Wright Auction

Of their Buildings of Disaster series, Constantin Boym writes: “Some of these buildings may have been prized architectural landmarks, other – nondescript anonymous structures. But disaster changes everything. The images of exploded buildings make a different, populist history of architecture, one based on people’s emotional involvement rather than on scholarly appreciation.” Boym Partners first conceived of the idea in 1997 as Souvenirs for the End of the Century.  The first edition was released in 1998 and it was controversial but well-received. When the World Trade Center fell on September 11, 2001, the Boym Partners re-released their World Trade Center miniature as a fundraiser and they later added The September 11th Memorial Set featuring the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

Some of these buildings may have been prized architectural landmarks, other – nondescript anonymous structures. But disaster changes everything. The images of exploded buildings make a different, populist history of architecture, one based on people’s emotional involvement rather than on scholarly appreciation. –Constanin Boym

Production of the first edition of the Buildings of Disaster series ended at the century’s close but the events of September 11th prompted the Boyms to add to the collection miniatures memorializing other tragedies both past and recent such as Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War and the siege at Waco, Texas. In total, the Buildings of Disaster series includes twenty-five different disasters from all over the world.

Today, the Buildings of Disaster are no longer in production and the provocative miniatures can be found in numerous museum collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne.