Radical utopia between space, art and participation
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by Alessandra Gabriele
Yona Friedman and the Museum without Walls
Radical Utopia Between space, art and participation
by Alessandra Gabriele
Yona Friedman (1923-2020), Hungarian-born architect, urban planner and theorist, was one of the most radical and visionary figures in architecture of the second half of the 20th century. He, in fact, anticipated some central issues in contemporary cultural and architectural debate: flexibility, sustainability, participation, and accessibility are some of the themes Friedman addressed as early as the post-World War II period. His research has consistently placed the individual at the center of the project, valuing his ability to self-determine in space. From this perspective, Friedman has developed open, reversible and accessible architectural models in which the user is co-author of the environment he inhabits.
Two of his main theories,Architecture Mobile and Ville Spatiale, prove fundamental not only to understanding his idea of the city, but also his approach to culture and the transmission of knowledge.Mobile Architecture, formulated in the early 1950s, is based on the idea that architecture should continually adapt to changes in human life: not rigid and permanent structures, but spaces capable of evolving together with their inhabitants. From this vision takes shape the Ville Spatiale, a city conceived as an elevated, light and modular structure that leaves individuals free to choose how and where to live, intervening directly in the configuration of spaces.
In line with this perspective of self-organization and spatial freedom, Friedman extends his reflection to the concept of the museum itself. If André Malraux reflects on the idea of the musée imaginaire, Friedman elaborates the concept of the museum without walls(musée sans murs), which, by breaking free from institutional containers, opens up to the space of the city. The museum, according to Friedman, should not be a closed, static place reserved for those with specific cultural expertise. On the contrary, art and knowledge must break out of canonical spaces and become an integral part of everyday life, accessible to all, without barriers or mediation.
This is the idea of the street museum, a diffuse museum that transforms urban space into an open-air gallery. The works-often made of essential materials, drawings, collages, comics-are not thought of as objects to be contemplated, but as tools of direct communication, capable of triggering an active dialogue with the public. In this vision, the museum is not just an exhibition space, but a relational device: an opportunity to create connections, stimulate reflections, activate communities.
An interesting and highly topical aspect of Friedman's work is his focus on the accessibility of speri. He is deeply interested in making complex concepts understandable even to those without technical training. His manuals, drawings, and models become pedagogical tools that simplify, but do not trivialize, knowledge. His visual language-simple, almost childlike but powerfully evocative-is an integral part of his communicative strategy. Each drawing is a micro-architecture, a fragment of thought that invites action, participation, and transformation.
From this perspective, Friedman proposes a radical redefinition of the museum: no longer a closed physical space, but a network of relationships, a dynamic, open and transformable concept. The museum of the future, according to him, will not be the one that holds works, but the one that can tell the story of them, involving even those who are excluded from the official circuits of culture. Art is not an object of veneration, but an instrument of inclusion.
Yona Friedman's Museum without Walls thus represents a radical break from the traditional view of the museum as a hierarchical and institutional space: Friedman proposes a democratized, decentralized, disobedient art, capable of living in the everyday, in the streets, in neighborhoods, in schools, even on abandoned walls. An art that does not need massive funds or permits: his proposal is but concretely realizable. Through ephemeral projects, easily assembled by anyone, Friedman shows that another way of conceiving the museum-and art itself-is not only possible, but necessary. In a present marked by cultural and social inequalities, his thinking continues to offer a powerful and alternative vision: a concrete utopia that invites collective action and shared responsibility for public space.
