Back to BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago at Chicago Architecture Biennial
About
Statement
The Chicago Cultural Center will house BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago. Architect Iker Gil of MAS Studio is organizing the exhibition of Chicago-based architects that showcases new ideas and alternative development scenarios for Chicago.
Press Release
The Chicago Cultural Center will house BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago. Architect Iker Gil of MAS Studio is organizing the exhibition of Chicago-based architects that showcases new ideas and alternative development scenarios for Chicago. BOLD will feature speculative proposals that re-imagine the design potential of the city’s waterways, roadways, vacant lots and public space, as well as new projects that explore the present conditions of the city through film, photography and mapping.
Events
Post Modern Architecture: Preservation's New Frontier
Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 12:30pm – Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 2:00pm UTC
Postmodern architecture presents a new frontier in landmark preservation. While the preservation of postwar modern architecture is already well-established, postmodern buildings, landscapes, and interiors have only recently become eligible for landmarks protection in certain cities nationwide. Using the postmodern architecture of Chicago as a case study, this panel highlights and celebrates some of the notable projects from this period. It also explores the evolving concepts and issues about the presentation and interpretation of history and context in urban architecture. This event is a part of an ongoing program on postmodern design preservation by Metropolis magazine. This panel will be held at the Claudia Cassidy Theater.
Moderated by Paul Makovsky, Editorial & Brand Director, Metropolis
Panelists:
Stanley Tigerman, architect, educator, and partner of Tigerman/McCurry Architects
Cynthia Weese, architect and founding partner of Weese Langley Weese
Edward Keegan, architect and writer of Chicago's cityscape
Bonnie McDonald, president of Landmark Illinois
Stewart Hicks, architect and partner of Design With Company
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/post-modern-architecture-preservations-new-frontier-registration-18585662216.
This program is presented by Metropolis magazine in collaboration with AIA Chicago.
Next Up: Chicago Architecture Biennial Participant Presentations
Sat, Oct 3, 2015 from 12:00 – 4:00pm UTC
Meet select Chicago Architecture Biennial participants in this lively, surprising array of interviews, panels, and talks. Contemporary architecture is in the midst of a radical transformation and expansion as it adapts to unprecedented changes in the environment, technology, economy, and social spheres. Hear from a new vanguard of practitioners who work across disciplines and terrains—from science to art, from community activism to futurism—as they redefine the traditional limits of the field. Moderated by Archinect's Founder/Director Paul Petrunia, with Archinect editors Amelia Taylor-Hochberg and Nicholas Korody.
Speakers include Pedro&Juana, Tomas Kelley (Norman Kelley), Francois Roche (New-Territories), Fake Industries Architectural Agonism (FKAA), John Lin (Rural Urban Framework, Paul Preissner & Paul Andersen (Independent Architecture + Paul Preissner Architects), TOMA, Andreas Angelidakis, WAI Architecture Think Tank, Bryony Roberts (Bryony Roberts Studio, and Sarah Herda (Biennial Co-Artistic Director and Michelle T. Boone (Commissioner at City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events).
Paul Petrunia is the director of Archinect, a (mostly) online publication/resource founded in 1997 to establish a more connected community of architects, students, designers and fans of the designed environment. Outside of managing his growing team of writers, editors, designers and technology specialists, Paul co-hosts Archinect Sessions, a weekly podcast featuring discussions of current architecture news and exclusive interviews with architecture leaders. Paul is also the founder and director of Bustler, the web's primary resource for architecture competition, events and related news stories. Paul studied architecture and the University of Oregon and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children and enjoys escaping everything, as often as possible, by diving Southern California's Channel Islands.
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg writes, draws and cooks in Los Angeles. Before serving as Archinect's editorial manager and podcast host, she wrote about molecular gastronomy, noise music, surrealist film, and performance art in the Bay Area, while also hosting music-based shows on a local independent radio stations. Her interests revolve around cognitive urban theory and the quantification of aesthetics, and she also moonlights as a designer of experiments for how we talk about cities, including an ongoing urbanism salon series and a board game about development in Los Angeles.
Nicholas Korody is a writer and artist based in Los Angeles. His writing engages with the margins of architecture, particularly its intersections with art, politics, and eco-criticism, and can be regularly found on Archinect as well as in several forthcoming publications. He is a founding member of the research group Encyclopedia Inc., which has presented work at the Serpentine Galleries in London and the LUMA Westbau in Zürich. In the past, he has given talks and presented work in various exhibitions in San Francisco, Mexico DF, New York, and Los Angeles. Most recently, his work was included in the group exhibition “After Babel” at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and he will participate in upcoming exhibits in Paris, Los Angeles and Zürich this fall.
