Podcasts about Chicago Architecture Biennial

Ep.226 Edra Soto (b. 1971) is a Puerto Rican-born artist, educator, and co-director of outdoor project space The Franklin. Soto instigates meaningful, relevant, and often difficult conversations surrounding socioeconomic and cultural oppression, erasure of history, and loss of cultural knowledge. Soto has presented recent solo exhibitions at Comfort Station, Chicago, IL (2024); Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (2023); Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2018); Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA (2017); The Arts Club of Chicago, IL (2017). Her work has been featured in notable recent group exhibitions including Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (2024); Entre Horizontes, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL (2023); no existe un mundo poshuracán, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2022); and Estamos Bien, La Trienal 20/21, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY (2021). She has been awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant; Bemis Center's Ree Kaneko Award; the US LatinX Art Forum Fellowship; and MacArthur Foundation International Connections Fund. Soto has received numerous public commissions, for Noor Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2024); Now & There, Central Wharf Park, Boston, MA (2023); the Chicago Architecture Biennial, IL (2023); and Millenium Park in Chicago, IL (2019). Her work is in the collection of institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami and Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago. Photo Courtesy of Public Art Fund ~ Liz Ligon Artist https://edrasoto.com/home.html Public Art Fund https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/edra-soto-graft/ MSU Broad Art Museum https://broadmuseum.msu.edu/events/artist-talk-edra-soto/ por la señal | by a signal at Morgan Lehman Gallery https://www.morganlehmangallery.com/exhibitions/edra-soto4 Lazos Terrenales at ICA at MECA&D Maine https://meca.edu/ica/lazos-terrenales-earthly-bonds/ La Casa de Todos at Comfort Station https://comfortstationlogansquare.org/calendar/2024/6/1/la-casa-de-todos John Michael Kohler Arts Center https://www.jmkac.org/artist/soto-edra/ Carnegie Museum of Art https://carnegieart.org/art/hillman-photography-initiative/cycle-4-widening-the-lens/ US Latinx Art Forum https://uslaf.org/member/edra-soto/ Noor Riyadh https://riyadhart.sa/en/artists/edra-soto/?_program=noor-riyadh CAB5 https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/people/edra-soto/ Ree Kaneko Award https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/511285/edra-soto-winner-of-2022-ree-kaneko-award/#:~:text=Established%20in%202019%20at%205%2C000,support%20of%20its%20alumni%20community. The Art Newsletter https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/05/edra-soto-this-kind-of-architecture-lives-in-the-background TimeOut https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/this-new-outdoor-sculpture-in-central-park-honors-the-puerto-rican-community-090624 Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/946566/new-three-year-arts-series-will-center-nyc-latine-community-clemente/ El Nuevo Dia https://www.elnuevodia.com/entretenimiento/cultura/notas/el-arte-de-una-boricua-transforma-el-central-park-de-nueva-york-con-su-obra-de-rejas/ Newcity Art https://art.newcity.com/2024/08/26/central-park-state-of-mind-edra-soto-puts-the-home-in-public-art/ Chicago Reader https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/art-feature/everybodys-home-edra-soto/ Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelbyknick/2023/12/14/the-brilliance-of-noor-riyadh-a-city-wide-canvas-comes-to-life-again/?sh=400c0e4a6a23 New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/arts/design/chicago-architecture-biennial.html Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/2023/11/14/3arts-awards-50k-unrestricted-grants-to-local-teaching-artists-with-next-level-awards/ Artforum https://www.artforum.com/events/susan-snodgrass-edra-soto-513802/

Architect Andrew Schachman and multidisciplinary artist and educator Faheem Majeed are two of the four artists who, along with poet avery r. young and sculptor Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, co-lead Chicago's Floating Museum. As its name suggests, the Floating Museum does not have a brick-and-mortar fixed space; rather it creates inventive projects through which to explore and strengthen the relationship between art, community, architecture and public institutions in sites throughout Chicago. One example of past Floating Museum projects is “Cultural Transit Assembly,” which activated not only the Chicago Transit Authority's green line but also parks and spaces along its track. Some green line CTA cars served as pop-up performance spaces and galleries, and giant movable sculptures as well as community-art events could be spied from the train throughout its route, inviting riders to visit neighborhoods that perhaps were new to them. Another example is “River Assembly,” which over a month saw an industrial barge dock at different sites along the Chicago River, bringing a host of performances and interactive exhibits to several neighborhoods, celebrating the entire city as one giant museum campus, all corners of which have always been hubs of culture and art.In a sign of the Floating Museum's cultural influence not only citywide but also nationally and abroad, its four leaders were tapped to be the co-directors of the fifth Chicago Architecture Biennial, one of only two architecture biennials in the world, the other being the century-old Biennial in Venice, Italy. Here Faheem and Andrew describe the municipal savvy and community trust they had to cultivate for the Floating Museum and its many projects to move throughout Chicago. They also discuss how as a quartet they manage a growing institution that must remain nimble and responsive enough to continually engage with its home city. https://floatingmuseum.org/

Dan and Greg return from podcast sabbatical to bring you tasty riffs and preview Unfrozen's spring docket. You didn't think you could get rid of us that easily, did you? Intro/Outro: “I'm Alive,” by Electric Light Orchestra -- Discussed: IIT MTBVU goes to Malaysia and Singapore CTBUH 2023 Conference Crescent City CA - site of a future megacity, and maybe tsunamis. A job for Climate Alpha Vanity Fair - Horseshoe Theorists - network states, crypto communities Economists believe architecture doesn't matter Trads vs mods Human scale vs megaprojects - there are no natural norms of architecture Singapore - the ultimate tabula rasa city: Koolhaas, S, M, L, XL The 7 peaks Devils Pool and Marina Bay Sands pool -- great, but you've got to see the employee dry cleaning operation at Marina Bay Sands SIM City for Real How do we disrupt Autodesk? Who is the Carlos the Jackal behind Trump's first policy proposal for 2024 campaign: Freedom Cities! With EVTOLS! = Bioshock Infinite University of Notre Dame vs. a supertrad grad Threatcasting and Micro-targeting with the Secret Service Next up: Nick Kaufmann, Spectra Cities and Andreea Ion Cojacaru, Numena Peter Apps, “Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen” The MCHAP …and Venice Architecture Biennale - countdown to May …tying it back to the Chicago Architecture Biennial

Landscape architect Ujijji Davis Williams, PLA, ASLA, facilitated a community workshop that looked at opportunities to commemorate, restore, and preserve the Slumbusters Garden in North Lawndale. Presented by the Chicago Architecture Biennial in partnership with The North Lawndale Greening Committee, Under the Grid, Freedom House Chicago, Open Architecture Chicago, Trust for Public Land, and Farm on Ogden. This episode is partially sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Music Tracks by Beat by Beat.

Germane Barnes is the Principal of Studio Barnes, and Associate Professor and the Director of the Community Housing & Identity Lab (CHIL) at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Barnes' practice investigates the connection between architecture and identity, examining architecture's social and political agency through historical research and design speculation. Believing strongly in design as a process, he approaches each condition imposed on a project as an opportunity for transformation. Born in Chicago, IL, Germane Barnes received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Architecture from Woodbury University, where he was awarded the Thesis Prize for his project Symbiotic Territories: Architectural Investigations of Race, Identity, and Community.His work has recently been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art's groundbreaking 2021 exhibition, Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, and the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. He was a winner of the 2021 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers, and is a 2021-2022 Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. His work has also been featured and added to the permanent collections of international institutions, most notably MAS Context, Milan Design Week, San Francisco MoMA, LACMA, The Art Institute of Chicago, The New York Times, Architect Magazine, and The National Museum of African American History and Culture where he was identified as one of the future designers on the rise.Additional Links:Vigilantism, edited by Germane Barnes and Shawhin Roudbari for MAS ContextCheck out Germane's website at germanebarnes.comFollow Germane on Instagram @gmane16Follow Germane on Twitter @UncleRemusChkn

Though Sekou Cooke did not invent the term or the theory of hip-hop architecture, he is one of its leading proponents and practitioners. An architect, urban designer, researcher and curator born and raised in Jamaica and educated at Cornell and Harvard, he currently serves as the Director of the Master of Urban Design at UNC Charlotte. He also owns and operates Sekou Cooke STUDIO, which recently earned a 2022 Emerging Voices award from the Architectural League of New York.Sekou's recent projects include “Grids + Griots,” an architectural intervention commissioned for the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the soon-to-be-built Syracuse Hip-Hop Headquarters that will convert a derelict building in the city's Near Westside into event and performance venues and a variety of education and office spaces. Two of his designs are also now included on the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety's list of Approved Standard Plans for Additional Dwelling Units.In 2021, Bloomsbury published Sekou's “Hip-Hop Architecture,” a monograph that, true to its title and inspiration, is a manifesto and exploration constructed more like a music album combined with expansive liner notes than a traditional academic tome, with its foreword written by noted sociologist and author Michael Eric Dyson.In this interview with Pier Carlo Talenti, Sekou draws a line between the fluid and inherently anti-authoritarian nature of hip-hop culture and the kind of equitable and fully participatory built environments hip-hop architecture envisions. https://www.sekoucooke.com/https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/hiphop-architecture-9781350116146/https://www.archdaily.com/435952/keep-talking-kanye-an-architect-s-defense-of-kanye-west

