Lebbeus Woods Retrospective Opens at a83 in Lower Manhattan

a83 in Lower Manhattan is staging Undercurrents, a retrospective of Lebbeus Woods that juxtaposes two major projects: Turbulence (1991–92) and The Storm (2001–02). Woods, who taught at The Cooper Union for decades and died in 2012, is known for fantastical, critical drawings of postwar architecture. The exhibition, organized with the Estate of Lebbeus Woods and the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive, features drawings, process sketches, and photographs. In the front gallery, Turbulence drawings line walls and fill vitrines with ephemera. The backroom restages The Storm, originally at The Cooper Union’s Houghton Gallery in 2002, with red wooden rods suspended in a post-tensioned cable system. A large black box holds a reconstructed scale model of that installation. Curators describe the show as a close reading of Woods’ constructed fields, revealing how conceptual generators translate across mediums. On September 6, a83 will launch a new book on Woods by Clara Syme and Owen Nichols, in collaboration with AJ Artemel and the estate led by Aleksandra Wagner. Undercurrents runs through September 10.