10th Sept-8th March/Designers in Residence 2014: Disruption/Design Museum/London

Last day to attend Design in Residence 2014:Disruption at Design Museum.

Designers in Residence is about more than good design, or even innovation in design. It is about creating time and space in the form of a seven-month residency — and giving four UK-based designers a period of reflection, research and critical rigour away from their normal routine.

Now in its seventh year, Designers in Residence invites young designers to respond to a brief set by Deyan Sudjic, the Director of the Design Museum. For 2014, this theme is disruption. “More than most, ‘disruptive’ is a term whose meaning is dependent on the context,” says Deyan. “It’s conventionally considered almost a bad thing — difficult pupils, bad neighbours, ill-considered town planning — it is now the most sought after quality in a new product.”

The four new works that form the Designers in Residence exhibition all have disruption at their core, yet each designer has taken a markedly different approach.

More info at:
https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/designers-in-residence-2014-disruption

6-15 March / Luigi Pellegrin Exhibition + Conference / Spazio Espositivo Bastione Sangallo / Pisa

LUIGI PELLEGRIN – Visioni di Architettura a Pisa

a cura di Associazione Pisastudium 

con Studio Bianchi e AIAC – Associazione Italiana di Architettura e Critica

Convegno e Inaugurazione 6 Marzo 2015  h 15

Mostra 6/15 Marzo 2015

Spazio Espositivo Bastione Sangallo Pisa

Luigi Pellegrin è una delle personalità più significative dell’architettura organica italiana. Cogliendo lo spunto dalla mostra “Copiare Saturno” allestita a Roma nel 2014 sull’attività di questo eclettico e visionario architetto, l’Associazione Culturale Pisastudium, con Studio Bianchi e AIAC – Associazione Italiana Architettura e Crititica, organizza a Pisa una mostra e un convegno per far conoscere meglio l’architettura di Pellegrin, la sua poetica, i suoi intenti.

Il legame di Pellegrin con Pisa è indissolubilmente associato al Complesso Scolastico Concetto Marchesi, straordinario ed emblematico esempio della trasposizione in concreto delle visioni progettuali dell’artista. Ulteriore finalità della mostra è quella di stimolare, nel più ampio pubblico possibile, una visione informata e consapevole, senza pregiudizi di sorta, di questo importante oggetto urbano.

Al nucleo dei disegni presentati a Roma nella mostra Copiare Saturno si affianca una sezione riguardante l’architettura disegnata e costruita da Pellegrin, ed in particolare l’esperienza maturata a Pisa nella realizzazione del complesso Concetto Marchesi, con uno sguardo ai progetti selezionati di altri gruppi partecipanti al concorso. La mostra è accompagnata da un video appositamente realizzato con significative testimonianze e contributi sulla persona e l’opera di Pellegrin, tra cui un intervento di Massimiliano Fuksas.

A fianco della mostra il convegno di studio sulla figura e sull’opera di Pellegrin, con un’attenzione particolare all’architettura scolastica da lui realizzata, che vede la partecipazione di autorevoli personalità del mondo culturale e scientifico a livello nazionale, tra le quali segnaliamo Furio Colombo, Luca Zevi, Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi, Alessandra Muntoni_Gruppo Metamorph, Massimo Dringoli e Luca Lanini.

In parallelo è allestito un presidio informativo presso il Concetto Marchesi, mediante la creazione di un percorso di visita del complesso che sappia adeguatamente narrare il contrasto tra le intenzioni e l’esito di questa vicenda durata 40 anni.

L’iniziativa gode del Patrocinio della Provincia di Pisa, del Comune di Pisa, degli Ordini professionali degli Architetti e degli Ingegneri di Pisa, del D.E.S.T.eC (Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni) dell’Università di Pisa.

La realizzazione della mostra e del convegno sono state possibili grazie al contributo dei seguenti sponsor:

Main Sponsor: Weber Saint Gobain, Ford/BluBay S.p.A., Galilei Real Estate, Decorarte Snc

Altri Sponsor: Knauf/Progetto Edilizia, Toni Luigi srl, Edilsantamaria srl, Banca di credito Cooperativo Valdinievole, Idealcomfort, Baglini Ascensori Group, Rindi Broker & Partners

Sponsor Tecnici: Acme 04, Meprint, Fosterkill, Orza Service srl

Per info: 

Associazione Culturale Pisastudium
www.pisastudium.it
associazionepisastudium@gmail.com