Akinbode Akinbiyi. Künstler, Berlin. Zitate aus dem Podcast: »Ich bin ein Wanderer und Beobachter. Ich interessiere mich sehr für das Urbane.« »Ich behaupte jede Form erzählt.« »Wenn ich jemanden anschaue, dann kann ich sie/ihn mit der Zeit lesen.« »Der Begriff AUFNAHME passt sehr schön zu dem, was ich versuche zu machen.« »Es ist vielleicht schon alles gesagt worden, aber ich habe meinen Teil noch nicht dazu beigetragen.« »Ich hoffe, die Momente, die ich fotografiere, werden immer tiefer und tiefer und tiefer.« »Ich denke in Erzählungen.« »Der Rand eines Geschehnisses interessiert mich mehr als sein Zentrum.« »Kleine, kurze, prägnante Momente erzählen viel mehr über uns.« »Ich habe den Eindruck, viele Menschen wollen sich nicht mit der Umwelt, die sie umgibt, auseinandersetzen.« »Ich versuche das, was ich sehe, mit der Kamera zu dekonstruieren.« »Bilder sind für Menschen sehr sehr wichtig. Wir denken in Bildern.« »Die Redewendung vom blinden Fleck fasziniert mich sehr.« Akinbode Akinbiyi wurde 1946 in Oxford, England von nigerianischen Eltern geboren. Schule und Universität absolvierte er in Nigeria, England und in Deutschland. Seit 1977 arbeitet er weltweit als freiberuflicher Fotograf. 1987 erhielt er das »STERN Reportage Stipendium« für die fotografische Arbeit in den Städten Lagos, Kano und Dakar. 1993 war er Mitbegründer von »UMZANZSI«, einem Kulturzentrum in Clermont Township im südafrikanischen Durban. Er bezeichnet sich selbst als Beobachter und Wanderer, und es zieht ihn immer wieder in weitläufige Groß- und Megastädte auf der ganzen Welt. Er arbeitet auch als Kurator und als Dozent in Deutschland, Nigeria, Sudan, Schweden, England, USA und Griechenland. 2017 nahm er an Documenta 14 teil. 2019 waren seine Arbeiten auf der »Chicago Architecture Biennial«, 2020 auf dem Houston Foto-Fest und im Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin zu sehen. 2021 wurde ihm der Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland verliehen. Er lebt und arbeitet in Berlin. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akinbode_Akinbiyi https://www.duesseldorfphotoplus.de/ https://www.instagram.com/duesseldorfphotoplus/ Episoden-Cover-Gestaltung: Andy Scholz Episoden-Cover-Foto: Privat Idee, Produktion, Redaktion, Moderation: Andy Scholz http://fotografieneudenken.de/ https://www.instagram.com/fotografieneudenken/ Der Podcast ist eine Produktion von STUDIO ANDY SCHOLZ 2022. Andy Scholz wurde 1971 in Varel am Jadebusen geboren. Er studierte Philosophie und Medienwissenschaften in Düsseldorf, Kunst und Design an der HBK Braunschweig und Fotografie/Fototheorie in Essen an der Folkwang Universität der Künste. Seit 2005 ist er freier Künstler, Autor sowie künstlerischer Leiter und Kurator vom FESTIVAL FOTOGRAFISCHER BILDER, das er gemeinsam mit Martin Rosner 2016 in Regensburg gründete. Seit 2012 unterrichtet er an verschiedenen Instituten, u.a. Universität Regensburg, Fachhochschule Würzburg, North Dakota State University in Fargo (USA), Philipps-Universität Marburg, Ruhr Universität Bochum, seit 2022 auch an der Pädagogischen Hochschule in Ludwigsburg. Im ersten Lockdown, im Juni 2020, begann er mit dem Podcast. Er lebt und arbeitet in Essen. http://fotografieneudenken.de/ https://www.instagram.com/fotografieneudenken/ https://festival-fotografischer-bilder.de/ https://www.instagram.com/festivalfotografischerbilder/ http://andyscholz.com/ https://www.instagram.com/scholzandy/

Sound Ecology is a continuation of our Season 2 theme, Art Meets Science. In this episode we experience the work of sound artists and musicians. We're moving at a meditative pace and providing listeners with a contemplative, relaxing experience. First up will be a six minute sound experience entitled "Shivering Sands," the contemplative ambient music project of singer-songwriter Angela James and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Martins. After "Shivering Sands" is an interview with sound artist, Norman W. Long, followed by his sound piece entitled "Expanded Field." Norman's practice involves walking, listening, improvising, performing, recording and composing to create environments and situations in which he and the audience are engaged in dialogues about memory, place, ecology, culture, race, value, silence and the invisible. Norman Long has performed and exhibited at Experimental Sound Studio, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Links Hall, Elastic Arts,Green Line Performing Arts Center, Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Cultural Center and 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Norman has performed with Damon Locks, Tatsuya Nakatani, Cher Jey, Sara Zalek, Cristal Sabbagh, Xris Espinoza, Adam Zanolini, Dan Bitney and Todd Carter and performed and toured with Angel Bat Dawid and the Brothahood. He has released his compositions on Hausu Mountain, Reserve Matinee and Room40 labels. His latest release, BLACK BROWN GRAY GREEN, was released in September 2021 on Hausu Mountain.The Pivot Arts Podcast is created and produced by Julieanne Ehre with sound engineering by Hannah Foerschler and original music composed by Andrew Hansen. Generous support for the podcast is provided by FLATS, a Chicago-based apartment community. For more information on Pivot Arts visit pivotarts.org.

In this episode the members from the Bussy Kween Power Trip band describe in detail their ideal monument. This seventh season of Blok by Blok was inspired by conversations with one of Chicago skateboard legends Jesse Neuhaus (@jesse_t_neuhaus.) Wave Function as he calls it, is an ideal monument that you admire from afar, maybe hop, ride or simply sit on it. Initially these conversations took place in Skateparks around the city in Spring and Summer of 2021. Most recently these dialogues moved to multiple projects from the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 (@chicagoarchitecturebiennial.) This episode is brought to you as part of Night out in the Parks from the Chicago Park District. Conversations among Bussy Kween Power Trip members Briana, Khalyle and PT. Produced by Blok by Blok. Edited by Timothy McNulty. Original music by Sam from Beat by Beat. Live Podcast music by: The Rip Ups https://ripups.bandcamp.com/releases Bussy Kween Power Trip https://bussykweenpowertrip.bandcamp.com/

In this episode two generations apart share their stance on monuments. This seventh season of Blok by Blok was inspired by conversations with one of Chicago skateboard legends Jesse Neuhaus (@jesse_t_neuhaus.) Wave Function as he calls it, is an ideal monument that you admire from afar, maybe hop, ride or simply sit on it. Initially these conversations took place in Skateparks around the city in Spring and Summer of 2021. Most recently these dialogues moved to multiple projects from the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 (@chicagoarchitecturebiennial.) This episode is brought to you as part of Night out in the Parks from the Chicago Park District. Conversations among Allison, Michael, August, Jadi, and Samuel. Produced by Blok by Blok. Edited by Timothy McNulty. Original music by Sam from Beat by Beat.

This seventh season of Blok by Blok was inspired by conversations with one of Chicago skateboard legends Jesse Neuhaus (@jesse_t_neuhaus.) Wave Function as he calls it, is an ideal monument that you admire from afar, maybe hop, ride or simply sit on it. Even though Jesse is not in these recorded conversations, his ideals and great perspective triggered this ongoing conversation about public space, and monuments reinterpretation. Initially these conversations took place in Skateparks around the city in Spring and Summer of 2021. Most recently these dialogues moved to multiple projects from the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 (@chicagoarchitecturebiennial.) Wave Function is an itinerant live Podcast around the city inspired by these conversations. This episode is brought to you as part of Night out in the Parks from the Chicago Park District. Conversations among Allison, Michael, August, Jadi, and Samuel. Produced by Blok by Blok. Edited by Timothy McNulty. Original music by Sam from Beat by Beat.

This seventh season of Blok by Blok was inspired by conversations with one of Chicago skateboard legends Jesse Neuhaus (@jesse_t_neuhaus.) Wave Function as he calls it, is an ideal monument that you admire from afar, maybe hop, ride or simply sit on it. Even though Jesse is not in these recorded conversations, his ideals and great perspective triggered this ongoing conversation about public space, and monuments reinterpretation. Initially these conversations took place in Skateparks around the city in Spring and Summer of 2021. Most recently these dialogues moved to multiple projects from the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 (@chicagoarchitecturebiennial.) Wave Function is an itinerant live Podcast around the city inspired by these conversations. This episode is brought to you as part of Night out in the Parks from the Chicago Park District. Conversations among Allison, Michael, August, Jadi, and Samuel. Produced by Blok by Blok. Edited by Timothy McNulty. Original music by Sam from Beat by Beat.

This episode is supported by Brizo • Monograph • Miele • Graphisoft Jimenez Lai was born in Taiwan, came of age in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. He works at Bureau Spectacular. Previously, Lai lived in a desert shelter at Taliesin and resided in a shipping container at Atelier Van Lieshout on the piers of Rotterdam. Lai's work focuses on the relationship between storytelling and architecture. His first book, Citizens of No Place, a graphic novel, was published by Princeton Architectural Press. Draft II of this book has been archived at the New Museum. Bureau Spectacular was a past participant of the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. Lai has won various awards, including the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Debut Award at the Lisbon Triennale, and the 2017 Designer of the Future Award at Art Basel. In 2014, Lai represented Taiwan at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2015, Lai organized the Treatise exhibition and publication series at the Graham Foundation. Lai has taught at various universities around the world, including Cornell, National University of Singapore, University of Southern California, UCLA, and Columbia University.  Lai's work has been collected by MoMA, SFMOMA, Art Institute of Chicago, and LACMA.    Bureau Spectacular imagines other worlds and engages design through telling stories. Beautiful stories about character development, relationships, curiosities, and attitudes; absurd stories about impossible realities that invite enticing possibilities. The stories conflate design, representation, theory, criticism, history, and taste into cartoon pages. These cartoon narratives swerve into the physical world through architectural installations, designed objects, interiors, and architecture.   SUBSCRIBE  • Apple Podcasts  • YouTube  • Spotify CONNECT  • Website: www.secondstudiopod.com • Instagram • Facebook • Twitter  • Call or text questions to 213-222-6950 SUPPORT Leave a review :) EPISODE CATEGORIES  •  Interviews: Interviews with industry leaders.  •  Design Companion: Informative talks for clients.   •  After Hours (AH): Casual conversations about everyday life.  •  Design Reviews: Reviews of creative projects and buildings.  •  Fellow Designer: Tips for designers.

In the podcast Emmett Scanlon talks to James Albert Martin and Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, who together with Anne Dorthe Vester and Maria Bruun are Soil Lab. In September 2021, Soil Lab unveiled their installation on a vacant lot in Chicago as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. In the podcast the pair discuss the project from the initial idea which, after an open call from the Danish Arts Foundation, was to make a housing for a ceramic kiln on the site, and all the way through to the opening. They share the obvious logistic challenges of making a project like this from Denmark and Ireland and in America, especially during a pandemic. However, challenging as it was, it is clear the team remain enthused, emboldened and engaged with and by the work and all that unfolded day by day across the project, and in particular how the project was enriched by the participation of residents and others who live and work adjacent to the site. James begins by telling us about the Chicago Architecture Biennial and from their pair talk directly and honestly about what happened, what they learned, and a little about what might be next. More about the project here: https://www.instagram.com/soillabnorthlawndale ABOUT SOIL LAB The Soil Lab project team is made up of three architects, James Albert Martin, Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, and Anne Dorthe Vester, and one designer, Maria Bruun, working across different scales, materials, and disciplines. James, Eibhlín, and Anne Dorthe studied together at the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark and have since collaborated on several projects. James and Eibhlín are based in Dublin, where they have both worked for internationally renowned architecture firms. Maria and Anne Dorthe are based in Copenhagen, where they founded the studio MBADV in 2013. Their practice with MBADV is at the intersection of architecture, design, and fine art. The project team comes together around a belief in making as a collaborative act: making moments, and making spaces and places for people to gather, to celebrate, and to treasure space. Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh graduated from the Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, in 2011. Since graduating she has worked for Atelier Peter Zumthor in Switzerland and Grafton Architects in Dublin, Ireland. In 2018, Eibhlín joined James and Anne Dorte in participating in the REFORM Design Biennale with their collaboration Woven Construct, constructed in the garden of Munkeruphus Center of Contemporary Art, in Zealand, Denmark. Eibhlín believes imagination is the central strength of architecture and is interested in the social act of architecture and design as a collaborative conversation. It is with great pleasure that, together with the people of North Lawndale and the Soil Lab team, she embarks on transforming a vacant lot in West Chicago into a new public space. James Albert Martin is a registered architect with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and Grade 3 Accredited in Architectural Conservation. He has taught at The Aarhus School of Architecture and at University College Dublin where he is currently a Design Fellow. James is interested in the act of making, and his work is informed by this collaborative act. James holds a MA from The Aarhus School of Architecture and has also undertaken courses in joinery at Capellagården - a school for craft and design. Since graduating he has worked with international studios; Sou Fujimoto Architects, Herzog & de Meuron, and Grafton Architects. In 2018, James, Eibhlín, and Anne Dorte participated in REFORM Design Biennale with their collaboration Woven Construct, a seat, a screen, space, which they constructed in the garden of Munkeruphus, north of Copenhagen.

