a+u 21:08, 611

This August issue of a+u features the work of Chilean architect Smiljan Radić. The monograph opens with Nenia Project – a memoir by Radić – divulging to us the amazing imaginaries, visions of the past and future, that drive his architectural desires. Nenia Project is a collection of metaphorical manifestos and Radical Architecture artifacts that have equipped Radić with “subversive artistic strategies” and “scores for object-based works.” On these pages we discover the mysteries behind Radić’s “conceptual approach in his own buildings,” as described in an essay by Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen. Perhaps, as Ryue Nishizawa conjectures in his essay, Radić’s “designs are poetic because they exist in, or aim for, a state of freedom from meaning.” Twenty-five key projects ranging from sculptures to buildings, all produced between 2010 and 2021, are presented here along with Radić’s own conceptual drawings and paintings.

Text in English and Japanese.