J. MAYER H. Exhibition "Patterns of Speculation" at SFMOMA

Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art (SFMOMA) and Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, the exhibition is unorthodox in that it combines two approaches to showing architecture in a gallery: video documentation of the studio’s built work and an environment, designed by J. MAYER H., that presents the architect’s spatial language at full scale.

Among the leading architectural studios in Europe, Berlin-based J. MAYER H. stands out for its commitment to a high level of formal and conceptual research. Central to its experimental approach is a deep engagement with a ubiquitous yet often ignored image type: data protection patterns, such as those you might find lining the inside of bank envelopes. These patterns, which serve to conceal other information, form a fertile terrain of investigation for J. MAYER H. as the studio translates them across various media and scales.

For Patterns of Speculation, J. MAYER H. designed an installation environment that combines applied supergraphic elements and seating units that contain video monitors and projectors, immersing viewers in a matrix of enlarged three-dimensional data patterns. Within this environment, animated data patterns are shown on monitors, while images of the studio’s built work are projected onto the gallery walls and ceiling. Finally, a sound environment has been developed by translating visual patterns into sonic ones, further surrounding the viewer with a thick cloud of “information mist.”

With this exhibition, SFMOMA explores a new way of presenting architecture in a gallery setting by joining images of built projects with an experiential installation that combines supergraphics, sound, and video.

The exhibition is accompanied by the newly released book, J. MAYER H., edited by Henry Urbach and Cristina Steingräber at Hatje Cantz publishers. This volume is the first to present the entire oeuvre of J. MAYER H. and to consider how the studio’s research and built practice come together. A number of renowned authors—such as Andres Lepik, John Paul Ricco, Ilka and Andreas Ruby, Felicity D. Scott, Henry Urbach, and Philip Ursprung—take a variety of approaches toward positioning the firm’s work in contemporary discourse.