Princeton's Media and Modernity Program Marks 25 Years with Archival Exhibition

Princeton University's Program in Media and Modernity is commemorating its 25th anniversary with an exhibition titled 'M+Mx25: Media and Modernity: 25 Years of Thinking Through Mediation.' The display is installed in the North Gallery at the Princeton University School of Architecture and remains accessible until May 1. Founded in 2000 by architectural historian Beatriz Colomina, the program explores how architecture gains significance through its representation in various media forms, rather than solely through construction. The exhibition, curated by Colomina alongside Foivos Geralis and Antonio Cantero, with design by the New York firm Agency—Agency, presents archival materials in a non-linear arrangement. Items on view include event posters, meeting notes, cassette tapes, CD-ROMs, a Panasonic tape recorder, tablets showing historical videos, and publications from the program's research initiatives such as 'Clip/Stamp/Fold,' 'Cold War Hothouses,' 'Radical Pedagogies,' 'Sick Architecture,' and 'Havana Modern.' Translucent curtains printed with every program poster since its inception surround the space. The exhibition highlights the program's methodology, treating displays as tools for investigation rather than mere presentations of findings. Notable past coordinators and co-directors of the program include figures like Paul B. Preciado, whose doctoral work examined architecture and sexuality in Playboy during the Cold War, as well as Craig Buckley, Lydia Kallipoliti, Hal Foster, and Sylvia Lavin. The show reflects the program's enduring impact on architectural discourse, demonstrating how sustained intellectual exchange within a modest setting can influence broader academic and cultural conversations.