Content: buildings, projects and concepts from 1996 by Rem Koolhaas-OMA-AMO
27 March to 31 May 2004, Kunsthal Rotterdam
The Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rem Koolhaas’ first design that gained him world renown in 1992, displays a wide selection of his designs and innovations from 1996 to the present.
Rem Koolhaas, his
design agency OMA and research team AMO occupy a leading position in the
world of architecture. Combining revolutionary developments in the field
of concept, design and technology with a continuous exploration of other
disciplines, they make the best of every project, be it a villa in Bordeaux,
the China Central Television skyscraper in Beijing or the new Netherlands
embassy in Berlin. Other projects of Koolhaas in the exhibition include
the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas and the interior design of
the Prada store in New York.
OMA-AMO
Although the majority of OMA's work has been carried out in the Netherlands
and France, since the end of the 1990s the practice has shifted its focus
to Asia. The USA has also become an important region for the practice
with projects for Prada in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles and
the McCormick Tribune Campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (University
of Chicago). At the end of the 1990s Koolhaas and OMA established a research
office called AMO. Whilst OMA focuses on architectural projects, AMO is
entirely devoted to research in areas such as organization, culture and
identity. Important research projects have included studies of Europe's
visual communication and the development of the Ruhr Area. OMA is currently
working on its largest project to date: the new headquarters for China
Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing with an area of 575,000 m2. The complex
is due for completion in time for the Olympic Games in 2008
Themes
The exhibition is divided into twenty themes including 'High-rise', 'Museum',
'Junkspace' and 'Prada'. These sections do not suggest a fixed route but
rather invite the visitor to wander through the exhibition. The themes
are elucidated by numerous models of realized and unrealized projects
such as the Hyperbuilding in Bangkok (1996), the Universal Headquarters
in Los Angeles (1996), the extension of the Whitney Museum in New York
(2001) and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas (2000). In addition
the exhibition will include installation work, film and photography by
contemporary visual artists Tony Oursler, Jeff Preiss and Candida Höfer.
Design studio Inside Outside was asked by the NAI to realize an installation between the exhibition 'CONTENT' in the Rotterdam Kunsthal and 'START' in the NAI in Rotterdam. The Red Thread of the Museumpark is accessible from the 27th of March, 2004.
The Museumpark is situated in between the two temporary exhibitions in Rotterdam. It was designed by OMA, Yves Brunier and Petra Blaisse some fifteen years ago. Inside Outside designed an installation that leads the visitors along fifteen stops from one exhibition to the other.
Start: de Rem Koolhaas/OMA Collection 1978-1994 in the NAi