In this episode host Emmett Scanlon meets Nathalie Weadick. Nathalie is the director of the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF). The IAF is an independent organisation dedicated to the promotion of architecture as culture. In a wide ranging conversation, Nathalie recalls her early career in Visual Arts and as Director of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny and how she moved into architecture. The conversation covers risk taking, growing a desire for architecture, the impact of public engagement practices and that the time is here for a new "house" for architecture in Ireland. (The podcast was recorded on zoom) About Nathalie Weadick: Nathalie Weadick is a curator of architecture and spatial practice based in Dublin. She has been the director of the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF) since 2007. Through the IAF she has delivered many initiatives exploring the impact of architecture on society, culture, and history. She initiated the development of a BMX Skate and Play Park, a community-led design project with Dublin City Council, Ballyfermot Community, and architects Relational Urbanism. The framework for this project developed into a national program called Reimagine. She established the ongoing and successful National Architects in Schools Initiative and produces Open House Dublin, Ireland's largest architecture festival engaging thousands annually. From 2013 to 2021 she curated with Arup New Now Next a series of talks in Dublin with David Adjaye, Jeanne Gang, Tatiana Bilbao, Rozana Montiel, Kunle Adeyemi, Workac, Minsuk Cho, Ole Scheeren, Bjarke Ingels, Winy Maas, and Grafton Architects. 2017-2018 she was on the team of assistants to the Curators Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice. In 2015 she was the Architecture Advisor for Irish Design 2015 and co-curated with Raymund Ryan New Horizon_Architecture from Ireland and presented ten emerging and current Irish practices at the London Festival of Architecture, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the Hong Kong/Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale. In 2015/16 she curated We Built This City a series of panel discussions in London, Chicago, and New York about the impact of Irish creativity on global cities. In 2013 she curated The Everyday Experience in the Irish Museum of Modern Art about the impact of architecture on people. In 2008 she co-curated with Prof Hugh Campbell The Lives of Spaces for the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale and in 2010 she was Commissioner of the Irish exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. 2004-2007 she held the position of Deputy Director at The Architecture Foundation in London and with Director Rowan Moore produced the London Debates in the Turbine Hall TATE Modern. Formerly, she was Director of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny for five years, where she curated shows by international artists. She has written for many publications on visual arts and architecture. In 2017 she received an Honorary Fellowship from the RIBA. She is currently researching a Ph.D. at RMIT Melbourne and Queens University Belfast, Schools of Architecture. __ Music is by Sinead Finegan, played by the Delmaine String Quartet (Philip Dodd, leader). The podcast was recorded on Zoom in April 2021.

What does it mean for architecture to have character? Stewart and Allison are co-founders of Design With Company, who's work is interested in concepts that are shared between architecture and literature, including: narrative fictions, type, and character. The work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award and the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London.  Allison has lectured at institutions like MoMA in New York, the Vancouver Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Graham Foundation, and universities across the country and abroad. Stewart is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an Associate Dean of the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts.  Mas Context 'Character' Issue

Muslim Women in Architecture (MWA) is a network and collective working to empower, inspire and celebrate Muslim women in the architecture and built environment industry. In this episode, I talk to Tahin Khan, Zahra Mansoor and Rim Kalsoum about MWA as it aims to provide a platform to not only support Muslim girls and women who want to pursue a career in the field, but to encourage an open discussion amongst those within the profession and outside. Tahin Khan is a British Bangladeshi Part 2 Architectural Assistant at ArchitectureDoingPlace. She completed her Part 1 and 2 at the University of Westminster. Over the years, Tahin has worked with a number of architects on projects ranging from private residential to healthcare to the preliminary design for the Tower Hamlets Town Hall. Currently, she is working on several social housing projects for local authorities in London. Tahin understands the importance of communities, and how the wellbeing for an individual correlates to the communities they are a part of. She explored this in depth in her Master's thesis, which she continues to do research on. Tahin is keen on tackling social, political and environmental issues through architectural interventions. Zahra Mansoor is an independent architectural designer currently based in India. She met fellow co-founders Rim Kalsoum and Tahin Khan while doing her Part 1 at the University of Westminster. During her term as president of the Westminster architecture Society (WAS), she and Rim organised the AF Megacrit under the theme "Architecture and Power". While studying in London, she realised that the lack of diversity in the industry affected the way students were supported in their education and careers. Her interests include the influence of power and social systems on architectural ethnography as well as the use of digital fabrication in architectural practice. Rim Kalsoum is a British Syrian Architectural Assistant based in London. Having completed her RIBA PART II at the University of Westminster, she currently works for Golzari NG Architects and Architecture Doing Place. As Ex-Vice President of the Westminster Architecture Society, she co-organised the Megacrit in 2019 with Zahra Mansoor. She is a researcher for Palestine Regeneration Team (PART) and is currently working on a range of research projects, most recently the Secrets of a Digital Garden, in collaboration with RIWAQ which was exhibited at the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2019 and the Berlin Film Festival in 2020. Her work arches from examining methods of urban landscape annihilation in conflict areas to erosions of public space in London.

On today’s show Donna and I are joined by Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski of WAI Architecture Think Tank. The last time we had Cruz and Nathalie on the podcast was for our Next Up series at the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial. We’ve since also had Cruz on the podcast to discuss the unfortunate changes at Taliesin’s School of Architecture, where Cruz and Nathalie were both visiting teaching fellows. On each of these instances we had a limited time with them to discuss highly specific aspects of their work, so we wanted to have them back on to learn more about their backgrounds, how they met, and what drives their work. If you’ve been following them, you’ll know that they recently published a book on their work entitled Narrative Architecture. They’ve also published a powerful anti-racist manifesto on un-making architecture, as the fight for equality pushes forward, propelled by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Want to design a libertarian micronation?  Daniela Ghertovici, Founder and Director of ArchAgenda LLC, joins us to discuss the Liberland Design Competition 2020, which she is curating. https://designliberland2020.splashthat.com/ Daniela is also curating the Free Private Cities Architecture Symposium on July 18, 2020. It's a free online event with no less than three former Anarchitecture guests: Patrik Schumacher, Titus Gebel, and Scott Beyer. Register now at https://freeprivatecitiesarchitecture.splashthat.com/ We can't mention Patrik Schumacher without talking about parametricism, which ArchAgenda LLC was established to promote. Patrik is Daniela's PhD advisor, and together with Lars Van Vianen they are launching Parametricism.com Use hashtag #ana031 to reference this episode in a tweet, post, or comment View full show notes at http://anarchitecturepodcast.com/ana031. ----more---- Intro  Liberland "Greenfieldism" (building a new system) as a third alternative to political action (changing an existing system) or agorism (working around an existing system) Discussion ArchAgenda's Mission and Liberland involvement ArchAgenda LLC is a research-based architectural and computational design lab, which aims to advance and promote a new agenda of radical innovation for 21st century architecture and design, known as Parametricism. Daniela's introduction to anarcho-capitalism, libertarianism, and Liberland by Patrik Schumacher (Principal of Zaha Hadid Architects) Liberland Design Competition 2020 What is Liberland? Micronation, established in 2015 by its current president, Vit Jedlicka. Based on the principles of liberty and anarcho- capitalism, powered by a decentralized peer-to-peer computational network (blockchain) Liberland is situated on a territory between Serbia and Croatia, previously a Terra Nillius (no man’s land) which has not been claimed by either country prior to the establishment of Liberland. Liberland encompasses only 7 square kilometers of land along the Danube River, which periodically floods. Geography and history of how Liberland was made possible Goals of the competition Envision how maximum design freedom can result in a complex legible order Ecological sensitivity is of upmost importance A lucid development process for a multi-stage evolution towards a fully functional, architecturally sophisticated, and intelligently adaptive city. Design Parameters Can Liberland’s radical new possibilities for liberty, an unleashed free market economy, and a transparent distributed peer-to-peer computational network (blockchain) stimulate a radical transformation of the built environment? How can maximum design freedom result in a complex legible order? The vitality of a fertile network society is dependent on the presence of three stabilizing factors: the radical autonomy of its constituent agents (liberty), a commitment to unregulated affiliation (free markets), and a transparent distributed peer-to-peer network (blockchain). Patrik Schumacher's Prospective Urban Planning Regimes Sponsored Order: Anticipated Curated Rule-based Self-governed Order Spontaneous Order (Wild Zones) Liberland as a building site Density - Maximum 120,000 residents / 7 square kilometers Earthquake risk A global network of distributed intelligences, and e-residency program Virtual marketplace for architecture Napredak development Napredak is an approximately 5-hectare zone within Apatin, situated approximately 10km south of Liberland along the Danube River where Liberland docks its boats Bitcoin Freedom boat Floating Man festival Design for near-future development Napredak's strategic location Judges ARCHITECT, THEORIST AND EDUCATOR Patrik Schumacher ARCHITECT AND THEORIST Vedran Mimica ARCHITECT Raya Ani, FAIA ARCHITECT Bruno Juricic BLOCKCHAIN EXPERT Jillian Godsil LIBERTARIAN POLICY RESEARCHER Vera Kichanova PHILOSOPHER Garet Crossman ARCHITECT Jan Petrs ARCHITECT Shady Albert Michael Prizes Negotiate a contract with Liberland to further develop a portion of their competition design scheme Liberland "Merits" cryptocurrency towards citizenship Schedule May 16, 2020 - Competition Launch August 16, 2020 - Registration & Questions Deadline October 16, 2020 - Design Submission Deadline November 2020 - Winners Announced Registration Fees Professionals $60, Students with current ID $30. One registration fee per team A 30% discount for professional and student registration will be in effect July 18 - July 25. 2015 Liberland Design Competition The requirement to utilize BLOCKCHAIN as a concept generator and design driver is the most pronounced difference between the 2015 and 2020 Liberland Design Competitions. Blockchain as the 8th mass media A comprehensive information technology for any form of asset registry, inventory, and exchange JOE IS A #NOCOINER Free Private Cities Architecture Symposium - July 18, 2020 SESSION 1: FREEDOM AND URBAN DESIGN Participants: Patrik Schumacher, Titus Gebel, Shajay Bhooshan, Scott Beyer, Vera Kichanova. Discussion will focus on freedom, private cities, charter cities, market urbanism, liquid democracy, economics, markets, distributed intelligence, blockchain powered governance and services, urban and architectural design for free private cities, the migration of architecture to cyberspace, and more. SESSION 2: CITIES AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Participants: Lev Manovich, Philippe Morel, Neil Leach, Sanford Kwinter. Discussion will focus on big data, cultural analytics, planetary scale computation, terraforming, complex epigenetic systems, soft systems, artificial life and intelligence, biology as information theory, virtual reality, augmented reality, internet of things, blockchain, robotics, and more. About ArchAgenda ArchAgenda Debates at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial Patrik Schumacher, Peter Eisenman, Jeffrey Kipnis, Reinier de Graaf, and Theodore Spyropoulos Parametricism as best practice The Cambrian Explosion in architecture after modernism - tension between experimentation and refinement Parametricism.com Publish project imagery and research Foldism, blobism, swarmism, tectonism Architectural Semiology Architecture's tasks: Organization Articulation Phenomenological Articulation Semiological Articulation Agent-based parametric semiology The Migration of Architecture to Cyberspace A/B testing Those kids and their Minecrafts Liberty Minecraft - Diamonds are a libertarian's best friend ArchAgenda Future Plans Liberland Virtual Market - A blockchain powered virtual reality platform for architecture Virtual Symposium at Dutch Design Week in October ArchAgenda Debates at the Chicago Architecture Biennial in October 2021 Year-long series of virtual symposiums, in collaboration with Bruno Juricic  Links/Resources ArchAgenda LLC - https://archagenda.com/about Liberland Design Competition 2020 - https://designliberland2020.splashthat.com/ Free Republic of Liberland - https://liberland.org/en/ Liberland Design Competition 2015 winners - https://liberlandpress.com/2016/05/20/winners-liberlands-architectural-competition/ Free Private Cities Architecture Symposium, July 18 2020 at 9am-2pm EDT (13:00-18:00 GMT). Register at https://freeprivatecitiesarchitecture.splashthat.com/ Guests can only participate in the Q&A via Zoom: Live on ZOOM: https://zoom.us/j/99058462823 Live stream on ARCHAGENDA YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrjtfQRDE2pL1GAxxyUDIA Live stream on LIBERLAND Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/liberland/ Patrik Schumacher's Prospective Urban Planning Regimes - https://liberlandpress.com/2020/02/19/liberlands-prospective-urban-planning-regime/ Parametricism.com ArchAgenda Debates at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial - https://archagenda.com/archagenda-debates Liberty Minecraft - https://www.libertyminecraft.com/ Woulda Coulda Shoulda (The #Nocoiner anthem) by Diametric (Our band) on Spotify Diametric home page - check out all of our tunes for free, with links to various streaming services Episodes Mentioned Patrik Schumacher Series - https://anarchitecturepodcast.com/category/podcast/patrik-schumacher-series/ ana025: Free Private Cities | Titus Gebel Interview - https://anarchitecturepodcast.com/ana025/ ana030: The ABC’s of Market Urbanism | Scott Beyer Interview - https://anarchitecturepodcast.com/ana030/

