Phillip Crosby-A.B.D.

Work/Research

Pick Up, Turn Over, and Put With:
Alison Smithson and the Curation of the Urban Discourse of Team 10

Looking retrospectively at her role in the Independent Group and the development of an "as found aesthetic," Alison Smithson described the "as found" as being "where the art is in the picking up, turning over and putting with." This process of selecting and arranging-of curating-was a common theme throughout Smithson's career. It played a role in the early exhibitions Parallel of Life and Art (1953) and This is Tomorrow (1956), in Smithson's many publications, and, most importantly, in her role as the self-appointed chronicler of the group of post-war architects known as Team 10. In this role, Smithson selectively curated, in effect designing, the group's discourse as much as documenting it.

In the foreword to the 1967 book Urban Structuring, Smithson wrote: "No attempt has been made to eliminate from the studies documented here conclusions and opinions which we do not now regard as completely valid. It is felt to be more important to leave in apparent contradictions than to eliminate steps which are necessary to an understanding of the processes and intentions of the whole." While Smithson may have been willing to let contradictions in her own work stand, this would not hold true in her editing of the key Team 10 texts-Team 10 Primer, Team 10 Out of CIAM, and Team 10 Meetings-through which she played the role of gatekeeper and sculptor of the public's view of the group. With this in mind, this dissertation will examine Alison Smithson's role in shaping the public reception of the urban discourse of Team 10, particularly through the relationships between Smithson and a number of other participants in Team 10 (James Stirling, Louis Kahn, Aldo van Eyck, and Ralph Erskine) whose contributions were either emphasized or downplayed in the official record.