Claude Parent's drawings

"THE LEGACY OF CLAUDE PARENT (1923-2016) is one of spatial insurrection, a realm in which architecture is reanimated as a medium of resistance to passivity in urban life. Although trained in the orbit of Le Corbusier, Parent emancipated himself from established models and norms, devoting his life to demonstrating the physicality of freedom."

"In the early 1960s, Parent radicalized his disruptive impulse by refusing static space altogether-see his "architectures of air," conceived with Klein-aligning himself with Guy Debord's detournement and the Situationist critique of passivity in modern urban life."

"Perhaps most decisive during this period was his encounter with Paul Virilio, with whom he theorized the "Fonction Oblique" and cofounded the group Architecture Principe in 1963. Together, they developed a critical approach to space that they formulated in a series of manifestos published in an eponymous periodical in 1966."

Claude Parent (1923-2016) created a legacy of spatial insurrection, using architecture as resistance against passivity in urban life. Though trained under Le Corbusier's influence, Parent forged his own path, demonstrating physicality of freedom through movement and instability. Collaborating with avant-garde artists including Yves Klein and Jean Tinguely, he explored Neo-Plasticism and geometric abstraction. His pivotal partnership with Paul Virilio led to theorizing the "Fonction Oblique" and founding Architecture Principe in 1963. This critical approach rejected orthogonal urbanism's static certainties, instead employing diagonal lines and oblique forms to disrupt comfort-driven consumer dynamics and challenge passivity in modern urban environments.

Read at Artforum