'Seeking Zohn' explores an overlooked contributor to Mexican modernism at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture

A new exhibition at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House in West Hollywood is exploring the legacy of late architect Alejandro Zohn’s work around Guadalajara through the lens of contemporary photography and design.

In Seeking Zohn, five artists — Lake Verea, Adam Wiseman, Sonia Madrigal, Onnis Luque, and Zara Pfeifer — together work to form a narrative about the Austrian-born émigré’s prolific effort to construct a modern Guadalajara using the work of predecessors Luis Barragán and Félix Candela as his new architectural precedent.

The MAK Center says: “Through these photographs — acts of investigation and translation — we find glimpses of his utopian desire amidst the chaos, beauty, and violence of everyday life.”

Select pieces designed by Studio Fabien Cappello and fabricated in the city are included in the exhibition. Parallels between Los Angeles and Mexico are also presented in context with the Schindler home, with their mutual birthplace of Vienna forming a “resonant triangulation” between the three.

Oliver Wainwright recently toured the exhibition for the Guardian and says he found it to be a series of “tantalizing vignettes that leave you wanting to find out more.” 

The show was organized by Mimi Zeiger and the Mexican curatorial duo called Tony Macarena (aka Lorena Canales and Alejandro Olávarri) and is supported by the Graham Foundation and several other local and international entities. 

Seeking Zohn opened to the public on April 1st and will remain on view in the Schindler House complex until July 23rd.