Vilanova Artigas: Drawing Models showcases, for the first time outside Brazil, the little-known drawings and sketches of the great Brazilian midcentury modernist architect João Batista Vilanova Artigas (1915–1985), designer of the São Paulo School of Architecture and numerous celebrated works of Brazilian Paulista modernism. Through a showcase of original documents by the architect, accompanied by a series of reconstructed full-scale building prototypes we will reveal how Artigas harnessed the drawing not only to imagine the world, but also to transform it. The exhibition will be accompanied by a Drawing Models public platform encompassing lectures, workshops, and events that directly relate questions raised by Artigas’ work to current considerations in global architecture practice, particularly concerning the relationship of the architectural project to contemporary means of economic production. The exhibition has been realized with the participation of Artigas’ grandson, architect Marco Artigas.

Emma Letizia Jones is an Australian born architect, researcher and writer who obtained her PhD in 2016 from the University of Zurich with a new account of the drawing practice of the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. She was also educated at the University of Sydney and the Architectural Association, London, and has worked in architectural practice in both cities. She was a design Studio Director at the EPF Lausanne, and her writings have appeared in AA Files, San Rocco, and the Architectural Review. She currently teaches the history and theory of architecture at the ETH Zurich with the departmental chair Prof. Maarten Delbeke and, with Delbeke and TEN, initiated and now runs a series of yearly summer schools in Venice under theme "Re:public: Books and Buildings," with the goal of linking a study of historic architectural treatises with the act of making and building. Together with TEN, she recently won the Swiss Art Award for Architecture 2018 with a building installation and book exhibited at Art Basel.

Guillaume Othenin-Girard, exhibition designer, holds a master’s degree in architecture from ETH Zurich where, since 2014, he has taught design and construction with Prof. Tom Emerson, where he also led the design-and-build research project "Archaeology of the Territory" in collaboration with PUCP in Pachacamac, Peru. He also teaches at Parsons Paris and from 2012 to 2014, was a studio director in the architecture program at EPF Lausanne. He is the author of Go Field and Towers (Amarillo Press, 2017), which details his approach to teaching architecture. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2012) and Artgenève (2016, 2017). Together with TEN, he recently won the Swiss Art Award for Architecture 2018 with a building installation and book exhibited at Art Basel.

Nemanja Zimonjić, exhibition designer, is a Yugoslavia-born architect based in Zurich, Switzerland. He was educated at the ETH Zurich and the University of Belgrade. Since 2013 he has taught design and construction at ETH Zurich, within which he has been responsible for second year design studio and several exhibition and publication projects. His work has been exhibited widely, most notably at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2008) and Artgenève (2016, 2017). He has been invited to present his work at RWTH Aachen, EPFL Lausanne, the Faculty for Architecture, Belgrade, and TU Delft. Together with TEN, he recently won the Swiss Art Award for Architecture 2018 with a building installation and book exhibited at Art Basel.

Marco Artigas, collaborator, is an architect based in Sao Paolo. In 2014 he founded his office, Marco Artigas Arquitetura e Urbanismo. In 2015 he coorganised a series of events to celebrate the centennial of his grandfather‘s birth, encompassing five cultural actions: the launch of the Vilanova Artigas monograph (written by Rosa Artigas) and a children‘s book, a mão livre do vovô (containing a selection of Artigas‘ free drawings), both published by Terceiro Nome; the documentary vilanova artigas: o arquiteto e a luz; the official Artigas website; and the exhibition Ocupação Vilanova Artigas at the Itaú Cultural São Paulo.