Zaha Hadid Virtual Reality Experiences: The World (89 Degrees), 1983

‘I made this painting to have a record of what I was thinking at the time. That’s why I decided to call it ‘The World’, because that’s what it was for me – a world of projects I had designed by 1983.’– Zaha Hadid

The World (89 Degrees)

Representing the culmination of Hadid’s seven-year exploration into architecture’s unchartered territory whilst studying at London’s Architecture Association, this painting acknowledges the significance of technology’s rapid development and our ever-changing lifestyles as pivotal in creating a new and exhilarating backdrop for architecture. In this new global context, Hadid sought to reinvestigate the untested experiments of Modernism – not to resurrect them, but to reveal new possibilities for building. The World (89 Degrees) simultaneously compresses and expands the projects that she had carried out over several years, offering a new interpretation of the fabric of architecture and urbanism.