Otto Neurath. Gypsy Urbanism At a time when contemporary culture
is dominated by mass media and we are all glued to many screens,
it is fascinating to contemplate the career of little-known
Austrian sociologist, Otto Neurath (1888-1945), a polymath whose
intellectual and moral compass - forged in the embers of World
War I - led him to predict the dramatic growth of the knowledge
economy and to develop tools for a universal pictorial language.
Ever in the interest of advancing participatory forms of
democratic exchange, Neurath was by turn an academic, economic
minister, housing administrator, museum director and philosopher
of science. He collaborated with the leading planners, designers
and artists of his time, - among them Adolf Loos, Josef Frank,
Le Corbusier, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and key New Deal intellectuals
- and his work had a profound influence on a range of
disciplines, including architecture, philosophy, economics,
urbanism and graphic design. On view at the Schindler House from
November 4, 2009 thro