Noah Kalina
Daniel Arsham, Eva Franch i Gilabert, and Alex Mustonen.
Eva Franch i Gilabert, director
Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen of Snarkitecture
For nearly 30 years, New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture has taken the avant position in architectural discourse—defining, then redefining, what it means to exhibit experimental design. Eva Franch i Gilabert, 32, took the directorial helm last year, and she is quickly carving out her own take on radical. Literally. This spring, Franch i Gilabert commissioned the installation “DIG” from artist Daniel Arsham, 30, and designer Alex Mustonen, 29, who together form the edgy practice Snarkitecture. The pair filled the tiny Storefront space with blocks of expanded polystyrene and then set upon it with hammers and picks, excavating a volume from the foam. Like looking into a frozen tableaux, glimpses of the cavelike space could be seen through the openings in artist Vito Acconci and architect Steven Holl’s iconic façade.
“I seek individuals or collectives able to propose alternative models, methodologies, and spaces of action in relation to that what is considered established or part of the status quo,” Franch i Gilabert says, weighing in on Storefront’s role in supporting emerging practices. “If we are to change the terms of production, thinking, and action, the younger generation—the one that is fearless, full of intuition more than knowledge, with vectors of desire more than with constructed paths of action—is the one that needs to take the lead in shaping the future that lies ahead.”
2011 Emerging Talent
Materials & Applications
YAP_MAXXI Young Architects Program
American Academy in Rome: Rome Prize
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art: Architecture + Art
Architectural League Emerging Voices
Superfront
MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program
Sci-ARC Gallery
AIA Institute Honors for Young Architects
Storefront for Art and Architecture
