THE MAKING OF AN AVANT-GARDE

THE MAKING OF AN AVANT-GARDE: THE INSTITUTE FOR ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN STUDIES 1967-1984

A DOCUMENTARY WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY DIANA AGREST

The Making of an Avant-Garde: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies 1967-1984 presents the creation and existence of the IAUS in the architectural, cultural, and political climate of the time, from the anti-War riots, the Women's Movement to the Paris May '68 revolution  and the crime ridden and the bankrupt New York City of the 70's, through rich and abundant footage portraying the period. The Institute, founded in 1967 with close ties to The Museum of Modern Art, made New York the global center for architectural debate and redefined architectural discourse in the United States. A place of immense energy and effervescence, its founders and participants were young and hardly known at the time but would ultimately become some of the most influential figures in the field shaping architectural practice and theory for decades. The Institute became the most significant and energetic crossroad in the path of rethinking architecture and the city and it's influence is still felt today. This story is told through the director's own archival footage, extensive archival photographic images and twenty-five new interviews with participants as well as the younger generations, telling compelling stories about the place and about their own personal experiences that were never made public before. Agrest's film documents and explores the Institute's fertile beginnings and enduring significance as a locus for the architectural avant-garde.

The film features Peter Eisenman (founder and director), Diana Agrest,  Kenneth Frampton, Mario Gandelsonas, Emilio Ambasz, Anthony Vidler, Richard Meier, Charles Gwathmey, Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry,  Mark Wigley, Robert Stern, Barbara Jakobson, Deborah Berke, Bernard Tschumi, Joan Ockman,  Julia Bloomfield, Peter Wolf, Frederiecke Taylor, Stan Allen, Suzanne Stephens, Paul Lewis, Lucia Allais, among others.

This film has been made possible by funds from New York State Council On The Arts, The Graham Foundation For The Fine Arts, 
AIA Brunner Grant, Elisse Jaffe+Jeffrey Brown, Anonymous Contribution