TRANSPORTING UTOPIA
2ND ATHENS BIENNIAL-HEAVEN (2010)
Errands found one of the futurist, fiberglass houses of the ’70, designed by Nikolaos Xasteros, abandoned among trees in the seaside area of Loutraki. After buying it for one euro from the owner, the found dwelling was emptied on site before transferring it to Faliro, for the 2nd Athens Biennial. During the emptying procedure, items like blankets, mattresses, garbages, a toilet seat were removed from the interior space. Later on the structure was disassembled in order to transfer it on a two carriage truck. After 40 years the small dwelling “travelled” in 7 pieces to Faliro seaside where it was reassembled. The whole process has been documented.
Xasteros’s aim was to design a version of prefabricated and modular houses, that could be set anywhere in the countryside. Setting up a production unit on his own and spurred on by much interest from prospective buyers, he prepared the opening of his first exhibition in 1978. The whole plan failed when, on the morning of the opening, a law was passed that prevented the building of prefabricated houses in lots with an area less than 4,000 sq.m. The futurist dwellings that finally made it out of the factory were no more than ten. Errands hope to reveal the contribution of Xasteros’s fiberglass houses to a wider architectural genre connected to the development of technology, mobility and mass production, together with Buckminster Fuller and Matti Suuronen.