Today is a conversation with Sylvia Lavin and we’re discussing her recent book ‘Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernization Effects’. Book Sylvia Lavin is Professor of History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University. Prior to her appointment at Princeton, Lavin was a Professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA, where she was Chairperson from 1996 to 2006 and the Director of the Critical Studies M.A. and Ph.D. program from 2007 to 2017.   She is the author of Form Follows Libido: Architecture and Richard Neutra in a Psychoanalytic Culture. Her most recent books include, Kissing Architecture, published by Princeton University Press in 2011 and Flash in the Pan, an AA publication from 2015.   Professor Lavin is also a curator: including, Everything Loose Will Land: Art and Architecture in Los Angeles in the 1970s, was a principal component of the Pacific Standard Time series supported by the Getty Foundation and traveled from Los Angeles to New Haven and to Chicago.  Her installation, Super Models, was shown at the 2018 Chicago Architecture Biennial and most recently Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernists Myths, was an exhibition at the Canadian Center for Architecture. 

Rick Valicenti (founder and design director of Thirst, a communication design practice for clients in the architectural, performing arts and education communities), Iker Gil (architect, director of MAS Studio, editor in chief of the quarterly design journal, MAS Context), and Jenn Stucker (associate professor and division chair of graphic design at BGSU, founding board member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, AIGA Toledo) discuss community-based collaborative design.    Transcript: Introduction: From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas. Intro Song Lyrics: I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment. Jolie Sheffer: Welcome to the BG Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Jolie Sheffer, associate professor of English and american culture studies and the director of ICS. Today we're joined by three guests working in collaborative design fields. First is Rick Valicenti, the founder and design director of Thirst, a communication design practice for clients in the architectural, performing arts and education communities. His work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art and resides in the permanent collections of the Yale University Library, Denver Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2011, he was honored by the White House with the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for communication design. Jolie Sheffer: We're also joined by Iker Gil, an architect, the director of MAS Studio, editor in chief of the quarterly design journal, MAS Context, and the editor of the book, Shanghai Transforming. He curated the exhibition, Bold: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago, included in the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial. Iker is the associate curator of the US Pavilion at the 16th Annual Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2010, he received the Emerging Visions Award from the Chicago Architectural Club. Jolie Sheffer: Finally, I'd like to welcome Jenn Stucker an associate professor and division chair of graphic design at BGSU. Her work has been published in several books on design and she's received various awards including two international design awards from How Magazine for her community based works in Toledo. She's also a founding board member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, AIGA Toledo. And she previously co-chaired two national AIGA design education conferences. Jolie Sheffer: The three of them are here to talk to me as part of the Edwin H. Simmons Creative Minds series. Thank you and welcome to BGSU. I'm thrilled to discuss more of your work on creativity and collaboration. I like to start by having you each give a little background on your current work and how you came into the kind of design work that you're doing. So Rick, how did your career change from your time as a student at BGSU to your work now? What are some of those major u-turns or forks in the road for you? Rick Valicenti: Well, thank you. That's a good question. That's a really good question. Okay, so let me fast backwards to 1973 when I graduated from Bowling Green. I went back to Pittsburgh, spent some time in a steel mill for two years, went to graduate school at the University of Iowa. Came to Chicago afterwards with two graduate degrees in photography and discovered that I was not interested in photographing hotdogs, cornflakes and beer. So with that I thought I would leverage a time in the writer's workshop doing a little bit of letter press work as well as my time at Bowling Green studying design. And I thought I'll be a designer. It wasn't that easy. But it has been a journey for now almost four decades since then to get to a place where I feel there's relevance in what I do. And that has been the challenge, and it continues to be the challenge. Design, as you know, is a practice that has at its core, or patronage, somebody else. Rick Valicenti: In fact, it's been said you have to be given permission to practice graphic design. Not necessarily the case, you can do self-initiated projects. And it was in leveraging what I learned in graduate school, which was how to make up a project, how to provide for myself a thesis and then create work in response to that. That has allowed me to both do that on my own as well as in collaboration with other people. And then to encourage younger designers under some guidance to do the same. And of late, the more interesting work has been work that has been related to an issue, not unlike the work that Jenn practices in her classwork. But to me that's the most fulfilling and it was unfortunately not the work that I showed because it was work I was prepared to end the evening with. But I chose because we had been blabbing for so long last night to just stop early. But it's okay. Jolie Sheffer: Tell me what led you to start your own firm? Rick Valicenti: I was one of those lucky designers who, while it was difficult to crack the Chicago design scene, two years of doing what I would refer to as thankless design work, design work where I was asked to do something prescriptive. Like do this by Friday. Yes, I could do that. I was quite good at it. I lucked out by having the opportunity to be the dark room guy for a very reputable Chicago designer, who was at that time 63 years old. And so in his last three and a half years of practice I had moved from the new guy in the studio to the last employee he had. And it was a fantastic experience to be in the company of real design practice. Design practice that understood the history, it understood the present, and it was looking out to the future. This guy was connected to the other thought leaders in the Chicago design community and I had access to them even though it was vicarious. Jolie Sheffer: Great. Thank you. Iker, tell us about your journey into Chicago architecture and the current kinds of collaboration you do. How has your approach to design changed over time and what were some of those key junctures for you? Iker: So I'm originally from Bilbao, which is a city in the North of Spain in the Basque country. And I think a lot of the changes in design and a lot of the ways that I've been thinking had been motivated also by the change of place or how the people that I've encounter or any other aspects that really change as I move from other places. So from Bilbao I went to Barcelona to study architecture. I had the chance there to not only have the professors that were faculty there, but also other visiting professors, like David Chipperfield and Kazuyo Sejima. So that was a way of beginning to connect with other experiences that maybe were not the local ones. And I was very interested in expanding that. And I've had the luck to get a scholarship from IIT in Chicago to go there for a year. Iker: So it was a little bit coincidentally in a way that I ended up in Chicago. And I was there for a year as an exchange student, I still had to do my thesis so I went back to Spain. But there was something about Chicago, a apart from my girlfriend that now is my wife, who is from Chicago. But there was something very intriguing about the city, a lot of potential, very different from being in Barcelona. But there was something always in Barcelona that was interesting for me about the cultural aspect of architecture. There was the aspects of people building a significant building or just a civic building that there was always a publication and an exhibition, a way of coming together to talk about why those things were important. Iker: So when I went to Chicago, when I moved back and I did my master's, I worked for an office. I was always interested in the ADL, the community, the design community, the architecture community. How do you strengthen that and how do you create the platforms to do that beyond what you can design? So I decided at some point that I really wanted to make sure that I did both of those things. And I went on my own about 11 years ago just to make sure that I could create the designs within my office, but create other platforms for others to have that conversation. And more recently I've been able to create the structures to support or organize design competitions and really began being interested in not only the final product, but how do you structure the conditions for those things to happen. Jolie Sheffer: So you're talking about not just designing buildings, but designing communities and relationships. Iker: Yep. And I think that's a role of, in my case, an architect or designers. Like the work that you do, but also the work in the city that you do. And how are you part of the community, and also how are you proactive shaping that community? Not something that you want to benefit from someone else's effort to structure something. What is what you can do and why you can give to the community back? Jolie Sheffer: Great. Jenn, talk to us about your path into graphic design and how your approach has shifted over time. Jenn Stucker: So I was at graduate here at BGSU. Very proud of the training and the experience that I had from Ron Giacomini, a chair that Rick also had the opportunity to study under. And when I graduated I went right out into the field, I got a job in graphic design. And I think was pretty good at my craft and pretty good at making. And also at the same time pursuing this educational path. I am originally a transplant from Colorado, I guess you could say. And one of the things about the Toledo area is there's this "neh" mentality. It's the rust belt. I- Jolie Sheffer: Better days are behind us. Jenn Stucker: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:09:16]. Yes. It's definitely like, why did you move from Colorado to Toledo? Is usually the question that I get asked. And I'm always like, wow, there's so many great things here. You're four hours from Chicago, you're this far from Toronto, you're this far from here. In Colorado you're four hours from the border of Wyoming, at least where I live. Right? And you're looking at the same topography and you're not getting any cultural change. And so for me, my family was here. My husband and his family. And so I was here for the long haul. Jenn Stucker: So the idea really just became, I need to bloom where I'm planted. I need to make this space and place better, and contribute to it and work towards that. Changing the attitude, how do we create positivity in this community? And so I started getting involved in creating projects that really illuminated Toledo in a positive way. And so then I reflected back on the fact that I wasn't necessarily armed with that as a student, with that understanding of the fact that I had agency and power that I could do something. I didn't necessarily have training with, how do you collaborate and get a, you know, writing a grant to get the funding for this? And who do I need to talk to and who needs to bring this to the table? And all of those things. Jenn Stucker: So part of that I think now is coming to what I do as an educator, is to show those students. I tell them, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm completely fumbling through this. I don't know what I'm doing. This dots project in Toledo that I'm literally the one that's going to be photographing all the dots around Toledo, or trying to find spaces in January and it's cold. And then actually putting them down on the ground and actually taking them off the ground and doing these sort of things. I don't know that when I'm creating the idea. But I know it has to get done and I'm going to do that. And the fact that I'm just Jenn is what I tell them. I'm just one person, I'm not any different than you. And so I try to give them a lot of power that they can do that thing that they want to make change for. Jolie Sheffer: You're all talking about very place-based design practices, or in different ways your work is all very much about locating yourself, right? And building in relationship to that community, and creating community. Could you give an example, Rick, of one of your projects that had a very Chicago-centric, and how that place shaped the process and the collaborations that you developed? Rick Valicenti: With pleasure. In 2016, I was the artist in residence at Loyola University. And there we devoted an entire year to prototyping empathetic ways of grieving for those who were left behind by gun violence. That was a very Chicago-centric theme. And it was something that I was curious about beyond the candle vigil, right? Or the protest march. Are there other ways we can come together both as community led by design in order to acknowledge and honor the life lost? And of course help the healing process for the families left behind. That was a very place specific design assignment. The difference was we were doing it on the North side, and a lot of the activity, gun violent activity was happening on the South side. Not all of it because in the building that we were located, in the alley right next door one of the students had been shot. Rick Valicenti: Down the street the young photographer had been shot and killed on that street. So as they call it, the franchising of gun violence had migrated North to the Rogers Park and Edgewater area, which is where Loyola is located. It made it more real and more tangible, but the prototyping of these empathetic gestures was, I think, healing for all of us. And I've been rewarded by that project ever since. And I really want to see now if something like that can migrate to other cities. And I've been talking to a few people like, wouldn't El Paso benefit from this kind of intervention? Dayton, Ohio, would they not benefit from it? Jolie Sheffer: And could you talk through what that project actually ended up looking like? Rick Valicenti: I'll give you an example. There were 20 students in the class, half of them were from the fine arts area, half of them were from design related fields. And so they all had different approaches to it. And every class began with somebody from the outside. Rick Valicenti: Okay? And I thought this was important. And Iker knows this model of practice that I use, I call it moving design is what I have named the umbrella. But I'll give you an example of three kinds of people who came to the class. One person we arranged for a car to pick up the head of the emergency room at Stroger, which is the hospital, Cook County hospital. And this guy was picked up in a car, came to our class in his [Ohar 00:14:07] blacks with his red tennis shoes. And it was the day after a very violent weekend. This guy showed up shell shocked. You could just see the trauma in his face. He never made eye contact with the students. He was a young guy, maybe 38 or something, had his head down as he spoke. And that was a moving moment. More for me, I think, than anybody else. Rick Valicenti: But it was like, oh my God, here's a first responder who's there and he told us of some of the things that he had seen that have kept him from sleeping. We also had Emory Douglas, who was the communication director, minister of the Black Panthers. So Emory talked about the use of graphic design to move an agenda. And how an unskilled, unfunded initiative of communication design could migrate into the public through the printed ephemera. And he was there to really rally these students. That was fantastic. And then another woman, her name was Cecelia Williams. Cecelia Williams was 28 years old. She is an activist. She's a mother. And in her 28 years she has lost 29 family and friends to gun violence. The first one was her second grade teacher. She came to the class, again, with her version of PTSD. Moved the students and begged the students to do something. Rick Valicenti: Just something. It was in the form of just write the mothers of one of these victims a sympathy card after you hear the headline. Right? That's a simple thing. Or, gather all your cards and one person just take it to the funeral home and leave it in the basket. Simple moment. If you'd like I could share you an example of one of the projects, how we manifested our work at the end. We had lots of installations and interventions around the area, but one in particular was a community based exercise. I showed them an image of logging in Wisconsin. Tree logging. And those images that we're all familiar with are the felled trees in the shallow water, and the guys are standing on the tree trunks. And I said, it wasn't too much earlier before that picture was taken that those were living organisms, but now they're felled to the ground. And let's just imagine that we use the tree trunk as a symbol of those who are fallen. Rick Valicenti: And we've returned them to their vertical position. So that was the form of it. And then we started to talk about, well what could we put on those and what is the form? Are we going to be having tree trunks, that seems wrong. So we ordered lots of very long and very huge custom mailing tubes from a firm in Chicago called Chicago Mailing Tubes. And they made 24 inch, 18 inch and 12 inch mailing tubes of varying lengths. We had them wrapped in white paper and then the students took the grid of Chicago and wrapped each of those trees with black tape to suggest, not replicate, the grid of the city. And then we invited the community to come. And we had the list of the 760 some victims from the previous year to write their first names in whatever black calligraphy we could, whether it was with a Sharpie or whether it was with a brush pen. Rick Valicenti: And to see the community members come together with the students, honoring everybody with the names. And so, okay, that's one facet of it. And we have all these tubes now, and we put end caps on the tubes and the students started to talk about things that they would like to say. If you had to say something to a mother, to a community, to just reduce the pain of gun violence, what might it sound like? Everyone is a hero. I miss you, I miss you, I miss you. Whatever those messages were. And they typeset them in a black and white type, in all caps in a Gothic typeface on an orange disk. That orange disk had a hole cut in the middle and there was an orange piece of a cord, nylon cord, that we knotted. And that