And After Le Corbusier?

Michel Ragon

This exhibition focuses on the relationship between one of the most important art and architecture critics of the latter half of the 20th century, Michel Ragon (Marseille, 1924 – Suresnes, 2020), as well as the group of young architects formed by Yona Friedman, Paul Maymont, Ionel Schein, Nicolas Schöffer, Walter Jonas and Georges Patrix, who set up the GIAP (Groupe International d’Architecture Prospective) in Paris in 1965.

All of Ragon’s activities were part of libertarian anarchist thought, from his research into proletarian literature to his links with the Cobra group and Jean Dubuffet, or his understanding of the city as a transformation of the living conditions of the working classes.

His admiration for the figure of Le Corbusier changed his interest in art to such an extent that his practice shifted towards architectural criticism, given that he saw the concerns of GIAP’s young members as a logical development of the Swiss architect’s ideas on the machine for living in.

Michel Ragon and the GIAP anticipated many of the issues today, such as participatory urbanism, local agriculture, social housing and the relationship between power and the design of cities.

The Ragon holdings, on which the exhibition is based, are housed in the Archives de la Critique d’Art at the University of Rennes.