Italian Radical Education in the Age of Dissent
Lecture by Peter Lang
Superstudio: five Fundamental Acts: Education. 1973. Superstudio Archive. Florence
What can explain the incredible burst of creative energy that fuelled a generation of Italian designers, producing such iconic post-war groups like Superstudio, Archizoom, 9999, U.F.O and Strum?
That which is most difficult to pin down with the Italian Radical Design movement is precisely its complex origins, there is no single school, master text, or figurehead that can be said to have dominated this generation. Rather, the Radical Design movement emerges in a moment of social and political upheaval, and comes to embody within its tenets a broad array of artistic, philosophic and humanitarian principles that drive this generation towards a revolutionary vision of the future.
Peter Lang is professor in Architectural Theory and History at the Royal Institute of Art, in the Department of Architecture, Stockholm (Kungl. Konsthögskolans-KKH), where he conducts post-graduate research courses in architecture, design and multimedia communications. Lang holds a Bachelor in Architecture from Syracuse University and earned a PhD in Italian history and urbanism at New York University in 2000. He is a Fulbright recipient in Italian studies. Lang works on the history and theory of post-war Italian architecture and design, with a focus on sixties Italian experimental design, media and environments. He has been a member of the Rome based urban arts research group Stalker since 1997. He is curator, along with Mark Wasiuta and Luca Molinari, of the exhibition "Environments and Counter Environments: Italy the New Domestic Landscape, MoMA 1972."
