WHAT
Press preview for Fun House
WHO
Alex Mustonen, co-founder, Snarkitecture
Maria Cristina Didero, curator, Fun House
Daniel Arsham, co-founder, Snarkitecture
Benjamin Porto, partner, Snarkitecture
Chase Rynd, executive director, National Building Museum
Cathy Frankel, vice president for exhibitions and collections, National Building Museum
WHEN
Tuesday, July 3 at 10 am
RSVP to Emma Filar at efilar@nbm.org. Space is limited and reserved for members of the media
WHERE
National Building Museum
401 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
This summer, the National Building Museum presents a new, interactive exhibition designed by Snarkitecture. Titled Fun House, it is the latest in the Museum’s imaginative Summer Block Party series of temporary structures inside its historic Great Hall. Complemented by a full schedule of programs and special events, Fun House opens July 4 and runs through September 3, 2018.
Fun House is Snarkitecture’s first comprehensive museum exhibition, examining the prolific activities of the studio throughout the entire Great Hall. Curated by Italy-based Maria Cristina Didero, the heart of the exhibition is presented within a Snarkitecture-designed house—a freestanding structure that recalls and re-imagines the idea of the traditional home. Fun House includes a sequence of interactive rooms featuring well-known Snarkitecture environments and objects, like Dig (2011) and Drift (2012), as well as new concepts developed for the Museum. As visitors walk through the house, the rooms convey the ten year story of Snarkitecture while underlining the studio’s peculiar, yet accessible way of reinterpreting the built environment.
In the Museum’s west court, or “front yard,” a custom recreation of A Memorial Bowing (2012), welcomes visitors into the space. Visitors exit the house towards the east court, or “backyard,” greeted by Playhouse (2017) and a kidney-shaped pool filled with hundreds of thousands of recyclable plastic balls, reminiscent of The BEACH (2015-17).
Fun House is complemented by a full slate of events and exhibitions. Visit www.nbm.org for more information about summer programming.
Fun House is generously supported by AARP; CoStar Group, Inc.; and HDR, Inc., with special thanks to Caesarstone, DPR Construction, and Phaidon.
PRESS MATERIALS
Renderings are available at go.nbm.org/funhousepress. Caption and crediting information is provided in the same folder. Final installation photography will be available July 5.
TICKETS
Ticket prices for Fun House are as follows and include admission to all other current National Building Museum exhibitions:
Free: National Building Museum Members
$16: Adult
$13: Youth/Student with ID/Senior/AARP member
$10: Blue Star Military Family (ages 3 and up, with military ID)
Admission includes one hour of timed entry in Fun House. Starting June 20, visit go.nbm.org/tickets for more information and to reserve your time slot.
ABOUT
The National Building Museum inspires curiosity about the world we design and build. We believe that understanding the history and impact of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, construction, and design is important for all ages. Through exhibitions and educational programs, we show how the built world has power to shape our lives, communities, and futures. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Snarkitecture is a collaborative and experimental practice operating in territories between art and architecture. The name is drawn from Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of The Snark, a poem describing an “impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature.” Snarkitecture investigates the unknown within architecture – the indefinable moments created by manipulating and reinterpreting existing materials, structures and programs to spectacular effect. Exploring the boundaries of disciplines, the studio designs architectural scale projects and functional objects with new and imaginative purposes. Snarkitecture’s approach focuses on the viewer’s experience and memory, creating moments of wonder and interaction that allow people to engage directly with their surrounding environment. By transforming the familiar into the extraordinary, Snarkitecture makes architecture perform the unexpected. www.snarkitecture.com
Maria Cristina Didero is an independent curator and freelance writer, based in Milan and working internationally. She collaborates on a regular basis with Domus and Vogue Italia, and she runs a monthly column on icon Design called “L’Ascensore.” Didero has curated numerous exhibitions in public and private institutions worldwide, contributing to several publications.