Productive Deviance

This event is made possible thanks to generous endowment by Micah Gellman and by the city of Seattle.

Micah Gellman is an artist, activist, and strategist whose work bridges multilingual queer testimonies, global development, and participatory design. At the Gates Foundation, Micah has shaped $100M+ partnerships with the World Bank and African Union, and co-developed community-powered, gender- and queer-inclusive AI in India. This year, Micah launched a million-dollar campaign to advance LGBTQIA+ human rights. This is Micah’s second Space.City collaboration.

Movement Beyond the Body

In this lecture, Casey Curran explores the mechanics behind his kinetic art. Through examples of immersive installations, kinetic sculptures, and fashion work. Curran discusses how motion can mimic natural rhythms, reflect time’s passage, and create a world that is both recognizable and alien. By blending technical insights with conceptual depth, this lecture invites attendees to reconsider what it means for an artwork to exist in collaboration with the body and time.

About Casey Curran

“I find myself drawn to the foundation of things, to the root of their cause and the long cycle of their existence. It’s a fascination with structures laying between the very vast and the very small. A desire to see a system writ into the nature of things, defining every surface, every thought and idea. A simple piece of humanity laying somewhere between stars and bones, summoning the great and small triumphs of our innumerable endeavors.

Focusing primarily in sculpture, but not limited to any specific medium, I create kinetic environments with an internal logic and history often propelled by a simple hand crank. I invite the viewer to become a part of the work through participation, animating a tableau of flora and fauna that bloom or flutter to life when activated. When conceiving my pieces I center on a hidden narrative and assign visual elements that aline with the concept of the piece, often utilizing ornate structures and simple construction methods to further highlight my interests in Nature, foundation and form. When creating my work I look for patterns in the environments around me, trying to tease out symmetry in their ecosystems. I look for how innovation shapes itself into our ever expanding systems of complexity and knowledge. I create work that attempts to straddle the concepts of chaos, pattern, and emergence. These are the pillars I search for, the thoughtful hands that hold my metaphors.”

There is Room

“There is Room” is a lecture presented by Lap Chi Kwong and Alison Von Glinow, co-founders of Chicago-based architecture practice Kwong Von Glinow. The lecture will showcase Kwong Von Glinow’s ongoing and completed housing and institutional projects.  

The phrase “There is Room” implies a few interpretations.  It sounds optimistic, ambiguous, and that perhaps something is not completely finished. The word room can also speak to various scales - the city, the building, and a room itself.  We see that “there is room” to build - physically, “there is room” to work with existing building types, and “there is room” for design appetite.  “There is Room” is our optimistic attitude toward design.

The city has room for design innovation.  

The building has room to reevaluate how to accommodate contemporary lifestyles and values.  

The room has the possibility to enhance everyday life.

About Kwong Von Glinow

Kwong Von Glinow is an architecture studio based in Chicago founded by Lap Chi Kwong and Alison Von Glinow.  The firm draws on familiar architectural elements to create designs that are innovative yet accessible, blending forward-thinking concepts with familiar and identifiable forms. Their optimistic and exploratory approach focuses on designing inventive living spaces, cultural venues, urban public areas, and contemporary workplaces. Since its founding in 2017, the studio has delivered a wide range of projects, including single-family homes, multi-family residences, cultural and public spaces, exhibitions, and designed objects.

Notable current projects include the renovation and expansion of a 18,000-square-foot Howard Van Doren Shaw home in Highland Park, IL, updated for art collectors; a rooftop gallery addition to a historic Chicago greystone; a three-flat with a commercial storefront in Chicago; a 10-car garage for a countryside estate; and, a masterplan for multi-family and senior housing for the Chinese American Service League in Bridgeport, Chicago. Recently completed works include Ardmore House, the Swiss Consulate Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Flaxman Library renovation, and Rice University Architecture school’s renovation of Anderson Hall.

Lap Chi Kwong holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington. Before founding the firm, he worked with Pritzker Prize-winning studios such as Herzog & de Meuron and Amateur Architecture Studio, contributing to projects like the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Kramlich Residence & Gallery in California. Originally from Hong Kong, Lap Chi later moved to Seattle for his undergraduate studies.

