Modern Management Methods examines the United Nations Headquarters through X-rays and the archive. Completed in 1952, the United Nations Headquarters is an icon of international style modernist architecture and a symbol of world peace. Focusing on the headquarters’ renovation following 9/11, the project reveals how conversations around security, nationalism, environment, accessibility, and historical value enter the bureaucratic framework of a multibillion-dollar capital construction project. Between information and image, these X-rays look at architecture anew, seeing history as a novel section cut.
Caitlin Blanchfield teaches at both CCA and Columbia. Her work investigates issues of territoriality, infrastructure, human rights, and the making of historical narratives.