“Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett
Hand-drawing still occupies a central place in architecture. It acts as a reservoir of ideas, a source of inspiration or a playful way to discover images, acting as a distiller of thoughts, and opening the path to self-exploration.
This exhibition highlights the early drawings and sketches that give birth to an idea, whether they relate to a real project or are simply free exploration, aesthetic study, or utopian dream.
Taking its title from a famous quote by Samuel Beckett, the exhibition shows drawing as part of the design process: architects try, fail, try again, fail again, until they begin to move in the direction that will eventually become a building. — or not.
The exhibition is produced by the Kunstmuseum Olten and curated by the architects Manuel Montenegro, Helen Thomas and Marco Bakker, the Drawing Matter Foundation and the archives of three Swiss universities of architecture: ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne and USI-Mendrisio Academy of Architecture.
Begin Again. Fail Better presents an exceptional selection of 160 historical works by Swiss and European architects from the four major British and Swiss archival collections, dating from the 20th century and going back to the 16th century.
At the same time, more than 50 Swiss architecture firms were invited to exhibit two drawings from their current practice, revealing something about their individual approach and understanding of architecture.