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Exhibition

New Work

LANZA Atelier
March 31–July 29, 2018
Floor 4

This New Work exhibition introduces three projects by Mexico City–based architecture firm LANZA Atelier, comprising architects Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo. Founded in 2015, LANZA Atelier has quickly earned accolades for their precise and thoughtful approach, underscoring the relevance of design in everyday interactions. In their first solo show in the U.S., the duo draws upon their interest in Mexico City’s architectural history, bringing communities together through architectural interventions, and repurposing existing infrastructure for public benefit.

These three projects range in scale, from furniture to large-scale public works. The Steps Table invites viewers to experiment with one’s own body in relation to furniture, exploring the limits of what kind of objects can be meaningfully understood as a table, and questioning commonly accepted concept of such furniture. Shared Structures present a graphic history of a rapidly densifying Mexico City by comparing architecturally-significant residential buildings from the last century. Finally, S/N rescues Mexico City’s “Modules of Security and Citizen Participation” — structures built in the 1980s to monitor neighborhoods in the case of an emergency — and reconverts them into useful urban facilities.

View the brochure or download a printable PDF.

Generous support for New Work: LANZA Atelier is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal, SFMOMA’s Contemporaries, Adriane Iann and Christian Stolz, Robin Wright and Ian Reeves, and Helen and Charles Schwab.

Exhibition Preview

Stepped plywood table
Paper models on a table
Paper models on a table

LANZA Atelier, Mesa nómada (Steps Table), 2017 (installation view, Labor Gallery, Mexico City); photo: Camila Cossio

LANZA Atelier, Sin número (Without Number), 2017 (installation view, CENART, San Luis Potosí, Mexico); photo: Juan Benavides

LANZA Atelier, Sin Número (Without Number), 2017 (installation view, CENART, San Luis Potosí, Mexico); photo: Juan Benavides