Alison Von Glinow also earned a Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design, with a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College. She gained experience at globally recognized firms, including Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland; SOM in Chicago and New York; Toshiko Mori Architect in New York; and Svendborg Architects in Copenhagen, Denmark. Alison is a licensed architect in Illinois.

Have plans on Thursday, December 5th? Do you like art? How about parties? Music? Drinks and snacks?

Good news- Space.City’s annual holiday party is happening that evening! We’ll be hosting our party at LMN’s The Shop during the Pioneer Square Art Walk. Stop in for a drink before you make your way to your favorite spots or after the other galleries have called it an early night. Or, just come for a good time. Some fun things you can expect:

• Cheap beer (good quality stuff, no rolling rock here)

• Boozy and NA cocktail

• Jello shots

• Free snacks!

• Black and white themed decorations

• Great music

• Mystery gift bags- Will you get a voucher for wine tasting? Bookstore gift card? Handmade ceramics? Seattle Dept. of Design swag? Your purchase of a tote bag could include any of those and way more possibilities

Come dressed in your favorite black and white style and help us finish out an amazing year. Entry is free and so are the vibes. See you there!

We’ll also be featuring the work of local artists!

Here are some of the amazing creatives you can expect to meet and party with tomorrow evening:

Jake Hofeling
Jake Hofeling is a Seattle-based artist whose work consists primarily of atmospheric scenes of  remote cabins, sketches of historic PNW lookout towers, and whimsical doodles of cutesy fictional characters.
@hofelinger

Lenore Wan
Lenore owes much of her playful and peaceful illustration style to her childhood spent outdoors with friends and growing up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. After completing her Bachelor of Architecture degree, she found herself experimenting with watercolor, paper mache, and collage. She currently illustrates with gouache, oil pastel and crayon, while flowing between analog and digital space, drawing inspiration from her current home in the verdant Pacific Northwest.
@lenore.wan

Nikki Sugihara
Nikki Sugihara is a Seattle-based illustrator and designer originally from Chicago. With a background in architecture, her work is often a documentation of observations and memories, drawing from the landscapes around her and the artistic practices of her Japanese and Taiwanese roots. She is curious about materiality and is currently exploring the properties of fabric textiles in a series of shifting scales. In addition to her personal work, Nikki is also a metal fabrication apprentice at Dovetail GC, learning how to work in a shop environment and helping with the production of architectural metalwork.
@mellowbogs

Elena Cortez, Maria Delmar Coagdan, Megan Demorse
"In Our Ancestors' Step"
These paintings capture the history, resilience, and empowerment of Filipinos in both the motherland of the Philippines and locally in Seattle, Washington, highlighting their journey through struggle and triumph. Born from the UW's Filipino American Student Association in 2018, the Centennial Celebration honors 100 years of Filipino and Filipino-American Legacy at UW.
@lin.e___
@mdefs
@datdessertgirl

Work at the Mall: Candy, Sandwiches, & Hats

Jennifer Bonner founded MALL in 2009, a creative practice that stands for Mass Architectural Loopty Loops. Or Miniature Angles & Little Lines. Or Maximum Arches with Limited Liability—an acronym with built-in flexibility! MALL is committed to projects that hack typologies, take creative risks, reference popular culture, and invent representation.

Jennifer will present a range of projects that use candy, sandwiches, and hats as the conceptual starting points for her architecture. Presenting her ground-breaking project, Haus Gables, a single-family house in Atlanta, Georgia (2018) and Blank House currently underway in Portland, Oregon, Jennifer will share her research and innovative thinking on cross laminated timber (CLT) construction. She will make an argument for how CLT might become more playful, graphic, and dynamic as an architectural material within the discipline.

More About Jennifer

Bonner's architectural language fuses geometric complexities and vibrant colors, while embracing innovative building technologies. Her projects challenge preconceived notions, inviting viewers to engage with space in novel ways. From playful DADUs to the imaginative "Haus Gables" residence, each creation is an exuberant celebration of form and function.

Beyond her innovative designs, Bonner's dedication to education is notable. As a former esteemed educator at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, she passionately has imparted her knowledge and nurturec emerging talents in the field for over a decade.

