Frederick Kiesler 1890 – 1965

Frederick Kiesler 1890 – 1965 was the first retrospective in The Netherlands of the oeuvre of Romanian-American artist Frederick Kiesler (1890-1965). The exhibition presented original models, drawings, documents, photographs and writings by Kiesler. The exhibition focused in particular on his designs for cinemas and theaters (1923-61); his exhibition designs (1924-47); and his lifelong scrutiny of the conventions of modern architecture, which culminated in the Endless House (1950-61).

Kiesler was a revolutionary artist, who combined architecture with industrial design, set design, film, painting and sculpture. His radically inventive work was often well in advance of what his contemporaries were doing. For example, Kiesler experimented with optical mechanisms to manipulate vision for his set designs for Carel Capek’s R.U.R. (1923) by incorporating the new technological possibilities of film. He developed ideas about the use of biotechnology in architecture and industrial design, investigating the interaction between the human body and its architectural environment. In Space House (1933), for example, Kiesler sought to mobilize the inhabitant’s sensuality by means of automatic closing and opening systems, and through the use of materials such as rubber, sponge and oiled silk; the house thus functions as an object of contemplation and experiment, a space that echoes the body and responds in its turn.

Kieslers works are invariably concerned with the realization of the “endless”. In contrast with the dogma of modernist architecture, the “endless” is essentially anti-functionalist, inspired by the cyclical rhythms of life itself. As Kiesler commented in 1961: “Variability is one of the most important aspects of architecture, but most of our colleagues know nothing about it, because they freeze every building in specific functions. Their offices are frigidaires of inertia … Functionalism is determination and therefore stillborn”. Few of Kiesler’s designs were ever realized; most of his projects could be considered visionary concepts, in a sense unrealizable by definition.

Kiesler’s work has been underestimated and insufficiently explored, even though his revolutionary ideas were esteemed by such avant-garde artists as Theo van Doesburg, Marcel Duchamp and Fernand Leger; and his influence can even be seen in the development of subsequent generations of artists and architects, such as Dan Graham and Rem Koolhaas en Bernard Tschumi. Today, Kiesler’s pioneering ideas are more current than ever. Due to new technical possibilities in design (computer) and construction (new building materials and techniques), the curved lines and fluent forms of Kiesler’s architectural proposals now play an important role in the work of contemporary architects.

The exhibition presented original models, drawings, documents, photographs and writings by Kiesler. It focused in particular on his designs for cinemas and theaters (1923-61); his exhibition designs (1924-47); and his lifelong scrutiny of the conventions of modern architecture, which culminated in the Endless House(1950-61).

Frederick Kiesler 1890 – 1965 is a co-production of Witte de With and IVAM Centre Julio González in Valencia. The exhibition was produced in collaboration with the Musée nationale d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the IVAM, Centre Julio González in Valencia.