Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function “Works and projects 1979-2007”

The “ciliary muscle” reproduces the effect of a lens and allows the eye to focus or blur vision. The ciliary muscle became the emblem of the critical vision that Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro) had of their heterogeneous fields of research and experimentation. nThe work of this New York studio owes its notoriety to a genre that challenges the contemporary role of both the architect and architecture. Their interdisciplinary projects range from objects, installations and performances to media and architecture. In recent years they have expanded – with a third partner joining their studio – to embrace projects on an urban scale. Their works, recognised on an international level, include the Blur Building for Swiss Expo 2002, “the brasserie” restaurant in New York, the ICA in Boston, the Lincoln Center and the High-Line, both in New York.nDiller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function covers their development documenting about twenty works, from the earliest to the most recent. The volume, with a foreword by Reinhold Martin, includes essays investigating the studio’s context, influences and strategies, some interviews with the architects, dossiers on the chronology of their engagements, an itinerary, a scheme showing the evolution and growth of the studio from 1979 to today and a DVD documenting the multimedia and interdisciplinary projects by Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro).