Winter 2026
Displays of power
Diagrams. A project by AMO / OMA
Fondazione Prada, Venice, Italy, 10 May to 24 November 2025. Curated by Rem Koolhaas and Giulio Margheri. Reviewed by Silvia Sfligiotti
In the past two decades, information visualisation has become a key tool in the architectural discourse, has regularly featured in exhibitions and publications, and is used extensively by Rem Koolhaas in both his practice, OMA, and its research and design studio AMO. It should come as no surprise that this exhibition, at the Venice branch of Fondazione Prada, coincided with the opening of the nineteenth Biennale of Architecture.
‘Diagrams’ was on the ground and first floor of Ca’ Corner della Regina, a Baroque building and setting that has an impact on the way this exhibition is presented and perceived. On the ground floor, an introductory installation offered an overview in the form of meta-diagrams that allowed visitors to catch a glimpse of the number, size, date, media and sources of the items exhibited on the first floor.
The word diagram was used in a wide sense, with pieces that ranged from Le Corbusier’s sketches of air and light flow to digitally generated data visualisations showing temperature changes in the past 100 years. The intent of ‘Diagrams’ was to investigate ‘the visual communication of data as a powerful tool for constructing meaning, comprehension or manipulation’ – thus apparently aligning itself with the current critical discourse around information visualisation …
Silvia Sfligiotti graphic designer, writer, Milan, Italy
Read the full version in Eye no. 109 vol. 28, 2025
Coloured lithograph, Historic and prophetic diagram of the world: God’s plan of salvation for law breakers, by Elwin J. Woodward, 1912. Courtesy David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford University Libraries.
Top. ‘Diagrams’, Fondazione Prada, Venice, 2025. Photo: Marco Cappelletti.
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