provided now these tree trunk-like forms to be carried. Rick Valicenti: And so there was a procession around town into the quad of the campus until they... Oh, I'm sorry. When the morning started all of the trunks were there in the center of the quad. That's right. Like the felled tree trunks. And then the procession started. And there were prayers read, and some music played, and some dancers from the music school came and they did a performative dance. A kind of celebration and resurrection, if you will. And then we were all invited to grab the chords and walk the trunks back to the alley where this student had been shot in the back, and return them to their vertical position. And there, I don't know, there we just reflected on it. But it was all quite moving. And we had it filmed and photographed and there was the record of it that could carry on. Rick Valicenti: We thought that could live in other places. The alderman, I'm sorry if I'm going on so long, I'm taking up this whole hour. But the alderman, his name is Harry Osterman, he was also invited to come. And he said, you know what, I would like that to be re-installed in my local park. And sure enough we installed it in his park and complete with all of the rides that a kid would have, the seesaw on the slide. A couple weeks later we get a call from alderman Osterman's office saying, it seems that there has been some violence in the park and your display has been vandalized. In fact, it has been destroyed. It has been cut up. It has been sawed. It has been smashed. Rick Valicenti: And I thought immediately, oh my God, the last thing we need is for Loyola to be a headline. And this good intention to be diminished. So we quickly scrambled and we went and we cleaned up the site and we got a chainsaw, we rented a chainsaw and we cut the things up so that we could transport it. And here what had happened was the other gang from the other side of the street was upset that, right, there had been some franchise in some retaliation of a recent shooting and this was the way that they could mark their territory. So there's lots healing that needs to be done, but design was certainly there to put a mirror to it. To make a good intention. And to certainly reveal the scab or the wound. Jolie Sheffer: Iker, can you give us an example of some of your place specific work? Maybe one particular project. You talked last night about the Marina Towers. I don't know if you want to talk about that or feel free to take that in a different direction. Iker: Yeah. Maybe one thing that I think is more important is structurally I think being in Chicago is what has saved my practice. I think a lot of the opportunities of doing self-initiated projects or projects that I was particularly interested are allowed to happen in Chicago because maybe there is not the pressure that there is in New York or any other places. And I think the idea of having space as a designer and an architect to think about things was something that I found very important and very unique to Chicago. Iker: So I think in a way, the way I was trained and the way I practice right now is different because of being in Chicago. And particularly that project of Marina City, I think it's one that it's very specific to the idea of Chicago about how it reflects how I work and how the projects evolve. And taking one icon of the city and really using that for me as a personal interest in understanding not only the building but understanding the architect, the ambitions of the architect. Why that building was so forward thinking when it opened in the early 60s. And then beginning to understand, how do you capture that value? Iker: How do you tell that story to people who are not architects? What are the tools that you have? And in that case I worked with Andreas Larsson, a photographer, to really begin to capture the diversity of the community. And it was a way of saying, you don't have to read plans in sections and elevations or use models to communicate the value of a building. There are other ways that maybe you can engage. And then through that you can learn some of the other things. Iker: And then that was exhibited, and then it has continued in doing then renovations in the building with Ellipsis Architecture. So always in collaboration with someone else. And the idea there is that, how do you celebrate the spacial qualities of the marina architect, but at the same time making it modern so new people can be living there. So it's an interesting project that has been ongoing for 10 years. And it just summarizes my interest in Bertrand Goldberg. And then as you work with other people, as you evolve or you have other skills, you can really begin to communicate that in different ways. And I can see that he's probably not going to be the last renovation or not the last project in some shape or form that I'm going to do about that building and that architect, which I think it's fantastic. Jolie Sheffer: Well there's something really interesting. You said something about this at your talk about how a project never really ends, it just sort of evolves into some new shape. Right? And clearly that work is an example of that notion that you never really have an end point. And your example too, Rick, went that way. That it takes on a new form and it may be not what you intended or what you imagined, but you have to let that life go on. Iker: I think in the end they are like your own personal obsessions. They are your interest, but it's sometimes it's an interest and sometimes it's an obsession. And they are in the back of your mind and then there is something that happens that it comes forward again, you have the opportunity to do it and then he goes back. But there are things that obviously you have a certain attachment. And then you realize that there are a lot of buildings, in this case, that share some of the ambitions because they were built in the same period. And then you can make a comparison or connect it to other experiences in other cities. So something that is very local and particular you can engage in a conversation with something that is happening in other cities. So I find it very particular, I never let go of those interests. It's just they transform and the outcome is very different. Jolie Sheffer: And Jenn, you mentioned the dots project. Could you talk about what that was and how that was very much play specific to Toledo? Jenn Stucker: Absolutely. So the genesis of that project came from the Arts Commission. I'd previously had done a banner project for them collaboratively with my colleague Amy Fiddler. And at the time I was president of AIG Toledo. And they came to us to say, oh we're having the GAS conference, the Glass Art Society is going to be coming. It's an international conference and maybe you could do some banners again. And I thought about that and really wanted to do something different. And one of the things about banners is the passivity that it has. And you have to be looking up, kind of encountering those. And so I've always been fascinated with maps and the "you are here" dot specifically. When I go to museums, when I go to zoos, wherever I'm going, I look for that and it gives me a sense of place. And the idea of sense of place seemed very important here at this time. Jenn Stucker: They were going to have people coming from all over the world. What is our sense of place? What is Toledo? And knowing that I wanted people to discover the city, and hopefully through walking. And how could I branch out into various places? So thinking about this dot of "you are here" and wanting people to discover the city, came up with this idea of three foot circular dots that had artwork on them created by a hundred different artists in Toledo that were site specific to that place. So working with the Arts Commission, what are the signature places in Toledo? The Toledo public library, the San Marcos Taqueria. It could be anywhere within the Toledo area, Point Place. So they helped curate that list. We talked about signature points, reached out to all of those establishments to say, more or less, congratulations, you're going to be part of this project. So that they would know that there was going to be a dot in front of their place. Jenn Stucker: And then having artists participate in creating those dots. And then on the dots was a QR code, and this was 2012, so it was still kind of cool then. And the idea was that you would scan the dot and you could then get the background information about the place in which you were standing. So you would learn about St. Patrick's Cathedral and get more information. And then to also give honor to the artist that they too would have their artist statement and what inspired the artwork that they created. And so one of the things about public art is that oftentimes if it's a sculpture, it's a very place specific, and only if you go to that place. And it's typically usually one artist. And so what I really liked about this project was that it was a hundred different artists that were participating in this. Jenn Stucker: And it was originally developed for outsiders to discover Toledo. The things that happened secondarily to that were amazing, where I was getting emails from people that had read about it in the newspaper. And one couple in particular said, we've read about this, we went out to start looking for these dots. They collected 25 of them and ended up at San Marcos Taqueria, said they had the best tacos they've ever had, had no idea it was even there. And they said they were looking forward to discovering more of their city. And I was like, that's a mic drop kind of moment. It couldn't have been any better than having people really realize the great things that we have in the community. So the byproduct of that was just, like I said, people seeing the great things that were here. Jenn Stucker: I wish I'd partnered with a cell phone company at the time because we had people that are actually buying cell phones. Because really, the iPhone had only come out, what, 2007 or something. So we're not too far to not everybody having a smartphone. There were people that were going out to buy a smart phone so that they could participate in this project. And there was a scavenger hunt component too, so we had an app for it. And the first hundred people to digitally collect 25 dots got a custom silkscreened edition poster. And so people are posting on Facebook and finding this dot and taking their children out. And I don't know, couldn't ask for a better project. Jolie Sheffer: We're going to take a short break. Thank you for listening to the BG Ideas podcast. Speaker 1: If you are passionate about big ideas, consider sponsoring this program. To have your name or organization mentioned here, please contact us at ics@bgsu.edu. Jolie Sheffer: Welcome back. Today I'm talking with Rick Valicenti, Iker Gil, and Jenn Stucker about the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in creative fields. One of the things that you both talked about during your visit was the idea that the form of a given project will change, right? And I think Iker, you put it as something like, what's the story I want to tell and what's going to be the best form to tell that story? So how do you go about, what is part of your process and figuring out that answer to that question of the relationship between form and story? Iker: Yeah, I think that came out about the work and the way we structure MAS Context. And then really the first thing is just framing what the topic that we want to do, and then who should be the voices that need to be part of that issue. And sometimes you realize that you need something that sets the ground and it might be more academic. It might be an essay that really gives the shape to that. And then there are many other elements that can compliment, that can contra, that could take another direction that comes in the form of a short essay. And you need to be very aware. I think that a lot of the work that I do is actually paying attention to what other people are doing in their work. So whenever there is an issue that is coming together, I know I already have in my head what's the work that everybody's doing so I can make those connections. Iker: So it's really understanding how they work, what they are trying to say, what's the shape that it can be. And we've had, in the issues, we have long essays, short essays, photo essays, diagrams, poems. But also the people who write, they don't come from all the academic world. And some of the most interesting articles have come from people who are just residents in a building. And they can tell a story much better than an academic that has talk about housing. And one of the examples is we've done this for 10 years, and then the most read article is about Cabrini–Green, about our resident who grew up there and live there. And we walk with him, with Andreas Larsson actually. And we told him just let's walk around the neighborhood and tell us the stories of what are the meaningful places for you here that you grew up here and your families. Iker: And we just took photographs of that and we made captions of that. And it really was a way for us to understand what it means to leave there. Yes, there are some negative things, but there are many other positive things about Cabrini–Green that they all mask under headlines and other things from other people who have no relationship. So yes, there are many people who write about public housing, about Cabrini–Green, but his point of view and the way to talk about it in a very clear, succinct, and just experiential way of there. It was remarkable and it obviously resonated with the rest of the people because it's still the most read article. And it was in issue three, 10 years ago. Rick Valicenti: We should also keep in mind that Cabrini–Green, if we're talking about form, no longer exists. That building complex has been raised and it's gone. Now it's a Target. Is it not? Iker: Yep. It is. So it's like, when you demolish buildings you just don't demolish the actual building, you demolish the structures, the society, the relationship, everything that is built around that. So the void that it's in the city with the destruction of public housing is not just the building, it's all the fabric, the social fabric that got destroyed. And it's very complicated to regain. And unfortunately nothing really... It's happening at the level that it should be done. Rick Valicenti: And at the time you had an idea that it was going to be demolished or did you not know it was going to be demolished at that time? Iker: I did know that it was going to get demolished. Rick Valicenti: Oh, you did. Okay. But in either case you have left behind through the medium of design and this documentation a real important record of what it was like there at that moment. Iker: Yeah. Because in a way, these stories are not just headlines that once the headline leaves the story leaves. These are people who this is the place where they grew up. Where they live. Where they have their family. And then once the buildings are remove, they have to keep going with their life. They have to do other things. So it is really unfair to just live through headline after headline. The city is a much more complex thing. And I think one of the goals that we tried to do with the journal is really, yes, talk about issues that are important. But that there is a legacy that those things are looked in depth, that someone can go back 40 years later and finding that it's still relevant because there's another situation that contextualizes in a new way. Iker: So this is just a series of thinking that evolves and it grows and builds from each other. But I think there needs to be some, like paying attention to all these issues and build from those rather than be surprised by the latest thing that happens. And then once it goes, it just, oh, it's all sold. Jolie Sheffer: Could you talk, Rick, about your own forays into book work, as you describe it, and why that form made sense for some of those projects? Rick Valicenti: The book format I particularly love, I love its linearity but I also love its ability to be opened at any page. I also love its form, its tactile nature, its ability to change voices and change perceptions as you change the tactile experience when your hand touches a page. Change the paper, change the size of it. All of those things are available tools to find engagement in that which is being communicated and that which is being received. So you know, perhaps as a writer, you're able to capture your thinking in your typing. Jolie Sheffer: Absolutely. I don't know what I'm thinking until I'm typing it. Rick Valicenti: That's right. Until after maybe you've read it and say, oh my God, that's really special. But the designer takes that source material, if you will, and either amplifies it or adds harmony to it in a harmonic sound, or adds depth to it, or adds another perspective. And so I'm keenly aware when I'm making a book that it's not a typesetting assignment, that it really is a duet at the most basic level with the content. Whether it's with the author, whether it's with a photographer, whether it's with both. And how can you bring something to life in a way that under different hands or different perspectives or different budgets or whatever, it would sound different. Rick Valicenti: And just like you can do that when you're reading a poem, or a kid reading a kid's book, you know it sounds different than the parent. It happens when people perform songs, other than the person who wrote the song. So I like the book form, but I really like its linearity. And I must admit, when non-linearity was all the rage with interactive media, I was like, what's that about here? What's happening? I'm getting used to it, but that doesn't mean I need to like it. Jolie Sheffer: What about you Jenn? You've published work in book form. What for you is your particular process in thinking about that as a medium? Jenn Stucker: Well most of the publications, I guess probably been a little bit similar, it's been mostly for documentation that this happening happened has been a big part of that. The other part is most of the work has been with recent alums or with students, and so there's something about creating the object that adds that secondary level of, I guess, accomplishment, right? Or achievement, or that this thing... I guess the same thing is it happened. And so if we have evidence of that. I taught at SACI in Florence, Italy, through our program here at BGSU, last summer and we self published a book out of that called the FLRX times 14. Or 14 of us and putting material together to sort of, what was our experience here in Florence? All being American citizens coming into this place and space. And I don't see those students again. Right? They were from University of Michigan, Penn State, Parsons, couple from BGSU, Marshall. And it was a nice moment to capture and make a capsule, I guess, of that experience. Jolie Sheffer: Well, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me. It has been a real delight. Our producers for this podcast are Chris Covera and Marco Mendoza with help from Aaron Dufala, Hannah Santiago and Kaleah Ivory. Research assistants for this podcast was provided by ICS undergraduate intern Tay Sauer. This conversation was recorded in the Stanton audio recording studio in the Michael and Sara Kuhlin Center at Bowling Green State University.  

