Institutional Rot

Full of pleasurable images and objects, MoMA’s latest architectural survey Project of Independence is arranged in categories that are not particularly meaningful. An introductory assay, “New Cities,” foregrounds the building of Chandigarh’s capitol complex, while “Templates for Living,” invokes housing’s experimental edge in the post-Partition era. Building models and archival photographs are marshaled into the remaining four sections, organized under headings closer to development NGO reportage than architecture (“Industry and Infrastructure,” “Political Spaces,” “Landscapes of Education,” and “Institution-Building”). Original photographs by Randhir Singh feature prominently across the exhibition (more on them later) as well as in an elevator bank.

Through these themes, the exhibition argues for a long overdue amendment to architectural history — a canon MoMA has itself had a major hand in packing…