UFFICIO STAMPA AIAC
Roberta melasecca
uffstampaaiac@presstletter.com
tel. 3494945612

19 March / GOODESIGN – THE NATURAL CIRCLE press conference / Cascina Cuccagna / Milan

Conferenza stampa con breakfast GOODESIGN THE NATURAL CIRCLE

19 marzo, ore 10.00, Cascina Cuccagna

via Cuccagna 2 angolo via Muratori, Milano

Intervengono: 

- Cristina Tajani, Assessore alle politiche per il lavoro, sviluppo economico, università e ricerca, con delega a moda e design

- David de Waal, Console Generale del Regno dei Paesi Bassi a Milano 

- Giuliana Zoppis, Best Up, coordinamento generale Goodesign – The natural circle

- Andrea Di Stefano, Presidente Cascina Cuccagna, partner Goodesign – The natural circle

- Officina Temporanea, direzione artistica Goodesign – The natural circle

Come arrivare: 
MM3 Lodi/Filobus 90, 91, 92/Tram 9,16/Bus 62, 77

Info:

http://www.goodesignevent.it 

18Feb-23May/MackintoshArchitecture Exhibition/Riba/London

Celebrated worldwide, Charles Rennie Mackintosh is one of the leading figures of late 19th and early 20th Century architecture. Mackintosh Architecture charts a career marked as much by its difficulties as by its successes. It is the first substantial exhibition to be devoted to his architecture and features over 60 original drawings and watercolours, as well as models, films and portraits.Seen together they reveal the evolution of his style from his early apprenticeship to his later projects as an individual architect and designer.

At Riba, 66 Portland Place

free entrance #Mackintosh2015

Monday-Sunday 10AM to 5PM and Tuesday 10am to 8 pm

Mackintosh Architecture has been developed in association with The Hunterian, University of Glasgow. This exhibition marks the completion of a four year AHRC-funded research project led by The Hunterian into Mackintosh’s architecture. The exhibition is supported by The Monument Trust and RIBA Patrons.

Image credit: Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scotland Street School, Glasgow: perspective drawing, 1904 

© The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2015

More info at:

http://www.architecture.com/Explore/ExhibitionsandEvents/Mackintosh/MackintoshArchitecture.aspx

18 February / Xaveer De Geyter exhibition and lecture / Casa dell'Architettura / Rome

18 febbraio 2015 ore 17.30

Conferenza di Xaveer De Geyter

SALUTI
Alfonso Giancotti
Presidente CTS Casa dell’Architettura
Livio Sacchi
Presidente Ordine Architetti P.P.C. di Roma e provincia

INTRODUZIONE
Federico De Matteis
Sapienza Università di Roma

CONCLUSIONE
Luca Garofalo
architetto

MOSTRA XDGA _ 160 EXPO, a cura di XDGA / CIVA / Federico De Matteis
18 febbraio > 17 marzo 2015
dal lunedì al venerdì dalle ore 10 alle 19.30


Xaveer De Geyter, che ha fondato il suo studio nel 1988, mette in luce in maniera a volte sorprendente i paradossi e i conflitti della vita (sub)urbana. Il suo lavoro è fondato sul profondo convincimento che l’architettura possiede un potenziale formale per canalizzare e organizzare i flussi delle attività, a volte contraddittorie, della nostra società. Più che attenersi ad un contenuto programmatico, De Geyter crea un ambiente chiaramente definito, aperto a diversi scenari, storie e risultati. Non rifugge dalle controversie e, coraggiosamente, tenta di estrarre il potenziale da ciascun luogo o di contestualizzare i punti chiave di un programma architettonico. Le sue opere, prive di timori o inibizioni, si affermano come un mezzo moderno e colmo di energia, che non riposa su una rassicurante tradizione del passato o su un presente che mira al consenso, bensì abbraccia il grado di incertezza del futuro in maniera lucida e positiva.

Per l’evento saranno riconosciuti n.2 crediti formativi.
È obbligatoria l’iscrizione online.


Info:
Casa dell'Architettura
Piazza M. Fanti 47, Roma
http://www.casadellarchitettura.it/

20 February / Le regole del gioco / Exhibition opening / Fondazione Achille Castiglioni / Milan

Il progetto espositivo, a cura di Luca Lo Pinto, e sotto la direzione artistica di Edoardo Bonaspetti, coinvolge diciotto artisti italiani e stranieri di fama internazionale invitati a un dialogo con le opere, gli oggetti e l’architettura dello Studio Museo, suggerendo possibili forme di contatto con il modus operandi di Castiglioni.

