCA displays ground-breaking independent periodicals," The Gazette 27 April, 2007, p. D8.
Alain Hocherau, "Magazines Rebelles," Voir, 26 April, 2007, p. VLV 4.
René Viau, "Architecture de papier: Une exposition consacrée par le CCA à la presse architectural des années 60 et 70," Le Devoir, 21 April 2007, p. E9.
Lyne Crevier, "Bombes X," Ici Montreal, 19 April 2007, p. 47.
Sylvie Berkowicz, "La presse underground de l'architecture," Créativité Montréal, 4 April 2007.
Jocelyne Lepage, "Architecture pamphétaire," La Presse, Montreal, 19 April 2007, A&S, p. 4.
"Newspaper: Progressive Architecture Caused by Little Magazines," Plus (Seoul) n. 239, March 2007.
Megan Ratner, "Clip/Stamp/Fold," Frieze n. 105, March 2007, p. 194.
Nicolai Ouroussoff, "Such Cheek! Those Were the Days, Architects," The New York Times, Thursday February 8, 2007, The Arts Section, pp. 1, 5.
"Clip, Stamp, Fold," The New Yorker, January 22, 2007.
Blythe Sheldon, "Smaller is Better: The zinc scene setting architecture hearts aflutter at the Storefront for Art & Architecture," V magazine, December 27, 2006.
Salomon Frausto, "Little magazines Big Time," The Architects Newspaper n. 20, 12/11/06.
Nicolai Ouroussoff, "blur" in The New York Times, Arts & Leisure, Section 2, p. 2, December 3, 2006.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold: L'architetture delle picole testate 196x-197x," Domus 72, November 2006, pp. 72-79.
"Panorama: Clip/Stamp/Fold," PIN-UP: Magazine for Architectural Entertainment, Issue 1, Fall 2006.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold," Metropolis, November 2006. p. 122.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold," Pidgin 2, 2007, p. 112.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold," Volume n. 10, Fall 2006, pp, 120-133.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold," Greyroom n. 25, Fall 2006.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold," Cabinet n. 24, Winter 2006-2007.
"Clip/Stamp/Fold," Log, 2007.
"Excerpt: Clip/Stamp/Fold," The Architect's Newspaper, n. 18, November 3, 2006, pp. 24-25.