robot love

Clip/Stamp/Fold
THE RADICAL ARCHITECTURE OF LITTLE MAGAZINES 196X–197X
NOVEMBER 14, 2006 – JANUARY 31, 2007
STOREFRONT FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE / 97 KENMARE STREET / NEW YORK CITY

Not so long ago design magazines defied conventions. Merci Thomas for the info!

Architectural Design, June, London

Diffuse romantic lighting sets the tone of Adrian George’s cover art for Architectural Design’s June issue on Osaka Expo ’70—two robots go at it on a leopard print bed, ecstasy writ large on closed eyes, privates tastefully shrouded in darkness. The promise of Expo’s architecture and media spectacle prompted editor Monica Pidgeon and Technical Editor Robin Middleton to send critic and AA graduate Martin Pawley to the front lines of Osaka. Pawley returned, pitting architecture against the movies, form versus content, asking of the impending technological revolution or apocalypse (your choice): dancing android or tomorrow’s slave? The monsters featured on the front page of Pawley’s article encapsulate the heart of the mythic cum futuristic Osaka phenomenon, as Daiei Motion Picture Company’s Gamera, a mutant turtle character created to rival the success of Toho Studio’s Godzilla, battles Monster X on the grounds of the Expo. Dissecting the Expo giant, Pawley calls out nine notable Japanese pavilions: the most magnificent, the most grandiloquent, the most cumbersome, the most disappointing, and so on, in effect creating a phenomenological diary of affects. The monthly section “Cosmorama” greets readers with a blue monochrome Japanese crowd at Expo waving hands, mouths open wide in joy, welcoming the world and heralding the new Japan. Assuring the full AB to Z of the Expo, Britton Harris and J. B. McLoughlin write on such topics as “I” for inflatables, “K” for Kurokawa, “O” for opposition, and “T” for time capsule. “Y” for yesterday juxtaposes an orange mushroom cloud rising in the background with a blue row of smiling Expo Flowers (pavilion hostesses) lined up in front, their matching outfits, down to the handbags and gloves, providing a glimpse of the mechanized and harmonious future in absolute counterpoint to the brutal toll of yesterday’s apocalypse. SC