Alternative Scenarios for Chicago
Tue, Oct 20, 2015 from 6:00 – 5:30pm UTC
Architects whose work appears in the Chicago Architecture Biennial exhibition BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago—including David Brown, Design With Company, Hinterlands, PORT, SOM + CAMESgibson, UrbanLab, and WEATHERS—will discuss their proposals, focusing on the specific issues that the projects address and the possibilities they generate. Organized by architect Iker Gil, BOLD showcases speculative projects and ideas for the city of Chicago. Although generated without a client, the projects operate with an awareness of the constraints and realities of Chicago, and with the intention to engage with public and private agencies to shape the future of the city.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tuesday-talks-alternative-scenarios-for-chicago-registration-18588098503.
Right or Privilege: Design in the Public Realm
Tue, Nov 3, 2015 from 6:00 – 5:30pm UTC
Chicago architect Carol Ross Barney moderates a discussion with leaders representing design excellence programs from across the country. Common wisdom states that architecture and good design are accessible only to those who can afford them, but why? From public schools to transit stations, what should we expect of our public space? Design is not merely an aesthetic expression; it is a functional and aspirational embodiment of society, informed by a wide array of individuals. Good buildings are efficient and comfortable. Great buildings are memorable and inspiring: living, ever-changing environments that become beloved spaces to live, work, and think. Should architecture with long-term impact become a component of the social, political, and economic viability of our urban environments? Should we as a society demand more?
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tuesday-talks-right-or-privilege-design-in-the-public-realm-registration-18588148653.
Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, is Founder and Design Principal of Ross Barney Architects. Responsible for the design excellence of all projects undertaken by the firm, she is dedicated to improving the built environment. Her work has an international reputation in design of institutional and public buildings and has been published in national and international journals, books, newspapers, and web media. Her building designs have received numerous honors, including four Institute Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and over 30 AIA Chicago Design Awards. Her firm has received significant sustainable building awards, including two AIA COTE Top Ten Green Project awards and the Evergreen Award from EcoStructure magazine.
Design Excellence: Faith, Flight and Fanfare
Mon, Nov 9, 2015 from 5:30 – 7:00pm UTC
Three architects who received AIA Chicago’s 2015 Design Excellence Awards share their projects for three gathering places: an airport, a sacred site, and a theater.
RSVP at: http://www.aiachicago.org/events/design-excellence-faith-flight-and-fanfare#.Vg1FjhNVhBc.
Here Comes the Neighborhood: Place-Making and Transforming Neighborhoods
Tue, Nov 10, 2015 from 6:00 – 7:30pm UTC
Juan Moreno, architect and Founder of JGMA, and Miguel Aguilar, artist educator at the School of the Art Institute and Founder of Graffiti Institute, examine the transformation of urban landscapes and the influence of architecture and aesthetics on community and civic life. The two will present recent projects in Chicago neighborhoods, and the results of engaging working-class communities with novel landmarks and innovative design.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tuesday-talks-here-comes-the-neighborhood-placemaking-and-transforming-neighborhoods-registration-18588176737.
This lecture is presented in partnership with the National Museum of Mexican Art.
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Juan Gabriel Moreno, AIA, is an award-winning architect and President/Founder of Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects (JGMA). His projects have received numerous awards and recognition from his peers. JGMA’s recent awards include the 2014 and 2013 Driehaus Design Excellence Award, the 2013 Architizer International Design Award, and the 2012 AIA Chicago Design Award. JGMA was recently featured on ABC ‘s The ñ Beat. Recognized by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos as one of the “100 Colombianos” for 2013, Moreno was also a recipient of that year’s PIECE Award for International Excellence, which recognizes Colombians working outside of the country and making a difference in the lives of children and communities. He is the past President of Arquitectos Chicago, a board member of TeleChicago and Chicago Tech Academy High School, and a committee member of Bogotá Sister Cities Chicago. He studied architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He also lived in Florence, Italy, where he studied under Superstudio founders Cristiano Toraldo di Francia and Gianni Pettena.
