Model Behavior

Forensic Architecture is showing an excerpt from If toxic air is a monument to slavery, how do we take it down? (2021), part of its investigation Environmental Racism in Death Alley, Louisiana, for this group show at Cooper Union.

The term “model behaviour” is commonly used to describe good social skills. This exhibition turns that concept on its head to investigate how models themselves behave. Conceptual models, study models, section models, and presentation models are givens in the practice and production of architecture, but the role of the architectural model in projecting or eliciting social behavior is seldom considered. At a moment when models in other disciplines – such as climate change and COVID models – are clearly affecting social behavior, how do architectural models reflect those changes or contribute to changing behaviors? This exhibition provides an opportunity for individuals to rethink the potentials of the architectural model, both within the discipline and in its relationships to the myriad models that shape contemporary culture.

Model Behavior was curated by the Anyone Corporation.