Photographic collage featuring white foam emerging from the Italian countryside, 1969-1970
Courtesy Alessandro Poli, CCA Photographic collage featuring white foam emerging from the Italian countryside, 1969-1970

In the 1960s and '70s, Italian architecture students fed up with Modernism established a counterculture movement dedicated to futuristic and conceptual interpretations of architecture and urban planning using film, audio, and other mixed media to display ideas of "anti-architecture." Among the participants was Italian architect, designer, and artist Alessandro Poli, who worked with notable Radical period practice Superstudio from 1970 to 1972.

Almost 50 years later, visitors to the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal can now view a collection of Poli's images, storyboards, scripts, and audio files from this period in the new exhibition, "Scripts for a New World: Film Storyboards by Alessandro Poli" on view until May 19, 2019.

Collage of a horse for the film "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface") (later excluded from film), 1972
Courtesy Alessandro Poli, CCA Collage of a horse for the film "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface") (later excluded from film), 1972

"The moving image was used to visualize radical interpretations of everyday life and future trajectories of architecture taken to their extremes—visions that more traditional, rigid, or static architectural tools could not achieve," CCA explains in a press release. "This exhibition explores how different elements of film—images, storyboards, scripts, and audio—were able to generate a new language for architecture in the work of Alessandro Poli."

The displayed works include storyboards from Poli's masters thesis work, "Comune di Modena: Consorso di idee per un parco urbano intito lato alla resistenza" ("Municipality of Modena: Ideas Competition for an Urban Park Dedicated to the Resistance"); "Breve Racconto di Architettura" ("A Brief Tale of Architecture"); "Architettura Interplanetaria" ("Interplanetary Architecture"); and "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface").

Collage with sketches and notes, combining two projects: the terrestrial grid of the "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface"), and the Autostrada Terra-Luna ("Interplanetary Highway") overhead, 1972
Courtesy Alessandro Poli, CCA Collage with sketches and notes, combining two projects: the terrestrial grid of the "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface"), and the Autostrada Terra-Luna ("Interplanetary Highway") overhead, 1972
Still from "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface"), 1970-1971
Collezione Enea Righi, Archivo Superstudio Still from "Supersuperficie" ("Supersurface"), 1970-1971

Born in Florence, Italy, in 1941, Poli graduated with a master's in architecture from the University of Florence, where he taught from 1973 to 1982. Prior to beginning his academic role, Poli worked with Adolfo Natalini, Cristiano Toaldo di Francia, Roberto Magris, Gian Piero Frassinelli, and Alessandro Magris at Superstudio for two years. In 1978, his work with Superstudio was presented at the 38th Venice Biennale. He is current research explores the relationship between art and architecture.

"Scripts for a New World: Film Storyboards by Alessandro Poli" is on display at CCA through May 19, 2019.

Storyboard describing the materials and energy distribution of the "Supersurface" universal grid, with sketches of various scenes whose sequence was ultimately altered for the film, 1972
Courtesy Alessandro Poli, CCA Storyboard describing the materials and energy distribution of the "Supersurface" universal grid, with sketches of various scenes whose sequence was ultimately altered for the film, 1972

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the accurate closing date for the exhibit. ARCHITECT regrets the error.