The «discorso per immagini» of Superstudio: from Continuous Monument to Supersurface, 1968-1971

Abstract

With the Christmas card of 1968 in the form of poster, Superstudio inaugurates the production of photomontages which will bring fame to the group. It is however for the competition dedicated to the theme of Architecture and Freedom, launched in 1969 by the Tri-National Biennial of Graz, that the photomontage becomes for Superstudio the privileged graphical tool for the construction of a «discorso per immagini», a narrative in which project descriptions and traditional forms of architectural representation are replaced by images representing enigmatic volumes, seemingly devoid of function and open to multiple interpretations. Compared to similar and contemporary images produced, among others, by Archigram and Yona Friedman, the photomontages of Superstudio do not intend to give veracity to futuristic urban and territorial visions. The impenetrable volumes, designed beyond any program or structural logic, are an expression of absolute rationality and order which Superstudio has been searching since its founding to ward crisis and uncertainty of contemporary era.

With a Christmas card from 1968 in the form of a poster, Superstudio inaugurated the production of photomontages which were to bring fame to the group. It is, however, for the competition dedicated to the theme of Architecture and Freedom, launched in 1969 by the Tri-National Biennial of Graz, that photomontage became the preferred graphical tool for the construction of a «discorso per immagini» for Superstudio, a narrative in which project descriptions and traditional forms of architectural representation are replaced by images representing enigmatic volumes, seemingly devoid of function and open to multiple interpretations. Compared to similar and contemporary images produced, amonst others, by Archigram and Yona Friedman, the photomontages of Superstudio do not intend to give veracity to futuristic urban and territorial visions. The impenetrable volumes, designed beyond any program or structural logic, are an expression of absolute rationality and order which Superstudio has been searching for its founding to ward off the crisis and to ward for uncertainty of contemporary era. Graphic techniques used by the group for their representations evolved over the years, and were adapted to achieve different effects, all still oriented to building a strong environmental realism, as far away as possible from comic and surprising effects. Through the «discorso per immagini» the theory of the group became eloquent: after having imagined a new form of land occupation designed as a monumental infinite linear structure that crosses cities and virgin landscapes – the Continuous Monument – Superstudio staged the dissolution of conventional boundaries of architecture, to move towards its «non-physical» re-foundation. After all, the «happy death of architecture should not frighten anybody: we have been preparing for long, increasingly distancing ourselves from the physicality of the construction», as revealed by one of the members of the group in 1971.

Key words: Superstudio, Photomontage,  "discorso per immagini", Continuos monument, Supersurface