An artist, educator, and researcher, Miguel Aguilar has been painting graffiti in Chicago since 1989. He founded Graffiti Institute in 2012, and in 2013, he curated Outside In: The Mexican-American Street Art Movement in Chicago at the National Museum of Mexican Art. Aguilar holds a BFA and an MAT from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a recipient of the 3Arts Teaching Artist Award. He currently teaches “History of Graffiti” in the Art History Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is Teen Arts Program Manager at the University of Chicago Arts Incubator.
Reading Mile High: Frank Lloyd Wright Takes on Chicago
Thu, Nov 12, 2015 from 6:00 – 7:30pm UTC
Curator and scholar Barry Bergdoll discusses Chicago architecture at midcentury, in particular the politics and ideals of modernism. His talk will explore Frank Lloyd Wright’s project for a mile-high skyscraper for the city that proudly claims to have given birth to the high-rise tower.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/reading-mile-high-frank-lloyd-wright-takes-on-chicago-registration-18588549853.
This lecture is presented in partnership with the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago program.
Barry Bergdoll is Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University and curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where from 2007 to 2013 he served as Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design. Bergdoll’s broad interests center on modern architectural history, with a particular emphasis on France and Germany between 1750 and 1900. Trained in art history rather than architecture, he has an approach most closely allied with cultural history and the history and sociology of professions. He has studied questions of the politics of cultural representation in architecture, the larger ideological content of 19th-century architectural theory, and the changing role of both architecture as a profession and architecture as a cultural product in 19th-century European society. Bergdoll’s interests also include the intersections of architecture and new technologies—and eventually cultures—of representations in the modern period, especially photography and film. He has worked on several film productions about architecture, in addition to curating a number of architectural exhibitions concerned with the history and problematics of exhibiting architecture, and the history of museological practices in relationship to architecture.
Polis Station
Tue, Nov 17, 2015 from 6:00 – 7:30pm UTC
Jeanne Gang presents Studio Gang’s research and reimagining of the police station, exhibited at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and convenes a panel of community leaders, policing strategists, developers, and architects in a discussion of how design could help build trust between citizens and police.
Architect and MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang is the founding principal of Studio Gang, an architecture and urbanism practice located in Chicago and New York. Internationally recognized for her innovative use of materials and environmentally sensitive approach, Jeanne explores the role of design in revitalizing cities. By engaging pressing contemporary issues and their impact on human experience, and translating these issues into spatial ideas and concepts, Jeanne has produced some of today’s most compelling architecture, including the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park, and Aqua Tower.
Jeanne is currently engaged in major projects throughout the US, including the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History in New York; a strategic plan for the National Aquarium; and the City Hyde Park residences in Chicago.
Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the International Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. A graduate of the Harvard GSD, she has taught at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Rice, and IIT, focusing on cities, ecologies, and materials. She is the author of Reveal, which explores the Studio’s work and process, and Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago’s Waterways, which envisions a radically greener future for the Chicago River.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tuesday-talks-polis-station-registration-18588192785.
Nine Responses to the Available City
Tue, Nov 24, 2015 from 6:00 – 7:30pm UTC
Building upon the guidelines outlined in David Brown’s “The Available City” project, nine firms were commissioned to interpret these rules and generate new architectural scenarios. Starting from a combination of vacant city-owned and private lots, each project defines and incorporates collective spaces along with other private uses. The result, on display at the Chicago Cultural Center, is a series of propositions that open up a constructive conversation about alternative ways to address vacancy in the city and put forward new scenarios that have the potential to redefine parts of Chicago.
The nine participant firms are 3D Design Studio, Ania Jaworska, Central Standard Office of Design, Jahn, JGMA, Krueck+Sexton, Landon Bone Baker, Tigerman McCurry. Members of each team will discuss their proposals, focusing on the specific issues that the projects address and the possibilities they generate.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tuesday-talks-nine-responses-to-the-available-city-registration-18588214851.
This program is organized by Iker Gil as part of the exhibition “BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago.”
Figural Monuments and the Image of the 21st-Century Midwest City
Tue, Dec 1, 2015 from 6:00 – 7:30pm UTC
Matt Shaw, Senior Editor of the Architect’s Newspaper, moderates a conversation with Design With Company, Beverly Fresh, and UrbanLAB. The roadside vernacular is often associated with California, but it also has roots in the Midwest (Route 66 started in Chicago). These giant shapes and signs become icons of belonging and community in a landscape that needs beacons. Today, many Midwest architects are exploring ideas of image-architecture (such as the World’s Largest Ketchup Bottle) to find new ways and invigorate old ways in which architecture can create place, community, and a sense of belonging. As Midwest cities begin to re-urbanize and regenerate, the question of how we make the image of our society is more pressing than ever.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/tuesday-talks-figural-monuments-and-the-image-of-the-21st-century-midwest-city-registration-18588455571.
