Launch Price £23 RRP £27
The Greek island sequence montaged by László Moholy-Nagy into his legendary documentary “Architects’ Congress” can be interpreted, like his provocative photoplastiks, as a “message in a bottle” thrown into the sea that “might take decades for someone to find and read.”
Capturing the incomparable Greek light, it presents a compelling glimpse of the four days and nights in August 1933 when the elite of the European architectural and artistic avant-garde—in Greece for the 4th International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM)—took to the Aegean in a barely-seaworthy “nutshell” that would bring them close to the brink of disaster.
The “motley crew” included Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, Amédée Ozenfant, Sigfried Giedion, Cor van Eesteren, and Otto Neurath. Crucial to the success of the surreal odyssey were members of the Greek avant-garde. Drawing on previously unpublished material the authors reconstruct the epiphanies, debates, and, inevitably, estrangements at this critical moment in European history.
Join us for a drinks reception with the legendary Lars Muller as he introduces the authors Chris Blencowe and Judith Levine to celebrate the launch of this great new book.