Edra Soto is a Puerto Rico born, Chicago based, interdisciplinary artist, educator and curator whose architectural projects connect with communities. Soto's temporary modular SCREENHOUSE pavilions are evocative symbols of her cultural assimilation that we can enter and share. Each free-standing structure functions as both sculptural object and social gathering place. Couched in beauty, her ongoing OPEN 24 HOURS project offers a different visceral encounter — with evidence of displacement and want. The aesthetic display of cast-off liquor bottles culled from steadily accumulating detritus in the historically Black neighborhood she now calls home suggests that we consider the personal and communal impact of poverty and racism. During a studio visit with the artist in Northwest Chicago, we talk about recent iterations of these projects. In concert with the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Millennium Park Foundation commissioned the artist to produce a temporary gathering place in one of the park’s outdoor galleries. Only steps from Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, she worked with a team to construct SCREENHOUSE. The 10-foot high pavilion made of 400 charcoal-hued, 12-inch cast concrete blocks is part of an ongoing project, an architectural series inspired by iron grills and decorative concrete screen blocks found throughout the Caribbean and the American South. New versions of OPEN 24 HOURS are on view in two 2020 exhibitions. One appears in Open House: Domestic Thresholds at the Albright-Knox Museum, in Buffalo, New York. Cognac bottles carefully arranged on shelves with decorative panels reveal the artist’s connection to two places she calls home. More liquor bottles command attention in the three-part installation she designed for State of the Art 2020. Featuring work by artists from across the United States, the exhibition celebrates the opening of The Momentary, a new contemporary art space at the Crystal Bridges Museum, in Bentonville, Arkansas. Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio  Related Episodes and Photo Features: Architecture with a Sense of Place, Views—Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019, Fresh VUE: Chicago Art and Architecture 2017 Related Links: Edra Soto, The Momentary, State of the Art 2020, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Knox-Albright Museum, Millennium Park, Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019 About Edra Soto: Born in Puerto Rico and based in Chicago, Edra Soto is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, curator, and co-director of the outdoor project space THE FRANKLIN. She is invested in creating and providing visual and educational models propelled by empathy and generosity. Her recent projects, which are motivated by civic and social actions, focus on fostering relationships with a wide range of communities.  Recent venues presenting Soto’s work include Chicago Cultural Center (IL), Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (KS), Pérez Art Museum Miami (FL), Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (PR), Hunter EastHarlem Gallery (NY), UIC Gallery 400 (IL), Smart Museum (IL), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (NE), DePaul Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago (IL). Soto was awarded the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, the DCASE for Individual Artist Grant from the City of Chicago, the 3Arts Make A Wave award, and 3Arts Projects grants, and the Illinois Arts Council grant.  Soto holds an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico. She teaches Introduction to Social Engagement at University of Illinois in Chicago and is a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  About SCREENHOUSE: Decorative screens, known as rejas and quiebrasoles, are ubiquitous in Soto’s birthplace in Puerto Rico. In her SCREENHOUSE series, Soto transforms the quiebrasol form from a planar screen that divides public from private into a nearly fully enclosed, free-standing structure that functions as both sculptural object and social gathering place. About OPEN 24 HOURS: Witnessing the excessive accumulation of litter and detritus in the historic African American neighborhood of East Garfield Park where she lives motivated Edra Soto to initiate this ongoing project. Since December 2016, Soto has been collecting, cleaning and classifying cast-off liquor bottles to create installations that display the impact of racism and poverty on this marginalized community in Chicago. Bourbon Empire, the book quoted below, recounts the historic connection between African Americans and cognac from its genesis in the 1930s to contemporary repercussions instigated by hip-hop and rap culture. “Cognac’s relationship with African American consumers started later, when black soldiers stationed in southwest France were introduced to it during both world wars. The connection between cognac producers and black consumers was likely bolstered by the arrival of black artists and musicians... France appreciated these distinctive art forms before the U.S. did, continuing a French tradition dating back to Alexis de Tocqueville of understanding aspects of American culture better than Americans did. For African Americans, the elegant cognac of a country that celebrated their culture instead of marginalizing it must have tasted sweet ... During the 1990s, cognac sales were slow, and the industry was battling an image populated by fusty geriatrics. Then references to cognac began surfacing in rap lyrics, a phenomenon that peaked in 2001 with Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy’s hit “Pass the Courvoisier,” causing sales of the brand to jump 30 percent. During the next five years, other rappers teamed up with brands, and increased overall sales of cognac in the U.S. by a similar percentage, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.” —Reid Mitenbuler, author of Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America’s Whiskey

