The Cosmic House

Artists represented

About

The Jencks Foundation opened The Cosmic House to the public for the first time in September 2021. The foundation acts as a cultural laboratory to promote critical experimentation in historical and artistic research. Our programme is organized around an annual theme and developed through an exhibition, new commissions, residencies, salons and seminars, which, in turn, feed the foundation’s future public programme.

The Cosmic House, built in 1978-1983, is one of the key landmarks in the development of Post-Modernist architecture. A hugely influential distillation of the ideas at the heart of Post-Modern thought in culture and science, it is a remarkable testament to the polymathic talents of Maggie and Charles Jencks. The Jencks Foundation catalogue and preserve Charles Jencks’ archive and extensive library, as the key site of the laboratory programme. The house contains Charles’ archive from his work as a historian, critic, land artist and co-founder of Maggies Cancer Caring Centres. The foundation has opened these resources to the public to encourage study of the architecture and culture of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Accessibility & facilities

Gender neutral toilet
Cloakroom