EXHIBITION: Aspects of Eamesian Ecology
Thursday, December 10, 2026
4:00 pm
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Aspects of Eamesian Ecology
Architecture, environmentalism, politics and the cosmos at the Eames Office from 1960 to 1977
28 January - 10 March 2027
This focused intervention examines key aspects of the work of the Eames Office, specifically those emblematic of their engagement with burgeoning ecological and environmental concerns in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These little known strands in Charles and Ray Eames’ oeuvre, which one might term an ‘Eamesian ecology’, posit a ‘re-reading’ of their design practice through the lens of environmental history. The viewer is invited to think differently about the legacy of Eames Office work and how their thinking was more closely aligned with increasing ecological consciousness of the period than previously understood.
Aspects of Eamesian Ecology, draws out these subtle and intertwined layers of meaning embedded within two key projects: the unrealised concept for a new National Fisheries Center and Aquarium (1966-69, with KRJDA architects) and the 9-minute, single channel film Powers of Ten: A Film Dealing with the relative Size of Things in the Universe, and the Effect of Adding Another Zero, (1977). Powers of Ten is arguably the most widely known and influential of all Eames films; the Aquarium project is, conversely, only familiar to those with significant or specialist knowledge of Eames Office work or the typology of post-war aquarium design in the USA. By examining these distinct yet connected works, the GHIL visitor will encounter exploratory research and piece together archival fragments to build a micro-macro picture of Eames Office practice contrary to typical understanding. Here ideas and philosophies about human-nature and planetary connections are on display. Design is articulated as curation and research, ideological concept becomes product.
The ground floor installation will foreground the Eameses’ own use of photography and Aby-Warburg-like deployment of ‘images in motion’ across time, space and subject. Select still and moving image fragments are assembled and analysed to convey the entangled ecological, political, spatial, technological and human-nature centred thinking that begins to define an Eamesian ecology. Moving to the upper level library rooms, viewers will find a selection of relevant reference materials which situate Charles and Ray Eames and the Eames Office in the social, political, environmental, architectural and creative context of the period. Publications such as the Whole Earth catalogue, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and the Eames Office’s own National Fisheries Center and Aquarium project brochure will nest within the GHIL library, as distinctive beacons of source material operating within the orbits of Eames Office research, thinking and dissemination. These publications will be annotated and layered with contextualising insight, information and questions to engage the viewer in the live action of research and how this niche inquiry intends to expand canonical design history. Introducing contrary aspects - in this case aspects of ecology - will enliven the subject and allow for critical readings beyond habitual iconic representation.
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Contact
Prof Dr Ines Weizman
Professor of History and Theory of Architecture
Head of PhD Programme
School of Architecture
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore, London
SW7 2EU
ines.weizman@rca.ac.uk
School of Architecture, Royal College of Art
Postgraduate Research (PGR) Programme