Publication

  • Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse
    Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen
    Editors
    Penelope Curtis, Rem Koolhaas, Charlotte Matter, Jack Self, Laurent Stalder, Helen Thomas, and Philip Ursprung
    Contributors
    Koenig Books, 2020
  • GRANTEE
    ETH Zurich-gta exhibitions
    GRANT YEAR
    2019

"Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse: A Retrospective," gta exhibitions, ETH Zurich, 2018. Photo: Stefan Altenburger.

The Amsterdam-based studio Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse has realized projects worldwide since its foundation in 1991, ranging from the design of textiles and exhibitions and the production of entire interiors to landscape architecture. As the name implies, the variable relationship between inside and outside is a central issue that feeds into the interdisciplinary approach of combining knowledge and craftsmanship from several fields. From the start, Inside Outside has collaborated closely with the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and with many other architects, curators, and artisans. Nevertheless, their work has not yet been object of a systematic study. gta exhibitions publishes the first comprehensive monograph that features the majority of the studio’s projects, unseen archival material, theoretical reflections of their work, and a reader of newly commissioned essays.

Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen are directors of exhibitions at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich. They studied art history in Zurich and Basel and curated numerous international exhibitions together, including Readymades Belong to Everyone at Swiss Institute, New York (2018); Trix & Robert Haussmann at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin and Nottingham Contemporary (2018); a tribute show at Michel Majerus Estate, Berlin (2016); 69/96 with Bob Nickas at Gebert Foundation, Rapperswil (2014); Keiichi Tanaami: No More War at Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2013); and The Log-O-Rithmic at GAMeC, Bergamo (2012). Recent publications include Carman by Ser Serpas, Richard Hamilton and Sigfried Giedion–Reaper; William Leavitt, The Particles; and Trix + Robert Haussmann. They are contributing editors of Kaleidoscope Magazine and Mousse Magazine.

gta exhibitions understands architectural exhibitions as a medium of research and teaching. It functions as a platform of exchange between the various areas of knowledge within the Department of Architecture, as an interface to the global field of higher education in architecture and as a window to the interested public. As a part of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, which was founded in 1967, gta exhibitions is deeply anchored in the academic culture of experimentation, education, and international dialogue. Its aim is not so much to represent and mediate knowledge, but to produce knowledge in the realm of architecture exhibitions.