La quasi totalità delle opere è stata concepita ad hoc per questo luogo, come risultato di un processo che nei mesi precedenti la mostra ha visto gli artisti visitare e studiare gli ambienti e le specificità dello Studio Museo. In questo modo, i diversi interventi dialogheranno in maniera peculiare con i vari elementi che caratterizzano lo spazio. Gli artisti sono stati invitati a realizzare opere non invasive, in grado di relazionarsi con il contesto e di mimetizzarsi al suo interno.

La mostra, prodotta dalla Triennale di Milano in collaborazione con la Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, è concepita come un omaggio al luogo e a Castiglioni stesso, con l’obiettivo di testimoniare l’enorme influenza che il suo lavoro esercita ancora oggi sulle nuove generazioni di artisti, architetti e designer. L’esposizione, tramite la giustapposizione delle opere degli artisti invitati e gli oggetti presenti nello studio, offrirà al pubblico la possibilità di scoprire, attraverso prospettive inedite e stimolanti, l’immaginario del grande designer.

Il progetto vede il coinvolgimento di artisti contemporanei, con linguaggi espressivi eterogenei, al fine di favorire uno sguardo plurale e variegato tanto sulle opere quanto sul luogo che le ospita. In tal senso, non è stato fornito alcun vincolo tematico o linguistico, ma solo il suggerimento a operare tramite interventi "sottili", al fine di far percepire la mostra e lo studio come un unicum, un solo insieme da interpretare su più livelli.

I visitatori saranno accompagnati da un responsabile della Fondazione, che illustrerà lo Studio Museo e il progetto creando, con la propria interpretazione, un ulteriore livello narrativo.

Artisti:
Alek O. – Stefano Arienti – Richard Artschwager – Céline Condorelli – Thea Djordjadze – Jason Dodge – Martino Gamper – Max Lamb – Christoph Meier – Olaf Nicolai – Amalia Pica – Lisa Ponti – Charlotte Posenenske – Riccardo Previdi – Emilio Prini – Carol Rama – Mandla Reuter – Patrick Tuttofuoco

Opening:
20 febbraio dalle 15.00 alle 21.30.
Ingresso massimo 25 persone alla volta.
La visita dura 20 minuti

La conferenza stampa è in programma venerdì 20 febbraio alle ore 11.30 presso La Triennale di Milano. Seguirà la visita alla mostra in Fondazione Achille Castiglioni 

Apertura straordinaria per la mostra Le regole del gioco:
21 febbraio - 11 aprile (visite guidate su prenotazione):
martedì-venerdì 17.00 - 20.00
sabato-domenica 15.00 - 20.00

La Fondazione Achille Castiglioni rimane aperta anche nei consueti orari con le visite guidate su prenotazione dal martedì alla domenica alle ore 10.00, 11.00 e 12.00.

Info:
Fondazione Achille Castiglioni
Piazza Castello, 27
20121 Milano
T. 02 8053606
fondazione@achillecastiglioni.it
info@achillecastiglioni.it 

13th February / Piet Oudolf lecture / Iuav / Venice

Landscapes in Landscape

Pier Oudolf lecture

13 February, 9:30am

Cotonificio, aula Gradoni, Iuav

introducono: Enrico Fontanari, Andrés Holguìn

Piet Oudolf: Tra i più influenti ‘green designer’ olandesi, figura di spicco dei movimenti ‘New Perennial’ e ‘New Wave Painting’, adotta prevalentemente piante erbacee perenni e graminacee nelle proprie installazioni paesaggistiche. Piet Oudolf è autore di numerosi libri sul tema e ha realizzato interventi in numerosi Paesi tra cui: Olanda, Germania, Svezia, Gran Bretagna, Irlanda, Canada, Stati Uniti (con la famosissima High Line, recupero di una vecchia linea ferroviaria abbandonata). Noto è anche il suo intervento per i giardini delle Tese alla Biennale di Venezia. Nella sua illustre carriera ha ottenuto premi e riconoscimenti in tutto il mondo.