Bonner's work has earned her numerous accolades, catapulting her to the forefront of contemporary architecture. Her projects have been featured in prestigious exhibitions and publications, sparking conversations about the future of architecture and the possibilities that are embedded in the very matter of building.

Edited by designer, professor, and researcher Mindy Seu, it includes more than 700 short entries of radical techno-critical activism in a variety of media, including excerpts from academic articles and scholarly texts; descriptions of hackerspaces, digital rights activist groups, and bio-hacktivism; and depictions of feminist net art and new media art. Both a vital introduction for laypeople and a robust resource guide for educators, Cyberfeminism Index—an anti-canon, of sorts—celebrates the multiplicity of practices that fall under this imperfect categorization and makes visible cyberfeminism’s long-ignored origins and its expansive legacy.

Meet the Panelists:

Marlon Blackwell, winner of the 2020 AIA Gold Medal, is a visionary architect from Arkansas who seamlessly blends architectural ideals with distinct cultural contexts, a method that has produced a uniquely diverse and distinguished body of work that spans a variety of project types. His work is a continual testament to the power of architecture to shape lives and communities, and his passion and unique perspective has shaped him into one of the most influential voices in architecture.

Marlon Blackwell is an alumnus of Auburn University (BA) and Syracuse University (MAII) and is currently the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture at the University of Arkansas. Blackwell is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2020 AIA Gold Medal, 2017 E. Fay Jones AIA Gold Medal from AIA Arkansas, The 2012 Architecture Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, as well as being the 2019 Resident Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a National Academy of Design inductee, United States Artists Ford Fellow, and many others.

Marlon Blackwell will be presented by Javier Gomez, who Marlon is personally responsible for bringing to the United States, having invited him to teach at the University of Arkansas while co-teaching in the University of Arkansas Mexico Summer Urban Studio at the Casa Luis Barragán in Mexico City.

Peter Miller Books will be hosting a book signing with Marlon for his most recently published monograph, RADICAL PRACTICE, which documents 30 years of innovative work by Marlon and his practice.

Radical Practice

Marlon Blackwell will discuss his architecture and design process and will share projects from his new monograph, Radical Practice: The Work of Marlon Blackwell Architects. Both the lecture and book emphasize projects in the public and civic realm, emerging from outside the established centers of architectural culture. These projects illustrate the work of Marlon Blackwell Architects, spanning across typologies, scales, and budgets by merging the universal language of architecture and the particulars of place.

The lecture will discuss the work, its methods, and consequences. It will suggest an open-endedness to the practice’s trajectory and interest in what a “radical practice” can be in the contemporary moment. A core principle at the heart of this practice is the assertion of making buildings and places a constant, authentic focus.

Event photos courtesy of Kyle Keirsey, Grant Gustafson, and Callan Roemer

STEVEN HOLL

Questions of Perception

KEYNOTE LECTURE

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5TH, 2022 AT 4:00 PM

MICROSOFT AUDITORIUM | SEATTLE CENTRAL LIBRARY

Steven Holl revisits Questions of Perception, the 1994 text he co-authored with Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Juhani Pallasmaa, in which Holl explores the phenomenology of architecture through eleven “phenomenal zones”:

• enmeshed experience

• perspectival space

• of color

• of light and shadow

• spatiality of night

• time, duration, and perception

• water: a phenomenal lens

• of sound

• detail: the haptic realm

• proportion, scale, and perception

• site, circumstance, and idea

Incorporating recent projects by Steven Holl Architects realized after the book’s publication, Holl recasts the “phenomenal zones” and connects new built works with these original concepts.

Steven Holl was born in 1947 in Bremerton, WA. He graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976, he joined the Architectural Association in London and in 1977 established Steven Holl Architects in New York City. Steven Holl was named by Time Magazine as America’s Best Architect, for creating buildings that ‘satisfy the spirit as well as the eye.’ He has realized cultural, civic, academic, and residential projects in the United States and internationally. He specializes in seamlessly integrating projects into contexts with cultural and historic importance.

Steven Holl has been recognized with architectures most prestigious awards and prizes, notably the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture, the AIA Gold Medal, and the RIBA Jencks Award. Steven Holl is a tenured Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning; he has lectured and exhibited widely as well as published numerous texts.

