Modulor or Algoritmo? exhibition

The exhibition "Modulor o Algoritmo?" curated by Cintya Concari and Roberto Marcatti and promoted by Kubico srl with the support of ADI Associazione per il disegno industriale - Delegazione Puglia e Basilicata and the City of Galatina opened recently at the Palazzo della Cultura in Galatina, Lecce.
The exhibition asks an interesting question about the relevance today of the Modulor, Le Corbusier’s stylised human figure, and whether it might be replaced by a mechanism such as an algorithm, more appropriate for the digital age. 70 years have gone by since the first edition of the Modulor, first published in 1948, continuing with the Modulor 2 version in 1955. Le Corbusier built a number of his famous buildings on the basis of the scale of proportions determined by this iconic, stylised representation of the human figure, including Notre Dame du Haute in Chandigarh and the Unité d'Habitation in Marseilles. Marseilles even has a concrete version of the Modulor, by the entrance to the Unité d'Habitation.

Le Corbusier’s work with construction of a scale of proportions comparing the proportions of buildings to those of the human body has cultural roots going back to classical Greece and the studies of the Renaissance artists. Curators Cintya Concari and Roberto Marcatti turned to artists, architects and designers for an answer to the question about the relevance of Le Corbusier’s idiom and the principle he applied in the modern world. The curators ask whether "in the age of the digital economy and the social networks, where everything seems to be administrated by the “invisible hand” of mathematical calculation, it is possible that Le Corbusier’s invention, the Modulor, has become part of the history of another age, and ought to be replaced by a mechanism such as the algorithm?"
The Modulor and the Algorithm are both the result of calculation processes, "but the stylised human figure is replaced by the shape of a tree diagram with very precise steps allowing us to identify new or more very specific keys to the interpretation of the information in our possession". This leads to new ways of approaching problems and to new questions, such as, for example, whether or not it is a good idea to trust artificial intelligence to plan our lifestyles, when we know that these lifestyles could be radically changed as a result. At the same time, these decisions will lay the foundations for the architecture of the future. The architects and designers invited to participate in the project responded to the challenge by reinterpreting, each in his or her own way, the stylised figure of a man consisting of a recycled corian base moulded by Leuccio Surdo.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Title: Modulor o Algoritmo? (Modulor or Algorithm?)
Location: Palazzo della Cultura, Piazza Dante Alighieri 51 – Galatina (Lecce)
Dates: 26 January - 3 February 2019.


www.kubico.it
www.adi-design.org
www.comune.galatina.le.it
https://www.facebook.com/Modulor-o-Algoritmo-255791651786838/

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Massimo ACCOTO, Fabio ANCHORA, Ass .Culturale PLANA, Maurizio BARBA, Enrico BALERI, Saverio CALIA, Alfio CANGIANI, Elisa CAPPILLI, Cintya CONCARI, Pierluigi CORONEO, Sara COSTANTINI, Salvatore COZZOLINO, Antonio D’APRILE, Mario D'AQUINO, Valentina DE CAROLIS, Alberto DEL GROSSO, Angelo DE SANTIS, Corrado D'ELIA, Vito D'ELIA, Luciana DELLE DONNE, Annalisa DI ROMA, Nicola ELIA, Alessandro EPIFANI + Silvana INGUSCIO, Andrea EPISCOPO, Massimo FARINATTI, Marco FERRERI, Carlo FORCOLINI, Luciano GALIMBERTI, Michele GASPERINI, Lorenzo GEMMA, Maria INCAMPO, Andrea JANDOLI, Angelo JELMINI, Ugo LA PIETRA, Paolo LOMAZZI, Lorenzo LONGO, Bruno MAGGIO, Roberto MARCATTI, Adriano MARGIOTTA + Luca SFORZA, Giuseppe MARIANO, Ciro MASELLA, Martino MASTROVITO, Ico MIGLIORE + Mara SERVETTO, Gaetano MINAFRA, Vincenzo MINENNA, Sara MONDAINI, Piero MONITILLO, Emilio NANNI, Giovanni + Lorenza PALATTELLA, Donata PARUCCINI, Donato Maurizio PEDONE, Antonio PELLEGRINO, PIUARCH, Susanna PONZETTA, Patrizia POZZI, Antonio QUARTA, Ambrogio ROSSARI, Andrea ROVATTI, Michele SALLUSTIO, Guido e Nicolò SANTILIO, Paolo SCHIANCHI, Antonio SERGIO, Iole STANZIALE, Andrea SURDO, Antonio SURDO, Enrico SURDO, Piero Massimo SURDO, Francesco TUNDO, Francesco ZURLO.

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