Superstudio
Observation, Research and Reflection
Founded by Adolfo Natalini and Christiano Toraldo di Francia, Superstudio took part in the Radical architectural movements of the late 1960s. They became a major artistic studio who hypothesised the idea of ‘anti-architecture’, they had never created any physical structures but instead created iterations which were highly conceptual and transcended reality. While maintaining a sense of the dystopic future, Superstudio preserved the nature through combining it within the architectural materials. They held the idea of a ‘Super-face’. A sort of monolithic structure consuming into a ‘society of hyper-connectivity and networked energy’.
They’re drawing techniques at times were satirical, which focused on preserving architecture and history rather than restoring it. Natalini believed there to be three techniques which can be implemented to conduct a intellectual research of the future; an architecture of the monument, of the image and of the technomorphic, all reflecting metaphors for mediating the spaces between physical and metaphysical. All represented in their Continuous Monument series which comprised this notion of reflection in the visual metaphors.
Their work provides a peak into the future which is imaged to be dystopic, where nature is being overturned by huge architectural structures. However, Superstudio provokes this idea by including nature as a part of the structures which creates a balance between ecology and urbanism. Through my own work I have aimed to create that same sense of a dystopia by reflecting a sense of exaggeration in the basic things in life. My work portrays the same sense of thinking out of the physical realm, it contains naturals things occurring in unnatural settings, such as skydiving in outer-space to monolithic structures forming inside of blossoming flowers. Each of the drawings in my series represent a form of monolithic structure, which steams from the techniques of Superstudio. These monolithic structures are then placed within nature and intertwined to look like a cohesive part of natural, similar to Superstudio’s work where nature itself becomes a part of the architectural structures.
Furthermore, my own work contains reflective objects such as water and glass as metaphors which was one of Natalia’s suggested techniques to conduct intellectual research of the future. In my understanding these objects create a literal metaphor for a reality check, in an unrealistic world. Many of Superstudio’s works use grids to create dimensions in the drawings. In order to capture the same notion of dimension and continuation, I have implemented the technique of perspective drawing. This technique has allowed me to not only capture an idea of dystopia and structure but also create a sense of a never-ending path. The grids and lines done through perspective drawing give volume to the objects and make them look three dimensional rather than a flat box. The use of water colours in the painting of the water and sky has assisted me to represent and capture the sense of reflection in the work. Additionally, shading and colouring has allowed me to add depth to my drawings and structures and capture my perceived ideas onto paper. Through the use of digital editing, I was able to format my drawing to fit the same essence of Superstudio. Their drawings are formatted to look ‘dark’ and mellow. By adding colouring effects to my own drawings I have aimed to exhibit a particular atmosphere. As shown in my artworks, the digitally edited versions are gloomier and grained, this Is done so that the idea of a dystopic dark future is presented through the works.
Each artwork in my series in constructed to depict a particular view of how we understand the world. We see our current world as one full of opportunities, especially in the field of business where we can make profit. These new idea often clash with the systems of nature and fail to preserve and acknowledge the importance of nature. Everyday, new infrastructures are being built in the places of trees and wildlife. If this trend continues, our world will become one with barriers where there are barely human contact and tall buildings will replace the trees which provide us with the most curial thing of survival, oxygen.
Similar to Superstudio, my drawings provide comic relief to this capitalistic tendency of society. The tend to disrupt a capitalistic tendency in architecture and encourage preservation of nature and history. Despite my drawings being a reflection of the future and its dystopic form, I have reinforced nature in all the depictions by making it a part of the architectural structures rather than just a setting which architectures are built upon. My artworks further depict a sense of both positivity and negativity in the future. The depiction of skydiving in outer-space shows the heights of where humankind can be in the future. Whereas, the drawing of the person looking out of a window is a portrayal of the current situation the world is in right now. We are all stuck inside our bedrooms while the world still continues to grow. There is an uncertainty of what’s to come in the future, therefore throw these depictions I was able to hypothesise various outcomes of what the future holds.
References
Melt. Supertudio. https://visualmelt.com/Superstudio
Wallis, S. (2016, April 13). A ’60s Architecture Collective That Made History (but No Buildings). The New York Times Style Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/t-magazine/design/superstudio-design-architecture-group-italy.html?_r=0&module=Endslate®ion=SlideShowTopBar&version=EndSlate&action=Click&contentCollection=T%20Magazine&slideshowTitle=The%20Mad%20Genius%20of%20Superstudio¤tSlide=Endslate&entrySlide=1&pgtype=imageslideshow
UTS. Superstudio PDF. https://canvas.insearch.edu.au/courses/1744/files/575785?module_item_id=192113
Superstudio. Superstudio history. https://www.cristianotoraldodifrancia.it/superstudio-history/
