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Matadero Madrid center for contemporary creation

Publication

Twelve Cautionary Urban Tales

An exhibition not about what the city is, but about what it can be

Visual Arts
City

Twelve Cautionary Urban Tales is an exhibition that raises new narratives in the way we talk about the city. Taking inspiration from the project “Twelve Cautionary Tales for Christmas”, by the group of radical architects Superstudio, first published in 1971 in the magazine Architectural Design —which consisted of a series of twelve short stories illus-trated with a drawing each—the question which arises on this exhibition is, what is your ideal city like?

In an attempt to respond to this question, a group of contemporary practices, from different genera-tions and a range of professional expertises, have been invited to give shape to these “Twelve Cautio-nary Urban Tales” by reconceptualising the original format of Superstudio’s twelve tales and trans-forming the exhibition into a tool to help us rethink our role in the building of the city.