“Home Delivery” @ MoMA
Rohin Guha
July 21, 2008
New York's MoMA has always been thorough in their multicultural exhibits, and their newest installation, which explores the phenomenon of mass-produced architecture in the suburbs, has been long in the making. Lacking samurai armor or connections to dead languages, "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling" is definitely one of the more novel meditations of setting and culture at any museum. Sure, any New Yorker can hop on a train from Grand Central to Westchester. But for the uninitiated (or for those who won't spring $20 for a round-trip train ticket), the MoMA exhibit is far more revelatory, recasting pre-fab living as an exotic beast in its own right.
Through archival footage, photography, and blueprints, the exhibit traces pre-fab housing back to its main engineers—including Frank Lloyd Wright. And with assistance from five local architects and construction firms, the MoMA has turned the very creation of these houses into real-time art. But more enthralling than literally watching paint dry on these full-scale replicas might be the speculative alternatives, including one that foretells an American future that’s embraced a rather Chinese method of population control.
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