This program is organized by the Architect’s Newspaper.
Design With Company was co-founded by Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer. Hicks is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A Fellow of the MacDowell Colony, he is a recipient of Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard Award and the Young Architects Forum Prize. He received his M.Arch from Princeton University. Newmeyer is Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and also teaches architectural design and representation courses at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a Fellow of the MacDowell Colony and the recipient of architectural awards from the Van Alen Institute and Architizer.
Beverly Fresh is a contemporary artist and musician based in Detroit and Chicago. His background combines graphic design, music, drawing, video, installation, and performance art. His recent research efforts include the publication of PANCAKES!, a documentation of performance as part of the Emergency Index OUTSKIRTS series. Fresh has exhibited and performed throughout the United States and internationally, including in China, Japan, Peru, Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, France, and Germany. Recent notable exhibitions and performances include MR. MDWST: A REAL GOOD TIME (2015), a solo exhibition at Cranbrook Museum of Art, and A Study in Midwestern Appropriation (2014), curated by Michelle Grabner at the Hyde Park Art Center. He is Co-Founder of sUPERIORbelly, a multimedia art and design collective and record label based in Detroit, and Co-Founder of WILD AMERICAN DOGS, an interdisciplinary art duo focused on producing experimental feature films and performance. Fresh has a BFA in Graphic Design/Interactive Media from the College for Creative Studies and an MFA from the 2D Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he was the 2009 recipient of the Daimler Emerging Artist Award. He is an Assistant Professor and Area Head of Graphic Art at DePaul University in Chicago.
A collaborative architecture and urban design firm co-founded by Martin Felsen and Sarah Dunn, UrbanLab strives to respond to the complexity, growth, and unintended consequences of the modern city by developing a catalogue of architectural, infrastructural, and urbanistic design strategies, in particular examining natural and artificial systems underpinning the built environment. Built work includes houses, mixed-use commercial/residential buildings, restaurants, art/educational installations, and urban infrastructural projects such as a rowing course on the Chicago River. UrbanLab’s projects have won several design awards from the American Institute of Architects, including the College of Fellows Latrobe Prize, and in 2012 the firm exhibited work at the Venice Biennale as part of Common Ground. Publications presenting the firm’s design and research work include Architecture, Architectural Record, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Felsen teaches at the IIT College of Architecture and conducts research focusing on public space, public infrastructure, and public resources in American (and American-style) cities and megaregions. He has a B.Arch from Virginia Tech and an MS.AAD from Columbia University. Dunn is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was recently honored as a “Global Visionary” by Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ).
The Biennial Presents Liam Young
Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 6:30pm – Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 8:30pm UTC
Join the Biennial for an exploration of an alternative world. Galleries will stay open late, and food and drinks will be served.
Liam Young, an architect who operates in the spaces between design, fiction, and futures, will transport audiences via new media to an unforgettable imaginary environment.
To attend, RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-biennial-presents-liam-young-registration-18587710342.
Liam Young:
Liam Young is Founder of the urban futures think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today, a group whose work explores the possibilities of fantastic, perverse, and imaginary urbanisms. With TTT, he has consulted and conducted workshops on speculation, emerging technologies, and future forecasting for firms in a wide range of industries. Young takes a collaborative approach to develop fictional speculations as critical instruments to survey the consequences of emerging environmental and technological futures. His projects include Under Tomorrows Sky, a movie set for a fictional future city developed through collaborations with scientists and technologists, and Electronic Countermeasures, a swarm of quadcopter drones that drift through the city broadcasting a pirate Internet and file-sharing hub. He also runs the Unknown Fields Division, an award-winning nomadic workshop that takes annual expeditions to the ends of the earth to investigate unreal and forgotten landscapes, alien terrains, and industrial ecologies. Young coordinates events and exhibitions including the multimedia series Thrilling Wonder Stories: Speculative Futures for an Alternate Present and was a curator of the 2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale. He has been acclaimed in both mainstream and architectural media and was named by Blueprint as one of 25 people who will change architecture and design.
Institution
Location
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington Street
Chicago, IL, US