06.27.08
An important and timely exhibition about the life and work of Buckminster Fuller entitled, ‘Starting with the Universe’ opened this week on Thursday at the Whitney Museum. It looks like a really amazing exhibition about a person more people need to know about now more than ever. If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and attend. I wish desperately I could go but I am currently enslaved in the system Bucky railed against and even if I could go, I wouldn’t be able to afford to. So if you can, go for me and tell me how it was. I’d love to hear. Here are the details and explanation of the show from the official Whitney Museum website.
About the Exhibition
on view June 26 – September 21, 2008
One of the great American visionaries of the twentieth century, R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) endeavored to see what he, a single individual, might do to benefit the largest segment of humanity while consuming the minimum of the earth’s resources. Doing “more with less” was Fuller’s credo. He described himself as a “comprehensive anticipatory design scientist,” setting forth to solve the escalating challenges that faced humanity before they became insurmountable.
Fuller’s innovative theories and designs addressed fields ranging from architecture, the visual arts, and literature to mathematics, engineering, and sustainability. He refused to treat these diverse spheres as specialized areas of investigation because it inhibited his ability to think intuitively, independently, and, in his words, “comprehensively.”
Although Fuller believed in utilizing the latest technology, much of his work developed from his inquiry into “how nature builds.” He believed that the tetrahedron was the most fundamental, structurally sound form found in nature; this shape is an essential part of most of his designs, which range in scale from domestic to global. As the many drawings and models in this exhibition attest, Fuller was committed to the physical exploration and visual presentation of his ideas.
The results of more than five decades of Fuller’s integrated approach toward the design and technology of housing, transportation, cartography, and communication are displayed here, much of it for the first time. This exhibition offers a fresh look at Fuller’s life’s work for everyone who shares his sense of urgency about homelessness, poverty, diminishing natural resources, and the future of our planet.
written by Christopher | tags: Buckminster Fuller, Starting with the Universe, Whitney Museum
