Diagrams: A Project by AMO/OMA is exactly that, an exhibition and research project by the studio founded by Rem Koolhaas for the Fondazione Prada Venice venue, Ca' Corner della Regina. This is the book that accompanies the exhibition.
Its aim is to investigate visual communication of data as a powerful tool for constructing meaning, comprehension or manipulation and a pervasive instrument for analysing, understanding and transforming the surrounding world. It seeks to foster dialogue and speculative reflection on the relationship between human intelligence, scientific and cultural phenomena, and the creation and dissemination of knowledge.
Rem Koolhaas says, ‘In my view, the diagram has been an almost permanent tool. For example, in the early stages of our research, we discovered three-dimensional diagrams from South Africa dating back to 40,000 BCE, as well as wood-carved maps of the Greenlandic coastline made on the island of Ammassalik. This demonstrates that the diagram is an enduring form of communication that adapts to whatever medium exists at the time. Regardless of the medium, a diagram serves didactic (explanatory) or suggestive (persuasive) purposes. This means that it not only exists by default in any new medium but can also be applied to virtually any area of human life. Fashion, religion, or the history of social inequality can be interpreted as a diagram. I deeply enjoy this interdisciplinary aspect of the diagram, its invariable attribute – its independence from language (words) makes it one of the most effective forms of representation.’
Editor: Mario Mainetti. Introduction by Miuccia Prada. Conversation between Rem Koolhaas and Katya Inozemtseva. Texts by Alberto Cairo, Kate Crawford, Theo Deutinger, Sietske Fransen, Scott Reinhard, Philippe Rekacewicz, Sandra Rendgen, Malkit Shoshan and Kohei Sugiura. Graphic Design by Irma Boom.
Fondazione Prada, 448pp, 21cm x 28cm, illustrated paperback, 2025
