Oskar Hansen
Born 1922 in Helsinki. Died 2005. Polish architect, theoretician, painter, educator.
Coming from the Norwegian-Polish-Russian family. Born in Helsinki, as a child moved with his family to Poland. Studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Technology at the University of Vilnius and Warsaw University of Technology Faculty of Architecture (degree in 1951 at Romuald Gutt). In 1948, he went to Paris where he studied painting with Fernand Léger, and architecture with Pierre Jeanneret. In 1950, he returned to Poland to found there the top-down controlled aesthetic system. From 1955 he was a lecturer, and since 1967 a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His teaching theories and especially Open Form theory has had a huge influence on his students, among others, Gregory Kowalski, Zofia Kulik, Elizabeth Cieslar, Emil Cieslar, Victor Gutt and others. In 1957, solo exhibition. In 2005, the retrospective exhibition "Towards the open form" ("Ku formie otwartej") in National Gallery of Art (Warsaw).
Developed Open Form theory. Together with Sven Hatloy and Zofia Hansen developed the concept of urban development of cities the future ("The continuous linear system (LCD) and "Continuous Form"). His theories are used in the BAS (Bergen School of Architecture) in Bergen in Norway, founded in 1983 by his disciple Svein Hatløy.
The continuous linear system (LCD) originates in late 60s and early 70s. The idea was to change the country in a specific way to eliminate the city and build settlements in the four zones continuously from the sea to the mountains. All there would be reasonably organized. Equally to each other there would be the zones of human housing, nature, services and industry, which would have put a man on the one hand into contact with nature, on the other hand, would allow him to live near work. What's true in a remote neighborhood, people would be hundreds of kilometers apart, but the meeting would facilitate quick communication.
Hansen criticised so-called centralised city as a linear solution for people living in the traditional European city. These cities are a legacy of centuries of despotism, remainders after primitive towns, which can easily defend the enemy, but at the same time easy to control. Built around the center, consisting of network of narrow streets, forced to live in the noise and crowds. The city is the central prison of modern man.
- Literature
- Oskar Hansen "Ku formie otwartej", red. Jola Gola, układ graficzny Oskar Hansen, Fundacja Galerii Foksal (Warszawa), Revolver (Frankfurt), we współpracy z Muzeum ASP w Warszawie, 2005.
- Oskar Hansen, "Towards Open Form / Ku Formie Otwartej". Frankfurt am Main: Revolver, 2005. Paperback 256 pages / ISBN 83-89302-07-1. reviews: [1], [2]. The non-textual introduction is an iteration from the Polish catalogue for the 1960 Milan Triennal. 'Bridging' the book's two parts are interviews with the artist: Joanna Mytkowska's in the first part (conducted in spring 2003), and fragments of Hans Ulrich Obrist's in the second. Oskar Hansen died on May 11, 2005, after work on this book had been completed and it had been sent to press. The book has been left unchanged.'
