Dear Mr. Publisher, I am writing regarding a book proposal I am sending for your review. The working title, If it is published, it is architecture, is a book that explores what are the necessary preconditions, not in terms of content and ideas, but in terms of creating an appropriate social network of influences, that lead to the establishment of a publication in architectural theory. In exploring this question, this book hypothesizes that a publication requires the development of a framework that explores the role of publication as an institution. Even though neglected in many cases, the imperative questions of who decides what should be published, and why, requires thorough investigation. This book will focus on three publications that share a common point of departure: The Museum of Modern Art as an organizer, publicist, supporter, and promoter. 1) The surprisingly successful succession of the publication called The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 after a failed exhibition Modern Architecture – International Exhibition at the MoMA in 1932. 2) The effect Robert Venturi’s Compexity and Contradiction on architectural theory, including the heavily criticized introduction by Vincent Scully, director at the MoMA during that time, characterizing it as “probably the most important writing on the making of architecture since Le Corbusier’s Vers une architecture of 1923”. 3) The significance of “Deconstruction” as a term in architectural history considering the rejection of all of its seemingly representatives at the exhibition, and the book that followed, Deconstructivist Architecture at the MoMA, in 1988. The intention is to analyze the stories that developed the publication, rather than their actual story. The information considering their publication process exists in dispersed and sometimes disparate sources, like in several introductions, interviews, and book reviews. However, this publication moves a step forward by not just accumulating the sources for each book, but by drawing direct connections of common social influences between the three books. The first step of accumulation will create a catalogue that requires being both in text and visuals, through diagrams and timelines, to explicitly depict the sequence of how the social network was elaborated through time. This catalogue will illustrate a new understanding of architecture today, since the ultimate goal is to provide new readings of architectural history. Such a publication can also take the format of a digital platform, where these timelines, diagrams, and text would be easily layered the one over the other, eliminating or displaying detailed information depending on the user’s objective. The main outcome of this book is to create a dialogue and a framework of discourse, which is very relevant today: Given the fact that contemporary advanced tools and techniques led to a proliferation of self-publications in an incredible speed, the validity and the long-term contribution of these publications are eminently doubtful. Today’s publications in many aspects lack this collective dimension investigated through the book. As a result, the book will provide a deeper understanding for future publications. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Savia Palate
Annotated Bibliography: Barriere, Phillipe, Sylvia Lavin, Denise Scott Brown, and Robert Venturi. Interview with Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi. Perspecta, Vol 28, Architects. Process. Inspiration. 1997, pp. 126-145. Print. This interview contains information about Venturi’s research on Complexity and Contradiction, the people who helped and Venturi’s relationship with Louis Khan and Vincent Scully.
Colomina, Beatriz, Craig Buckley, and Urtzi Grau. Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines, 19X to 19X. Barcelona, Spain: Actar, 2010. Print. The various interviews as part of this book contain valuable information about the relationship between the interviewees and Robert Venturi, and even more about the interviewees and Philip Johnson.
Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, and Philip Johnson. The International Style. New York: Norton, 1995. Print. The 1995 edition of the book includes two forewords; one from Philip Johnson and the other from Henry-Russell Hitchcock, one preface by Alfred H. Barr and the appendix is an articled called The International Style Twenty Years After written by Hitchcock for the Architectural Record. They are four different stories about the book containing information about the relationship between the authors, and the approach each of them preferred to embrace.
Johnson, Philip, and Mark Wigley. Deconstructivist Architecture: The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Boston: Little, Brown, 1988. Print. The catalogue of the exhibition includes an introduction of Philip Johnson and an essay by Mark Wigley. Both in a way share information about the process, and the criteria of the exhibition both in terms of developing the actual exhibition but as a concept as well.
Johnson, Philip, Robert A. M. Stern, and Kazys Varnelis. The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern. New York: Monacelli, 2008. Print. Interviews are always a good source for gathering information about social relationships since their in-between formal/informal conversation allows you to express events and other incidents from your life. Something similar occurs with the interviews of Johnson by Stern.
Venturi, Robert. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2011. Print. The book besides the heavily criticized introduction by Vincent Scully, contains important quotes and footnotes that explicitly reveal key influences that played a crucial role to the publication of the book.