Happy Holidays! On this edition of The Arts Section, host Gary Zidek talks to the founders of a new Chicago theater company that will focus on creating immersive experiences. Chicago Immersive's inaugural production is a holiday show titled GRACE AND THE HANUKKAH. A little later in the show, Gary revisits his conversation with the executive director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which has exhibitions and programming running for another two weeks. The Dueling Critics, Kerry Reid and Jonathan Abarbanel, stop by The Second City's new main stage revue. Plus, a look inside a Chicago business dedicated to light, that's part showroom and part art gallery. Gary talks to the founder of Lightology. And Gary takes a closer look at one of Chicago's oldest holiday traditions with a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry for a look at the 77th annual Trees Around the World exhibit.

An event around the book The Funambulist by its Readers: Political Geographies from Chicago and Elsewhere commissioned by the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Guests are Patricia Nguyen, Jesse Mumm, Maira Khwaja, Benji Hart, and Anjulie Rao. https://thefunambulist.net/podcast/the-funambulist-events-political-geographies-of-chicago

Chicago photographer Lee Bey joins the conversation in the Skyline Studios to talk about his latest book “Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side.” Inspired by Bey’s 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial exhibition and his past childhood memories, “Southern Exposure” visits sixty sites, including lesser-known but important work by luminaries such as Jeanne Gang, […]

As both a corporate leader and agency owner, Carrie Lannon has guided brands to exciting new levels of visibility in both entrepreneurial and multi-billion dollar corporate environments. Carrie has presented to audiences from 10 to 2000 on the topics of marketing, branding and entrepreneurship.  She is an experienced on-camera spokesperson with broadcast experience on ABC-TV's “Shark Tank,” Crain's Chicago Business online and numerous news and talk shows. Today, Carrie shares her big brand and entrepreneurial experience to help others succeed by leveraging their brand's potential.  She is passionate about art and culture and has worked with both solo artists and gallerists as well as larger organizations including the Chicago Artists Coalition, the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Museum of Contemporary Art. To contact Carrie or learn more, visit: https://www.carrielannon.com/

This week caught up with the current IL-NOMA chapter president Smitha. Chatted a bit about Chicago Architecture Biennial, “not knowing” & completely got recent news, incorrect. Be sure to check out all the organizations mentioned in the podcast: NOMA, CWA, IIDA, AIA, regroup. Website for visuals and additional info.

On this edition of The Arts Section, host Gary Zidek talks to the executive director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Todd Palmer. The theme for this year's architecture festival is “… and other such stories”. The Dueling Critics, Kerry Reid and Jonathan Abarbanel, join Gary to talks about Goodman Theatre's premiere of Lucas Hnath's DANA H. A little later, Gary previews what TV shows and actors might win at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards. And WDCB's Leslie Keros has a story on Mark Stryker's new book, JAZZ FROM DETROIT.

We discuss the dilemmas facing museums as the focus intensifies on ethical sponsorship and governance in the UK and US. And we hear about the latest edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which addresses, among other things, the erasure of the history of indigenous settlements in Chicago and its region. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chicago Architecture Biennial artistic directors Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston discuss architecture's role in creating sustainable beauty and inclusivity amid ever-changing cities and spaces.

Concert: CDMX: New Music from Mexico (Contemporary Mexico) Upbeat Live provides historical and cultural context for many concerts, featuring engaging speakers, audio examples, and special guests. These events are free to ticket holders and are held in BP Hall, on the second floor, accessible after your ticket is scanned. For more information: laphil.com/upbeatlive About the Speaker: Of Lithuanian heritage, composer Veronika Krausas was born in Australia raised in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. She has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics and video. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) writes “her works, whose organic, lyrical sense of storytelling are supported by a rigid formal elegance, give her audiences a sense that nature's frozen objects are springing to life.” She was one of 6 composers involved in the acclaimed mobile opera Hopscotch. Alex Ross of the New Yorker called Hopscotch, “a remarkable experimental opera.” Her first opera, The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, was premiered at the New York City Opera's VOX 2008 festival. A full production was mounted in Los Angeles in August 2010 to sold-out audiences. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said of her chamber opera, “Something novel this way comes.” Her newest opera Ghost Opera, a dramma giocoso with libretto by André Alexis and The Old Trout Puppet Company, will première with Calgary Opera at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in May 2019. Commissions and performances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Industry, New York City Opera, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble musikFabrik, Chicago Architecture Biennial (2016), Piano Spheres for Gloria Cheng, The Vancouver Symphony, ERGO Projects, Esprit Orchestra, Fort Worth Opera, Jacaranda Music, Motion Music, and the Penderecki String Quartet. Krausas has music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the Thornton School of Music at USC in Los Angeles, where she is a faculty member in the Composition Department. She serves on the advisory boards of Jacaranda Music and People Inside Electronics.

This episode Alex Billet of Red Wedge Magazine drops by to talk about art and socialist movements, revolutionary pessimism, and other things. Then we are joined by two of Chicago's best architecture writers Zach Mortice and Anjulie Rao who discuss some of their recent writing before we do a Chicago Architecture Biennial review. Lastly it's a very very very fun mailbag with Ann Lui and Craig Reschke.

This Episode! The Architecture Lobby Leaders, thinkers, and activists from the Architecture Lobby talk about organizing architects, how we can change the profession for the better, and what to expect from the Lobby in the coming year. Adjustments Agency Nick Korody and Joanna Kloppenburg discuss their recent project www.compi.city that covers the Chicago Architecture Biennial and it’s relationship to power, politics, and money. We ask, how can architects be critical of and change the nature of architecture exhibitions to use them as a force for good?

A Lot You Got to Holler is dead! For our last episode, we look ahead to Chicago architecture and urbanism to come: The Obama Library! 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial! Neoliberalism! Ben lets us in on how Uber but for architecture will work in the utopian future. (It's actually not terrible, we promise!). Zach looks back on his own checkered past as a naive proponent of not so great Postmodernism. Finally, we toast to the real A Lot You Got to Holler journey: the friends we made along the way. (That's you.) WE OUT. Special thanks to recording engineer Tim Joyce. 

Concert: Salonen & Sibelius Upbeat Live provides historical and cultural context for many concerts, featuring engaging speakers, audio examples, and special guests. These events are free to ticket holders and are held in BP Hall, on the second floor, accessible after your ticket is scanned. For more information: laphil.com/upbeatlive About the Speaker: Of Lithuanian heritage, composer Veronika Krausas was born in Australia raised in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. She has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics and video. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) writes “her works, whose organic, lyrical sense of storytelling are supported by a rigid formal elegance, give her audiences a sense that nature's frozen objects are springing to life.” She was one of 6 composers involved in the acclaimed mobile opera Hopscotch. Alex Ross of the New Yorker called Hopscotch, “a remarkable experimental opera.” Her first opera, The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, was premiered at the New York City Opera's VOX 2008 festival. A full production was mounted in Los Angeles in August 2010 to sold-out audiences. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said of her chamber opera, “Something novel this way comes.” Her newest opera Ghost Opera, a dramma giocoso with libretto by André Alexis and The Old Trout Puppet Company, will première with Calgary Opera at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in May 2019. Commissions and performances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Industry, New York City Opera, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble musikFabrik, Chicago Architecture Biennial (2016), Piano Spheres for Gloria Cheng, The Vancouver Symphony, ERGO Projects, Esprit Orchestra, Fort Worth Opera, Jacaranda Music, Motion Music, and the Penderecki String Quartet. Krausas has music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the Thornton School of Music at USC in Los Angeles, where she is a faculty member in the Composition Department.  She serves on the advisory boards of Jacaranda Music and People Inside Electronics.

