Altruistic Genius
Buckminster Fuller’s Plans to Save the Planet
Altruistic Genius: Buckminster Fuller’s Plans to Save the Planet brings the inventions and designs of R. Buckminster Fuller (Milton, MA 1895-1983, Los Angeles, CA) to Western North Carolina and introduces visitors to Fuller’s strategies for the sustainability of humans and the planet relating to housing, transportation, mathematics, and engineering.
This exhibition features two major suites of prints by Buckminster Fuller among other remarkable works from his multi-decade career and is presented in three sections: Inventions; Synergetics; and Black Mountain College and Lasting Influence. The Inventions portfolio, assembled in 1981 from Fuller’s career of explorations along with several existent models, represents Fuller’s foresight. In the late 1970s, Fuller published a series of mathematical systems and philosophies to be used in solving problems in all areas of human existence in his Synergetics portfolio. Significant to Asheville, Fuller taught at Black Mountain College during the summers of 1948 and 1949. It was there that he importantly constructed his first geodesic dome as he experimented to develop more affordable housing. Over 30 major artworks by Buckminster Fuller join select examples by artists and designers directly impacted by Fuller’s innovations in art and design, including Jade Doskow, Kenneth Snelson, and Kirsten Stolle, among others.
The University of North Carolina Asheville’s STEAM Studio brings to life the designs of Fuller’s Fly’s Eye dome and Geodesic dome with student-produced models on view in the exhibition, two designs which are feats of design that transformed the history of modern architecture. Welcoming visitors to the Museum, a replica of Fuller’s Dymaxion Car, on loan from the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, TN, will be on view in the Museum’s Atrium for the duration of the exhibition.
This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Whitney Richardson, associate curator. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Maurer Family Foundation.
