The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is teaming up with Rem Koolhaas and the research arm (AMO) of his practice (OMA) for an upcoming exhibition that will be on display come fall 2019. The project, Countryside: Future of the World, will explore radical changes in the countryside while positing speculations about its future and is an extension of research already underway at the think tank. 

Curated by Troy Conrad Therrien—the museum's first curator for architecture and digital initiatives who also happens to be one of our Ed contributors—the exhibition will examine themes of artificial intelligence and automation, the effects of genetic experimentation, political radicalization, mass and micro migration, large-scale territorial management, human-animal ecosystems, subsidies and tax incentives, the impact of the digital on the physical world, and other developments that are altering landscapes across the globe, according to the firm's press release.

Koolhaas, for whom urbanism has always been their bread and butter, began turning his attention to the countryside, which he defines as "anything that is not the city," over a decade ago. Inspired by his frequent travel to a Swiss mountain village in which he began to notice drastic changes, the architect began collecting documents and insights into what he saw to be a previously neglected subject by the field. 

“The fact that more than 50 percent of the world’s population now lives in cities has become an excuse to ignore the countryside,” said Koolhaas. “I have long been fascinated by the transformation of the city, but since looking at the countryside more closely in recent years, I have been surprised by the intensity of change taking place there. The story of this transformation is largely untold, and it is particularly meaningful to present it in one of the world’s great museums in one of the world’s densest cities.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Mr. Koolhaas further explained that the impetus for displaying the work now is derived from the current political climate and the perceived role that rural areas played in both the Brexit vote and Trump's election. “We know now the political consequences of ignoring the countryside,” he told the paper.