Concert: Mirga Conducts Mozart & Haydn Upbeat Live provides historical and cultural context for many concerts, featuring engaging speakers, audio examples, and special guests. These events are free to ticket holders and are held in BP Hall, on the second floor, accessible after your ticket is scanned. For more information: laphil.com/upbeatlive About the Speaker: Of Lithuanian heritage, composer Veronika Krausas was born in Australia raised in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. She has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics and video. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) writes “her works, whose organic, lyrical sense of storytelling are supported by a rigid formal elegance, give her audiences a sense that nature's frozen objects are springing to life.” She was one of 6 composers involved in the acclaimed mobile opera Hopscotch. Alex Ross of the New Yorker called Hopscotch, “a remarkable experimental opera.” Her first opera, The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, was premiered at the New York City Opera's VOX 2008 festival. A full production was mounted in Los Angeles in August 2010 to sold-out audiences. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said of her chamber opera, “Something novel this way comes.” Her newest opera Ghost Opera, a dramma giocoso with libretto by André Alexis and The Old Trout Puppet Company, will première with Calgary Opera at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in May 2019. Commissions and performances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Industry, New York City Opera, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble musikFabrik, Chicago Architecture Biennial (2016), Piano Spheres for Gloria Cheng, The Vancouver Symphony, ERGO Projects, Esprit Orchestra, Fort Worth Opera, Jacaranda Music, Motion Music, and the Penderecki String Quartet. Krausas has music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the Thornton School of Music at USC in Los Angeles, where she is a faculty member in the Composition Department.  She serves on the advisory boards of Jacaranda Music and People Inside Electronics.

Concert: Dances of Death Upbeat Live provides historical and cultural context for many concerts, featuring engaging speakers, audio examples, and special guests. These events are free to ticket holders and are held in BP Hall, on the second floor, accessible after your ticket is scanned. For more information: laphil.com/upbeatlive About the Speaker: Of Lithuanian heritage, composer Veronika Krausas was born in Australia raised in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. She has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics and video. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) writes “her works, whose organic, lyrical sense of storytelling are supported by a rigid formal elegance, give her audiences a sense that nature's frozen objects are springing to life.” She was one of 6 composers involved in the acclaimed mobile opera Hopscotch. Alex Ross of the New Yorker called Hopscotch, “a remarkable experimental opera.” Her first opera, The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, was premiered at the New York City Opera's VOX 2008 festival. A full production was mounted in Los Angeles in August 2010 to sold-out audiences. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said of her chamber opera, “Something novel this way comes.” Her newest opera Ghost Opera, a dramma giocoso with libretto by André Alexis and The Old Trout Puppet Company, will première with Calgary Opera at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in May 2019. Commissions and performances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Industry, New York City Opera, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble musikFabrik, Chicago Architecture Biennial (2016), Piano Spheres for Gloria Cheng, The Vancouver Symphony, ERGO Projects, Esprit Orchestra, Fort Worth Opera, Jacaranda Music, Motion Music, and the Penderecki String Quartet. Krausas has music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the Thornton School of Music at USC in Los Angeles, where she is a faculty member in the Composition Department.  She serves on the advisory boards of Jacaranda Music and People Inside Electronics.

Concert: Green Umbrella: All-Reich Upbeat Live provides historical and cultural context for many concerts, featuring engaging speakers, audio examples, and special guests. These events are free to ticket holders and are held in BP Hall, on the second floor, accessible after your ticket is scanned. For more information: laphil.com/upbeatlive About the Speaker: Of Lithuanian heritage, composer Veronika Krausas was born in Australia raised in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. She has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics and video. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) writes “her works, whose organic, lyrical sense of storytelling are supported by a rigid formal elegance, give her audiences a sense that nature's frozen objects are springing to life.” She was one of 6 composers involved in the acclaimed mobile opera Hopscotch. Alex Ross of the New Yorker called Hopscotch, “a remarkable experimental opera.” Her first opera, The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, was premiered at the New York City Opera's VOX 2008 festival. A full production was mounted in Los Angeles in August 2010 to sold-out audiences. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said of her chamber opera, “Something novel this way comes.” Her newest opera Ghost Opera, a dramma giocoso with libretto by André Alexis and The Old Trout Puppet Company, will première with Calgary Opera at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in May 2019. Commissions and performances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Industry, New York City Opera, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble musikFabrik, Chicago Architecture Biennial (2016), Piano Spheres for Gloria Cheng, The Vancouver Symphony, ERGO Projects, Esprit Orchestra, Fort Worth Opera, Jacaranda Music, Motion Music, and the Penderecki String Quartet. Krausas has music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the Thornton School of Music at USC in Los Angeles, where she is a faculty member in the Composition Department.  She serves on the advisory boards of Jacaranda Music and People Inside Electronics.

Other Architects is a small Sydney practice with a broad and global outlook. Working at a range of scales and across residential, commercial and institutional projects, Other Architects seeks out ‘other’ approaches that challenge conventional wisdom, popular opinion and architectural trends. Founded as an offshoot of Other Architects in 2013, Otherothers is a design organisation that engages in research, communication, competitions, curation, events, exhibitions and installations, operating beyond the scope of conventional architectural practice. Others founder Grace Mortlock is an architect and curator. Her work explores strategies of spectacle and spatial transformation, and she teaches in the Master of Architecture program at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). David Neustein is codirector of Other Architects, Associate of the UTS School of Architecture and The Monthly’s resident architectural critic. He is a recipient of the Adrian Ashton award for Architectural Journalism and the UTS Open Agenda prize. Mortlock and Neustein have participated in the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, exhibited at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial, and are due to take part in New Cities, Future Ruins , a four year curatorial project launching November 2016 in Dallas, Texas. Widely published, their project Offset House has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CityLab, Architectural Record and Australian Financial Review. Runnerup and Highly Commended for the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2016 Architecture Commission, the pair are both cocurators (with Fleur Watson) and exhibition designers for Occupied , an exhibition of architectural propositions for the near future, which opens 29 July at Melbourne’s RMIT Design Hub Gallery.

Chicago's most valuable natural asset is its lakefront, forever free, public, and protected by law. This lakefront is so valuable, argues the architects at Port Urbanism, that we need more of it to pay off the city's massive debts. Or (if you ask the designers at UrbanLab) newly built islands in the lake must be drafted into relieving pressure from an overstressed storm drain system by filtering and cleaning the city's water. Featured at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial, Port Urbanism and UrbanLab's lakefront proposals offer infrastructural fixes to some of Chicago's most dire emergencies. They also colonize a near-sacred urban vista with varying degrees of public and private space; not the type of thing you can do without getting through some pretty contentious community town hall meetings. Hosted by Zach Mortice and Newcity Design Editor Ben Schulman, with guests Andrew Moddrell of Port Urbanism and Martin Felsen of UrbanLab. Special thanks to recording studio engineer Tim Joyce.     

'Tis the time of year for reflections and speculations – and 2015 was a big one for Archinect Sessions. We launched our first ever live podcasting series, Next Up, at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles and at the first Chicago Architecture Biennial; we started a brand new interviews-only show, One-to-One; and we spoke with some of the biggest names and most compelling up-and-comers in the profession. On this episode, we revisit our predictions from last year's final episode, reflect on the past year in podcasting news, and share theories for what may come in 2016.

Over Skype from their homebase in Beijing, WAI Architecture Think Tank partners Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski spoke with Paul Petrunia, on our latest Mini-Session for the Next Up series. Their contribution to the Chicago Architecture Biennial, a rumination on manifestos, looks to the potential forms of architectural persuasion in any medium.

For our final live Mini-Session, recorded during our Next Up event at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, we present a festival of Pauls. Archinect founder/publisher Paul Petrunia interviews Paul Andersen (Independent Architecture) and Paul Preissner (Paul Preissner Architects), who designed the University of Illinois at Chicago's kiosk in the Biennial's Lakefront Kiosk competition. You can listen to past Mini-Sessions here.  

The Chicago Architecture Biennial is nearing the middle of its run, and we've got more live Mini-Sessions up our sleeve, recorded as part of our Next Up event held during the Biennial's opening weekend. You can listen to past Mini-Sessions here. Our fourth Mini-Session from Chicago features Biennial participants Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo and Mecky Reuss of Pedro y Juana, based in Mexico City. You can learn more about their contribution to the Biennial (which happened to be the venue for Next Up) here.

Continuing our "Next Up" series, recorded at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles and during the opening weekend of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, we've been posting the live-interviews as podcast Mini-Sessions. Due to a technical error at the Biennial, the second half of live Chicago interviews were lost – so some were recorded on another date. You can listen to past Mini-Sessions here. Our second Mini-Session recorded during the Biennial's opening weekend features Thomas Kelley and Carrie Norman of Norman Kelley.

Season two of Archinect Sessions premiered last week – featuring a discussion on the Chicago Architecture Biennial with Log director (and co-curator of the US Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale) Cynthia Davidson – and to finish out our coverage of CAB, we're posting the "Next Up" live-interviews we did in Chicago as Mini-Sessions, continuing from the interviews done at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles. Due to a most unfortunate technical glitch in Chicago, the second half of live interviews were lost – so some Chicago interviews were recorded on another date. You can listen to past Mini-Sessions here. For our first Mini-Session recorded during the Biennial's opening weekend, we spoke with Urtzi Grau and Cristina Goberna Pesudo of Fake Industries Architectural Agonism.

It's great to be back. Our second season of Archinect Sessions premieres today in a new, shorter format, with an episode devoted to the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and featuring special guest Cynthia Davidson, director of Log and co-curator of the US Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale. Keep a look out as well for more Mini-Sessions, featuring interviews from the Biennial. In other podcasting news, we're going to be launching a brand new podcast early next week, focusing exclusively on interviews. You can keep up-to-date on all our podcasting news by following us on Twitter, @archsessions, and let us know what you think by rating us on iTunes.

Archinect recently wrapped its first live-podcasting series, "Next Up", held at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles' Chinatown and at the opening weekend of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Now, we're releasing those 4+ hours of "Next Up" interviews as "Mini-Sessions", leading up to the premiere of Archinect Sessions' second season on Thursday, November 5. We'll also be launching a brand new podcast soon, so keep your eyes and ears open. Without further ado, please enjoy our first Next Up Mini-Session, an interview with John Southern of Urban Operations. We'll be sharing more Mini-Sessions in the coming days, and remember to subscribe to Archinect Sessions to not miss an episode!