Countryside, The Future

On February 20th, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and OMA (Office of Metropolitan Architecture) open an exhibition in collaboration with architect/urbanist, Rem Koolhaas, entitled "Countryside, The Future". In this groundbreaking show, Koolhaas aims to highlight a part of the Earth that he finds to be often neglected, the countryside. The exhibition’s team is made up of Koolhaus; Troy Conrad Therrien, Curator of Architecture and Digital Initiatives; OMA’s “think tank”, AMO; and students of several Universities. Together, they tackle themes of “... leisure, large scale planning by political forces, climate change, migration, human and non human ecosystems, market driven preservation, artificial and organic coexistence and other forms of experimentation that are altering the landscapes across the world.”

To begin, the exhibition looks at 15 individual situations across the globe. These case-studies highlight the radical differences that have occurred in rural areas while attention has been kept on cities. While looking at the noticeable dfferences present in these remote locations, Countryside also aims to project the conversation around desing and planning into the future. Koolhaus addresses elements of climate change and various technological advancements from global warming to artificial intelligence, respectively, and several unexpected considerations in between. The contents of the show - including various images, sounds, films, and archival material - is organized thematically so viewers are guided through an immersive experience that moves dynamically through time and space.

This exhibition aims to help viewers better understand the present and future Earth that they inhabit, and faces some ignored considerations. Through stepping out of our metropolis and into an examination of the rural world at Guggenheim’s "Countryside, The Future," perhaps we can gain a better perspective on the world around us given the radical changes we are all facing.