The Manhattan Transcripts Project, New York, New York, Introductory panel to Episode 4: The Block
Bernard Tschumi
French and Swiss, born Switzerland 1944
1980
A photographic reproduction mounted under colored synthetic laminate that functions as an introductory panel to Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts, using a graphic, cinematic image to argue that architecture is organized by events and narratives rather than only by form.
The image hits you as a high-contrast red-and-black aerial view reduced to bold silhouettes—roofs, rectangular skylights, and city blocks read like a film still or diagram, simultaneously concrete and abstract.
As part of the influential Manhattan Transcripts, this work helped recast architectural representation by combining photography, montage, and narrative to foreground actions and programmatic events, informing postmodern and deconstructivist debates in architecture.
Medium
Photographic reproduction with colored synthetic laminate
Dimensions
Each: 20 x 20" (50.8 x 50.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase and partial gift of the architect in honor of Lily Auchincloss
Accession
8.1995
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
