George Maciunas Prefabricated
Building System
Maya Stendhal Gallery
June 5 – August 23, 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday June 5, 6 – 9 pm
George Maciunas Prefabricated Building System
presents an exciting chapter in artist George Maciunas’
prolific oeuvre, focusing on his ventures in architecture. The
exhibition critically examines a particular architectural project for
a prefabricated mass housing system, which Maciunas drafted
in the late 1950s and developed toward utopian ends through 1965. His
original plan has been thoroughly researched and put to the test in the
form of a three-dimensional model, which will be unveiled for the first
time. The exhibition gives new understanding to the artist’s progressive
ideas on art, architecture, and design and their capacity to have bearing
on broader social and cultural issues.
The presentation as a whole discloses defining features
that set Maciunas’ dwelling apart from most prefabricated house
experiments. Emanating throughout the entire structure is an adept mixing
of functionalist concerns with a breathtaking poetic, sculptural and spatial
beauty, and a sense of the spiritual.
Observing the building plan’s simplicity of composition
in relation to Maciunas’ very particular notions on form,
function, economy, and efficiency
informing the presentation, it becomes apparent that he was steeped in
the latest theories and technical developments. A standard method of joinery,
for example, indicates that Maciunas formulated his plan with real factory
production in mind. Designed for quick and easy assembly with a minimum
number of components necessary, the structure requires no heavy machinery,
and can be erected using local, untrained labor. Its great flexibility
of form and material means that it can function as a residential, institutional,
industrial, or agricultural building, and that it can adapt to specific
topographical and climate conditions. The structure can change shape and
size according to most any external site restrictions, while also meeting
the needs and facilitating the routines of those working or living inside.
Durability is another distinctive feature. The system as a whole is able
to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes,
and floods. Predating today’s eco-minded homes,
Maciunas’ dwelling allows the inhabitants to control the admittance
of solar light and warmth, simply by shifting a wall panel. Maciunas’
prefabricated housing system, in form, function, material, and flexibility,
resonates in a contemporary culture that thrives on utilitarian, mass-produced
products made to meet the varying needs of the individual consumer. Not
surprisingly, “cultural entrepreneur”
was one of the many titles given to Maciunas during his career.
It was realized early on that a curatorial project of this
magnitude and scope could only be realized with the advice and skill of
experts in the field of architecture and three-dimensional design. Maya
Stendhal Gallery looked internally to its own architect, Scott Weinkle
for guidance in formulating the logic, pragmatics, and structural details
governing Maciunas’ building system. After scaling the plan, certain
numerical patterns appeared, suggesting that Maciunas’ desired the
9 rectangles composing the building to be modular units of the same size.
Weinkle’s precise observation allowed all elevations and sections
to be developed within a well-defined proportional logic. These conclusions
were then imported into a 3-D modeling program with the ability to give
the rendered images various lighting and material characteristics. From
this, the architectural model and accompanying walk-through digital animation
were generated. Measuring 142 x 147 x 40.5 cm. with a base of 162.5 x
167.5 cm., the model is exactly 1:10 the size of the actual house. Materials
consist primarily of heavy density fiberboard with styrene, extruded aluminum,
acrylic panels, and a wood base.
Maciunas Prefabricated Building System is devised as a
methodological plan illustrating his hyper-rational analysis and the extraordinary
design acumen for which he has become known. Also referenced as Maciunas’
Plastic Prefab, it was initially published as a 1965 collaborative
work by Henry Flynt and Maciunas and in a 1966 issue of the journal Underground.
One year prior to this project, in 1964, Maciunas wrote The Grand
Frauds of Architecture: Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Gordon Bunshaft,
Frank Lloyd Wright, a text that critiques the modern masters for
not staying true to their own ideals. Offered as a direct response, Maciunas’
scheme reflects his belief in architecture’s capacity to uphold
standards of value, economy, and efficiency.