$15 IN ADVANCE

$20 AT THE DOOR

[ SOLD OUT ]

Please stay posted for additional events to be announced soon!

Following their contribution to this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial titled “…and other such stories,” in which four distinct themes revolve around the question of how architecture relates to land, memory, rights and civic participation, Wolff Architects talk in Seattle will focus on Architecture of Consequence.

‘The work of Wolff Architects is rooted in developing an attitude around spatial practice that is broad and non-hegemonic. We work towards developing an architecture of consequence. The talk will present some ideas coming out of the work of our studio that illustrates some of these attitudes including: restorative justice, embedded research and of course, juicy design aesthetics. In other words, our creative output considers the past in terms of how to act restoratively and imaginatively when making interventions into the present.’

Wolff is a design studio concerned with developing an architectural practice of consequence through the mediums of design, advocacy, research and documentation. The Wolff team is led by Ilze & Heinrich Wolff, who work collaboratively with a group of highly skilled, committed, and engaged architects, creative practitioners and administrators. Heinrich Wolff is an architect and project manager with over 20 years’ experience. His work has received many awards including the Daimler Chrysler Award for Architecture (2007), the Lubetkin Award (2005), and in 2011 he was elected as the Designer of the Future by the Wouter Mikmak Foundation. He has held several academic appointments; he has been a visiting professor at the ETH in Zürich (2014 - 2015), IUAV in Venice (2013), Washington University in St. Louis (2015) and has been an adjunct associate professor at UCT, Cape Town. Ilze Wolff is a partner of Wolff and graduated with a B.Arch at the University of Cape Town. She received a Masters of Philosophy in Heritage and Public Culture, African Studies Unit, UCT. Ilze co-founded Open House Architecture in 2007, a transdisciplinary research practice which she continues to direct parallel to Wolff.

Both principals have taught and lectured internationally, including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan and India. They continue to do so. The work of the practice has also been included in various international exhibitions, including the Venice Architecture Biennale, Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Architectural Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale and the South American Architecture Biennale.

Jim Chuchu:
In Conversation

PRESENTED BY MARIANE IBRAHIM GALLERY & SPACE.CITY

Kenyan artist Jim Chuchu takes us on profound and dizzying journeys of psycho-spiritual time travel, spanning distant African pasts and potential Afro-futures. He remixes the popular religious experience of spiritualpossession—the penetration of the human body, at times willful, at times unbidden, by the vast invisible forces of the universe. In many communities in African and its Diaspora, spiritual presences are summoned into the body of the novice through dance, music, chanting, masking and other disciplines. The initial experience of possession, many devotees explain, is often terrifying, experienced as a kind of dreadful, incapacitating illness or sense of free-fall. Seeking healing, the possessed often join secret societies or “cults of affliction” that promise them relief from the terrors of the possessing other.

For additional information about Jim Chuchu’s work and Mariane Ibrahim Gallery  click here

For a video on some of Jim Chuchu’s work, click here. (password pagans)

Matt Olson of OOIEE

PRESENTED BY SPACE.CITY

Matt Olson is the founder of OOIEE (Office Of Interior Establishing Exterior) a trans-disciplinary studio that works on projects related to art, design, architecture, and the landscape. Their “open practice” model is based in the belief that the world makes us as much as we make it and thus is an act of poetic surrender that gives life to something that is easy to care about.

Matt's work both as OOIEE and RO/LU, his former studio, has been shown at the Aspen Art Museum, Etage in Copenhagen, Haus der Kunst, ANNEX at M+B Gallery in Los Angeles Patrick Parrish Gallery in NYC and Volume in Chicago. The work also lives in the permanent collection at the Walker Art Center and many notable private collections. 

Matt has been a visiting artist/lecturer at SCI-Arc, Cranbrook, PNCA/OCAC MFA AC+D (Portland), SAIC (School Art Institute Chicago), SCAD (Savannah). In addition to speaking about his work and “open practice,” he also tends to speak about “love, art history as a material, skate videos, Jonas Mekas, humility, John Hughes, Sturtevant, capitalism, Black Mountain College, ego, spirituality, acceptance, and the attempt to resist "self" all as an attempt to understand awareness isn't something we do, it's what we are." 

