A worldview expansive enough to see dominant tendencies in contemporary architecture and (fairly) recent art as flipsides of the same coin … criticism with vaulting ambitions.” Art Review Rowan Moore, Observer Library Journal Stephen Walker , Times Higher Education Time Out JM Cava, Arcade The Art-Architecture Complex is a persistently insightful, elliptical account of an ambiguous symbiosis.” Owen Hatherley, Building Design
The Art-Architecture Complex is a persistently insightful, elliptical account of an ambiguous symbiosis.
Owen Hatherley - Building Design
Hal Foster’s newest contribution to the genre stands alone … Foster is terrific at unearthing the unintended consequences of our consumer-oriented culture, in particular on those architects who imagine their work as critiques of consumerism
A timely tome with an urgent message for anyone on the art or architecture axis.
Prepares the ground for a wide-ranging and nuanced discussion of the contemporary links between artistic and architectural practice.
Stephen Walker - Times Higher Education
As an architecture writer reading Foster, who comes from the direction of art theory, I find it refreshing to encounter a degree of intellectual rigour you don’t find too often on my side of the fence.
A worldview expansive enough to see dominant tendencies in contemporary architecture and (fairly) recent arts as flipsides of the same coin, and both as reflective of the contemporary political order. This, then, is criticism with vaulting ambitions.
The Art-Architecture Complex is a persistently insightful, elliptical account of an ambiguous symbiosis.
Building Design - Owen Hatherley
Hal Foster’s newest contribution to the genre stands alone … Foster is terrific at unearthing the unintended consequences of our consumer-oriented culture, in particular on those architects who imagine their work as critiques of consumerism
Prepares the ground for a wide-ranging and nuanced discussion of the contemporary links between artistic and architectural practice.
Times Higher Education - Stephen Walker
As an architecture writer reading Foster, who comes from the direction of art theory, I find it refreshing to encounter a degree of intellectual rigour you don’t find too often on my side of the fence.
Hal Foster’s newest contribution to the genre stands alone … Foster is terrific at unearthing the unintended consequences of our consumer-oriented culture, in particular on those architects who imagine their work as critiques of consumerism
As an architecture writer reading Foster, who comes from the direction of art theory, I find it refreshing to encounter a degree of intellectual rigour you don’t find too often on my side of the fence.— Rowan Moore
As an architecture writer reading Foster, who comes from the direction of art theory, I find it refreshing to encounter a degree of intellectual rigour you don't find too often on my side of the fence.
Rowan Moore - The Observer
As an architecture writer reading Foster, who comes from the direction of art theory, I find it refreshing to encounter a degree of intellectual rigour you don't find too often on my side of the fence.— Rowan Moore
In this new collection of 11 essays, brimming with ideas and analysis, Foster (art history, Princeton) treats different guises of modernism and the often messy intersections of art and architecture apparent in the global styles of star architects such as Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Herzog & de Meuron. On the artistic side, the minimalism of sculptors Richard Serra, Dan Flavin, and Donald Judd receive prime attention. Foster focuses on high-profile building and art projects where art and architecture are juxtaposed or combined, both to dazzling results and dismissals as banal. He addresses questions about sculptural architecture, design integrity, mixed media and hybridity, collaboration and competition, aesthetics, "imageability," and technologies. The last piece is a fascinating conversation with Serra about influences, techniques, and spatial effects. Versions of about half of the essays appeared in Artforum and the London Review of Books. VERDICT Foster's forceful, informed opinions will appeal to readers interested in the fusion, complexities, and tensions of contemporary architecture and its convergence with modern art.—Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
