Casablanca Chandigarh: Modern Planning: Exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal

Exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal

Abstract

In the editorial of docomomo Journal 28 , published in March 2003 and inaugurat- ing her tenure — as editor-in-chief of the magazine, Maristella Casciato undertook to consider “modernism outside the West” and to encourage “new cultures and new histories”, whilst simultaneously enriching the docomomo International network. She brought this intellectual endeavor with her to the position as Associate Director, Research at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCa) in Montreal. Working alongside Tom Avermaete, she co-curated the exhibition: How Architects, Experts, Politicians, International Agencies and Citizens Negotiate Modern Planning: Casablanca Chandigarh, presented at CCa during the Winter 2013–2014 season. They also co-authored Casablanca Chandigarh: A Report on Modernization, the book published to coincide with the exhibition. A preamble to these projects lies in the CCa’s acquisition, in 2010, of architect Pierre Jeanneret’s per- sonal archives, mainly pertaining to projects developed during the period from 1951 to 1965 when he renewed his association with his cousin, Le Corbusier, for the planning and construction of a new capital for the Indian Punjab following the Partition (1947).