The fantasy world of a cosmic inventor
Montreal designer François Dallegret's concoctions were quintessential '60s culture, yet remarkably they remain futuristic. photo Sam Tata 1971
François Dallegret’s work: Private fantasies for public consumption
By Juan Rodriguez, Special to The Gazette March 6, 2012 8:34 AM
Joignez-vous à Alessandra Ponte, Thomas Weaver et François Dallegret lui-même pour le lancement de ce catalogue, lancé à l’occasion d’une exposition à l’École d’architecture de l’Architectural Association à Londres.GOD & CO présente le travail de l’artiste et architecte François Dallegret, aujourd’hui installé à Montréal. Cette production s’est amorcée à Paris à la fin des années 1950 et au début des années 1960, et elle s’est poursuivie à New York et à Montréal, englobant tout, depuis les complexes dessins au trait destinés à une série de véhicules astrologiques et les concepts de nombreuses machines (de celles qui aident à préparer les repas à celles qui génèrent de la littérature) jusqu’à la collaboration avec Reyner Banham pour « A Home Is Not a House ».
Ont suivi le Drug à Montréal, des propositions pour le nouveau Palais Métro à Montréal, une collaboration en vue de tourner un western futuriste, des contributions pour l’Expo 67 à Montréal, des cartes de crédit, la Villa Ironique et des installations lumineuses.C’est un très beau livre. Vous l’aimerez.Le rédacteur en chef Thomas Weaver donne également une conférence à l’Université de Montréal, mercredi le 8 février.
Information sur l’événement :
9 février 2012, 19 h 00
CCA Bookstore
Entrée libre
Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, Zurich
Exhibition
GOD & CO: François Dallegret Beyond the Bubble
Date : Friday, 4. May 2012 to Thursday, 24. May 2012 Mo-Fr 8 a.m.-10 p.m., closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
Location : Architekturfoyer, HIL, Hönggerberg, ETH Zurich
Opening with lecture:
3 Mai 2012, 6:15 p.m., Architekturfoyer, HIL
Please note new date of the opening!
Contrary to announcement in our program
François Dallegret was one of the most colourful figures in the French and Canadian artistic and architectural avant garde of the 1960s and 1970s. He came to fame largely through his drawing ‘Environment Bubble’ in Reyner Banham’s much-published article ‘A Home Is Not a House’ as well as the many machines and apparatuses, meticulously drawn using the Graphos pen, that were published in leading journals of architecture, art and technology from the 1950s onwards. In Dallegret’s world these imaginary machines encompass every area and form of life: alongside cars and rockets there are interactive dictating machines, art, cooking and literature-generating machines, and machines for living, exhibiting or dancing. The French Montreal-based artist’s oeuvre also includes numerous design objects as well as various graphic works and interior designs.
Dallegret’s production is not simply an exercise in technical representation; rather, it is a critical yet indulgent commentary on architecture and its increasing appropriation by machines and apparatuses during the 1950s and 1960s. An exhibition by the AA School of Architecture in London presents Dallegret’s work through drawings, plans, photographs, films and a series of small objects dating from 1957 and after. The exhibition catalogue ‘GOD & CO: François Dallegret Beyond the Bubble’ will be available from the Institute gta throughout the exhibition’s run.
An exhibition by the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture, London in collaboration with the Institute gta