The Autonomy of Theory: Tendenzen - Neuere Architektur im Tessin, ETH Zurich, 1975

Abstract

The exhibition Tendenzen: Neuere Architektur im Tessin, curated by Martin Steinmann with Thomas Boga, opened at Eidgenossische Technologische Hochschule in Zurich in November 1975. An open challenge to the orthodoxy of modernism that dominated both in Ticino and at ETH Zurich, this exhibition first brought the Ticinese built production of the 1960s and early 70s to a new audience and caused, through its intellectual outreach, a shift in the self-understanding and historiography of subsequent Swiss architecture. Steinmann’s catalogue essay “Reality as History: Notes for a Discussion of Realism in Architecture” identified beneath the formal heterogeneity of this oeuvre a reservoir of combined modernist and vernacular references, which could be appropriated through the deliberate articulation of conceptual positions. Unlike a conventional architectural survey, Tendenzen subsumed regional characteristics under theoretical concerns, illustrating a methodological approach transferable north of the Alps – and potentially further afield. Until the mid-1980s the exhibit toured throughout Europe, its catalogue thrice reprinted, while the built Ticinese production became the subject of intense international scrutiny in publications and first-hand architectural tours. Expanded translations of Steinmann’s essay appeared in thematic journals such as Bernard Huet’s architecture d’aujourd’hui issue Realisme-Formalisme (no. 190, 1977); its inclusion in K. Michael Hays’ theory anthology (2000) confirmed its significance for international debates around realism and autonomy. Taking the Zurich exhibition as a starting point, this paper maps out its theoretical legitimisation of Ticinese architecture, focusing on its effects on German Swiss practice and further echoes in global theory. Based on archival research of original exhibition material, as well as interviews with protagonists and witnesses, it asks to which extent Steinmann’s sophisticated reading created its own universalizing narrative, transcending the original exhibit and the buildings it depicted.