Superstudio Biography
Superstudio (1966 – 1986) is one of the most influential groups of Italian radical architecture, founded in 1966 by Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, who were later joined by Gian Piero Frassinelli, the brothers Roberto and Alessandro Magris and Alessandro Poli. 1966 was a critical year for the city of Florence which was profoundly affected by a disastrous flood. From the mud of that flood was born Superstudio, a collective of young architecture students whose manifesto displayed in the first exhibition states "Superarchitecture is the architecture of superproduction, superconsumption, superinduction of consumption, the supermarket, superman, super petrol "Superarchitecture accepts the logic of production and consumption, operating on it a demystification action". Architecture is seen as a tool for changing the world and society in full avant-garde style. of which Superstudio is part, is considered as the first essential element for the change in complexity and unobtainable in the multiplicity of languages, a positive factor. This point of view accompanies the first projects collected between 1965 and 1968. Natalini establishes the three categories. basis of research: the architecture of monuments, the architecture of images and technomorphic architecture. Superstudio's experimental activity began with the exhibition "Superarchitettura" (1966), together with Archizoom, and continued over the years with design, educational films and utopian projects. In the 'Continuous Monument' of 1971, in the 'Twelve Ideal Cities' and in the 'Five stories of Superstudio: life, education, ceremony, love, death'. Superstudio: life, education, ceremony, love, death, 1973), utopia, pessimism and irony are integrated with research aimed at the demystification of language and a theoretical-philosophical refoundation of architecture. With 9999 they manage the S-Space educational seminar (1969) at the Space Electronic in Florence. They participated in the exhibition "Italy: the new domestic landscape” (1972) with their proposal for a space to live in, and in the XV and XVI Triennale di Milano. In 1973 they were among the founders of the Global Tools laboratories. Superstudio exists as a group until 1986, after which the members disbanded by mutual agreement after twenty years of activity. Today, Superstudio's designs can be found in museum collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. ; the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt; at the Center Pompidou in Paris.