Join Lawrence Azerrad, an award winning art director, graphic designer, and author for a  lecture on what made Concorde the single most important piece of design in our recent history, and how it can serve as a window into human creativity, optimism, and the spirit of progress, as expressed through design.

Lawrence Azerrad is an award-winning art director, graphic designer, and author based in Los Angeles. Prior to opening LADdesign, he was an art director at Warner Bros Records and created packaging and artwork for artists including Miles Davis and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In 2017, he won a Grammy for his work as the producer and creative director for The Voyager Golden Record 40th Anniversary Edition. The record embodies a sense of possibility and hope, and serves as a reminder of what we can achieve when we’re at our best—and that our future really is up to all of us.

 Pursuing his love of design in all forms, Azerrad’s first book, Supersonic: The Design and Lifestyle of Concorde, was released by Prestel in September 2018. It is available just about everywhere books are sold.

Devin Liddell, Principal Futurist, TEAGUE
Devin is a futurist who works collaboratively with clients such as Boeing, Intel, JW Marriott, Nike, Starbucks, and Toyota to design preferred futures in aviation, automotive, smart cities, personal mobility, space travel, and more. Devin also leads TEAGUE"s future-focused conceptual projects. Most recently, these have included: Poppi, a vision for an airline of the future, and Hannah, a proposal for the future of autonomous school transportation. With nearly two decades of experience in strategy and design, Devin has worked across a broad spectrum of industries: aerospace, education, software/technology, food and beverage, and retail; some of his past clients include Amazon, GE, Microsoft, Nordstrom, and Viacom. He’s a frequent contributor to Fast Company, a board member at Aerial Futures, and teaches regularly at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle.

Cameron Campbell
Principal Design Strategist, Amazon
Advisory Board Member, Space.City

Cruz and Forman are principals in Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, a research-based political and architectural practice with a special emphasis on Latin American cities. Blurring conventional boundaries between theory and practice, their work crosses the fields of architecture and urbanism, political theory and urban policy, visual arts, and public culture. Their firm has been recognized as a prominent voice for socially-oriented design and has been working with the public in the San Diego / Tijuana border region to create community spaces for arts and educational programming.

Their firm was chosen as one of seven featured design teams at the U.S. pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. They examine the American / Mexican border as a boundaryless environmental area by “challenging the idea that the edge of a nation demands a wall.” Their work uses watersheds, indigenous lands, ecological corridors, and migratory patterns to argue that the border represents an area of commonality and cooperative opportunity rather than political division. 

Cruz has said, "The future of our cities depends less on buildings and more on the reorganization of socio-economic relations." Space.City is excited to welcome them to Seattle.

Director of Planning, City of Detroit

Chris Reed: Founding Director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism

PRESENTED BY SPACE.CITY

Space.city presents Chris Reed, Founding Director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism. He is recognized internationally as a leading voice in the transformation of landscapes and cities. His work collectively includes urban revitalization initiatives, climate resilience efforts, adaptations of infrastructure and former industrial sites, and the design of vibrant public spaces that cultivate a diversity of social uses and cultural traditions. 

Reed is the co-editor of Projective Ecologies, a recipient of the 2012 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Landscape Architecture, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the 2017 winner of the Rome Prize. He is currently Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Eero Saarinen:
The Architect Who Saw the Future

Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future examines the life of an architectural giant who envisioned the future. His sudden untimely death at age 51 cut short what continues to be one of the most influential legacies in American architecture and continues to inspire architects today.

SHOWTIMES

SIFF Film Center

Eero Saarinen’s visionary buildings include National Historic Landmarks such as St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch and the General Motors Technical Center in Michigan. Saarinen also designed New York’s TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport, Yale University’s Ingalls Rink and Morse and Stiles Colleges, Virginia’s Dulles Airport, and modernist pedestal furniture like the Tulip chair. Travel with his son, Eric Saarinen, as he visits the sites of his father’s work on a cathartic journey that showcases the architect’s body of timeless work for the first time. Today, Saarinen’s work stands apart and continues to inspire.