You see, the reason I am so concerned with [functionalism]
is that that’s an architect’s training. I mean, that’s
the way the architect thinks, he thinks in functionalism otherwise he’s
not an architect, he’s a sculptor or a stage designer.
George Maciunas, interview with Larry Miller, 1978. Transcript
repr. in Jon Hendricks ed., Fluxus etc./Addenda I. The Gilbert and Lila
Silverman Collection (New York: Ink &, 1983), 24.
George Maciunas was a Lithuanian born American artist.
He studied architecture at Cooper Union School of Art
in New York from 1949 to 1952, and the Carnegie Institute of Technology
in Pittsburgh from 1952 to 1953 receiving his Bachelors with
honors in 1954. After graduation, he came back to New York continuing
his graduate studies at the Institute of Fine Arts,
New York University, with a concentration on art history
of the European & Siberian migrations from 1955 to 1959.
He also worked with renowned firms such as Knoll and
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the
1950s and early 1960s. His experience in the corporate design world led
him to redeploy its very systems toward artistic and critical ends, helping
to provide him with the impetus behind the Fluxus art collective
of the 1960s and 1970s.
Considered a charismatic, highly intelligent individual by all who met
him, Maciunas’ had an impressive spectrum of interests that he studied
rigorously: art history, music, design, architecture, and the history
of ancient cultures, among others. He poured his wealth and knowledge
into making numerous charts, systems, and atlases, from which he created
his diagrammatic “learning machines.” He
became known as the “Chairman” and “Impresario”
of Fluxus. Fueled by Maciunas’ innovative views on art and society,
Fluxus attracted an international array of artists whose work cut across
genres including music, dance, visual art, literature, non-narrative film,
architecture, performance, and “events.” His graphic layouts
for posters, flyers, newspapers, artists’ name labels, and the presentation
of Fluxus works as “anti-commodities” have become celebrated
for the landmark design that so distinguished Fluxus production. These
works have come to symbolize the utilitarian philosophy that drove Maciunas
in life and art, favoring “functionalism”
and “concretism” over decorative attributes.
In the mid to late 1960s, Maciunas’ background in
architecture guided his utopian vision of establishing the first artists’
living and working cooperatives in New York City, which he dubbed the
Fluxhouse Cooperatives. A marker of urban planning and
design, this pragmatic program initiated in 1966 renovated abandoned buildings
creating the first artists’ lofts in the region below Houston Street
in NYC, known then only by the fire department’s designation –
“Hell’s Hundred Acres.” The first successful Fluxhouse
Cooperative organized by Maciunas was 80 Wooster St.
in 1967, which housed his friend and compatriot Jonas Mekas’
Filmmakers’ Cinematheque. His endeavors forever
changed the face of New York’s legendary neighborhood, and ultimately
earned him the title “Father of SoHo.”
Maya Stendhal Gallery would like to thank architect Scott
Weinkle for assembling the architectural presentation, Julia
E. Robinson and Christian Xaterc for their contributions
to the project carrying out valuable research and scholarship in support
of Maciunas’ vision, Brooklyn Model Works for building
the architectural model on view, Maurice Arduz for creating
the three-dimensional architectural renderings and accompanying walk-through
digital animation, Carolina Carrasco and Mari
Dumett for their original contributions in research and scholarship
on Maciunas Prefabricated Building System, and Ken Friedman,
Hollis Melton, and Charles R. Simpson
for providing support material in the form of essays and writings.
The exhibition George Maciunas Prefabricated Building
System was organized and produced by Harry Stendhal, Director of
Maya Stendhal Gallery, New York.
For further information please contact:
Maya Stendhal Gallery |
545 West 20th St. | New York, NY 10011
T 212.366.1549 | F
347.287.6775 |
email info@mayastendhalgallery.com
www.mayastendhalgallery.com
| www.jonasmekas.com
| www.paulascher.com
| www.georgemaciunas.com
|