Curated By Joseph Becker, Curator of Architecture and Design, SFMOMA

Pioneer, renegade, optimist, publisher, editor, photographer, carpenter, self-taught architect, and doyen of the DIY movement, Lloyd Kahn has worn many hats throughout his lifelong architectural quest. Kahn was the original editor of the Shelter section of the Whole Earth Catalog and the founding editor-in-chief of Shelter Publications, Inc. These compendiums were instrumental in an era of radical independence and sustainable “de-growth” thinking. Kahn’s personal approach and guidebooks have influenced builders and homesteaders around the world, functioning as comprehensive resources for intrepid self-builders.

This exhibition, titled There Are Walls That Want To Prowl – a line from Richard Brautigan’s 1968 poem Let’s Voyage Into The New American House – focuses on Kahn’s iconic counterculture publications, including Domebook One (1970), Domebook 2 (1971), and Shelter (1973). The various models presented in these books are crucial reminders and provocations of alternatives to conventional forms of building and living. They tell beautiful tales of the people who decided to create different households, reimagining a way of life in a more conscious relation with the environment, liberated from capital and its alienating production methods. The installation was first presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021 by Berlin-based curator Lukas Feireiss and Geneva-based architect Leopold Banchini, who published an accompanying publication, Shelter Cookbook, which complements the presentation.