Exhibition "ARCHISATIRE. A Counter-History of Architecture"

The Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio (TAM) of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) presents, from November 14, 2025 to March 29, 2026, two exhibitions promoted by the USI Academy of Architecture: “STEFANO GRAZIANI. Reality Show”, curated by Francesco Zanot, offering a reflection on the status of contemporary photography, between documentation and simulation of reality; and “ARCHISATIRE. A Counter- History of Architecture”, curated by Gabriele Neri in collaboration with the Library of the Academy of Architecture, a journey through caricatures, cartoons, and publications that recount with irony the relationship between satire and architecture over the past centuries. Accompanying the two exhibitions, the ground floor of the TAM will feature the installation “TWO EXERCISES”, created by first-year students of Design studio horizzontale Blumer.

"ARCHISATIRE. A Counter-History of Architecture"
Exhibition promoted by the Academy of Architecture of Università della Svizzera italiana
Curated by Gabriele Neri, in collaboration with the USI Library of the Academy of Architecture

Is it possible to observe the solemnity of architecture through the lightness of a laugh? What happens if, alongside the gravitas of building, we introduce satire, humour and irony? Taking an unconventional perspective, the exhibition proposes a “counter-history” of architecture, composed of the many satirical and humorous images that have commented on the architectural and urban transformations in original and irreverent ways over the last few centuries: caricatures, vignettes, photomontage as well as films, animated films, and other forms of expression.

Often designed to shine within the fleeting life of a newspaper or magazine, and aimed at a broad public, these images are in fact of great value given that they bring to light questions and issues that are often neglected by traditional historiography, such as the real impact of a given project on people’s daily lives. Taken as a whole, all these images constitute a particular genre of architectural criticism, to take its place alongside history of architecture manuals, specialist magazines, monographs and celebratory exhibitions dedicated to the great masters. For this reason, the exhibition juxtaposes diverse documents and perspectives, ranging from glorification to parody, seriousness to irreverence, gravity to lightness. Sometimes the perspectives are reversed: in fact, behind the irony lie ambiguous political, social, economic and cultural issues in which architecture is either exploited or serves as a scapegoat.

There is a wide range of topics addressed: the violent transformations of European, American, and Soviet cities; the emergence of non-conventional buildings and monuments that have sparked heated public debate; the revolution of housing models and the idea of domesticity; modern design and its relationship between form and function; the psychological and social repercussions of modern urban planning; the ephemeral nature of architectural fashions; and, of course, the figure of the architect.

The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections.
The Architect in Caricature sets celebratory portraits of the architect – from historic treatises to films such as The Fountainhead(1949) and The Brutalist (2024) – alongside the myriad allegories and caricatures from the Renaissance to today.
Urban Scandals presents, through illustrations, satirical cartoons, and films, the reaction to major urban transformations and to specific buildings such as the Crystal Palace in London, Antoni Gaudí’s architecture in Barcelona, the Looshaus in Vienna, Florence Station, the Guggenheim in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Sydney Opera House.
The Irrational House offers a vast panorama of the satire and humour evoked by the new housing models (the rational house, the prefabricated house, the glass house, etc.) from the Bauhaus years to our own, with emblematic examples such as Villa Arpel, a parody of the modern house in Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle.
Caricatures of the Architect finally presents the work of architects who have used caricature and cartoons as a means to communicate their own ideas or as a refuge from the reality of the construction site, among them Alessandro Mendini, Ugo La Pietra, and others.

Reaffirming the critical, social and cultural role of satire, irony, laughter and caricature, the exhibition offers a useful filter through which to observe architecture in an unexpected way, making us reconsider what the words “to design” and “to inhabit” really mean.

On display are satirical illustrations, cartoons, photographs, posters, models, magazines and newspapers, as well as printed volumes – many of which come from the collection of the Library of the Academy of Architecture. Among the authors and artists represented are William Hogarth, Honoré Daumier, George Cruikshank, Piero Portaluppi, Mino Maccari, Leo Longanesi, Saul Steinberg, Alessandro Mendini, Ugo La Pietra, and many others. The exhibition also includes the screening of renowned films and film excerpts, from One Week by Buster Keaton to The Fountainhead by King Vidor, Mon Oncle and Playtime by Jacques Tati, up to Koolhaas Houselife by Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine.

Publication
On the occasion of the exhibition, the book Satira dell'architetto. Controstoria di una professione attraverso la caricatura by Gabriele Neri will be published by Mendrisio Academy Press in co-edition with Edizioni Casagrande.

Curatorship
Gabriele Neri is Associate Professor of Architectural History at the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. Historian, architect and curator, he has also been teaching at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio since 2012. In 2022, he was Weinberg Fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York.
He is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of Fondazione MAXXI, Rome, and of the Fondazione Vico Magistretti. In 2015, he published one of the first monographs on the relationship between graphic satire and architecture (Caricature architettoniche. Satira e critica del progetto moderno, Quodlibet) and, in 2026, MIT Press will publish his monograph, the first of its kind, on Alan Dunn, renowned American cartoonist. In recent years, Neri has written books and curated exhibitions on Pier Luigi Nervi, Louis Kahn, Umberto Riva, Vico Magistretti, Pietro Lingeri and Riccardo Dalisi. He has been writing for Domenica of Il Sole 24 Ore and for Archi- Rivista svizzera di architettura, ingegneria e urbanistica since 2012. His essays have also appeared in international journals and magazines, including Architectural Record, Architectural Review, Casabella, Domus, Lotus International, TEC 21, Journal of the IASS, Il Disegno di Architettura, Bauwelt and others.

The Library of the Academy of Architecture, established in 1996 alongside the founding of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), has grown over 29 years into one of Switzerland’s premier libraries for the history of art and architecture. 
Through systematic and extensive acquisitions of new publications, the library continuously updates its holdings in architecture and the arts, while significant bequests of historic library collections, private author collections and acquisitions of specialized Fonds document the evolution of scholarly discourse in these fields. 
Against this temporal context, the library fulfils a three-fold mission: it is a teaching resource serving as a central information hub for the Academy of Architecture; it is an academic library offering support for the university’s research institutes; and it is a special library that ensures the preservation of the architectural and artistic heritage, particularly of Ticino, Switzerland and southern Europe. 

Open Days and Guided Tours

On the occasion of the exhibitions, the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio will regularly host free-admission open days, guided tours, and other special events. More information will be available later on the website www.tam.usi.ch.

Free Open Days

• Sunday 7 December 2025, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
• Sunday 4 January 2026, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
• Sunday 1 February 2026, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
• Sunday 1 March 2026, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Free guided tours (in Italian) of the two exhibitions
In collaboration with students of the Academy of Architecture:

• Saturday 6 December 2025, at 11:00 am
• Saturday 3 January 2026, at 11:00 am
• Saturday 31 January 2026, at 11:00 am
• Saturday 28 February 2026, at 11:00 am

On these dates, the guided tour is free, while entrance to the exhibition is subject to ticket purchase.

Guided tours with the exhibition curators
Dates will be announced soon through the TAM newsletter.

Group guided tours (ITA, ENG, GER, FR) available upon reservation, even outside regular opening hours.
For information and bookings, please write to: [email protected]

Calendar and Opening hours
14 November 2025 – 29 March 2026

Thursday – Friday
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Saturday – Sunday
10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Monday – Wednesday
Closed (open for groups and classes by reservation)
Winter closure: 22 December 2025 – 2 January 2026

Contacts
Tel.: +41 58 666 5867
Email: [email protected]