Info:

http://www.iuav.it

17th February / Wouter Vanstiphout: A Clockwork Jerusalem / British School at Rome

Meeting Architecture Part II: Architecture and the Creative Process 
A programme of lectures and study-exhibitions
17 February 2015, 18:00: Part VIII

Wouter Vanstiphout:A Clockwork Jerusalem: Architecture, Politics, Riots and the belief in a better world

introduced by Pippo Ciorra

Dutch architectural historian Wouter Vanstiphout (Crimson Architectural Historians) will discuss the relationship between architecture, creativity and politics: Architecture (and its sister discipline town planning) is essentially political; for centuries it has been used to create the infrastructure and the institutional icons for nation states, it has been deployed as a tool to force people into certain behavioural modes and it has been instrumental in creating the visions of future cities and landscapes, that are needed to mobilize massive amounts of state and corporate power. Architecture however struggles with this responsibility. Often it denies it, refuses to be confronted with it or has simply lost the ability to deal with it. Nowhere does this become so strongly apparent as in the debate as to whether architecture can somehow be blamed for the social unrest, the civic frustration and sometimes violent anger that we have witnessed over the past decades in cities that are going through massive urban transformation projects. Reaffirming the political dimension of architecture, and asking, demanding, that it takes responsibility for its political role is what this lecture is about. 

Wouter Vanstiphout is an architectural historian and a founding partner of Crimson Architectural Historians in Rotterdam. Vanstiphout is Professor of Design & Politics at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical university of Delft in the Netherlands. With FAT, Vanstiphout and Crimson curated the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale of 2014. Currently he is preparing a book on the relationship between architecture, urban politics and social unrest, to be published in 2015.

British School at Rome Architecture Programme, curated by Marina Engel

Info:
The British School at Rome
via Gramsci 61, Rome
telephone +39 06 3264939, www.bsr.ac.uk

15th October/Liz Diller Lecture/Christopher Ingold Building Bartlett/London

Architect Liz Diller shares her practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro's (DS+R's) recent work.

Liz Diller is a founding principal of DS+R, an interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts and the performing arts. DS+R’s completed projects include the renovation of Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, the High Line park in New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, credited for revitalising the city’s waterfront and is highly regarded for its inventive planning of exhibition and educational programmes. Additional completed projects include the Creative Arts Centre at Brown University, and Blur, designed for the 2002 Swiss Expo. Projects currently in construction include The Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles, the Museum of Image and Sound in Rio de Janeiro, the Medical and Graduate Education Building at Columbia University, the McMurtry Building for Art and Art History at Stanford University, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Diller is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius’ Award, the first awarded in the discipline of architecture. In recent years, she was named among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and recognised by the Smithsonian Institution with the National Design Award, by the American Academy of the Arts and Letters with the Brunner Prize, and by the National Academy of Design with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Diller is a recent recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Occidental College and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a graduate of the Cooper Union School of Architecture and a Professor of Architecture at Princeton University.

More info at:

http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/events/liz_diller_bartlettils

9th October/New Architecture Narratives Lecture-Andres Jaque lectures/ Barbican/London

What are the borders of architecture? How has the discipline evolved to face the non-stop challenges of the city? What means can be used to communicate and connect with society?

This lecture is lead by Silver Lion recipient and acclaimed Spanish architect / theorist Andrés Jaque, as he explores the new narratives that contemporary architecture employ to engage with the public realm and the persuit to define the limitations of this modernised profession.

This lecture will be followed by a Q&A with Brendan Cormier, lead curator of 20th and 21st century design for theShekou Partnership at the V&A.

More info at:

http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-detail.asp?ID=17003 

08th October/James Wines Lecture/Darwin Lecture Theatre Bartlett/London

What is an Idea?'It’s a great idea!!' appears to be one of the more hyperbolic and ubiquitous mantras, used to introduce new cultural phenomena today. James Wines’ presentation is based on the cautious premise that ‘everything can’t be THAT great’. For this reason, he explores the most significant ideas in the arts and architecture, which have been shaped by social, political, psychological, economic and cultural influences, from the early 20th Century to the present. His choice of content is intended to reinforce Dadaist advocate Richard Huelsenbeck’s enduring observation: 'The highest art is that which, in its conscious content, reflects the problems of the day'. Prof. Wines also evaluates the vast difference between aesthetic choices, which are merely predicated on scavenging recent history, versus ideas that liberate the arts from past-due stylistic baggage. Crediting many conceptual exchanges between art and architecture, he discusses the seminal work of such movements as Constructivism, Futurism, l’Architetture Radicale, L’Arte Povera, Performance Art, Earth Art, Fluxus, Conceptual Art, Arch-Art ...concluding with observations focused on some potentially fertile sources of ideas for the future. 

James Wines is founder and president of SITE, a New York City-based architecture and environmental arts organisation, founded in 1970. He is also a Professor of Architecture at Penn State University. He has designed and built more than one hundred and fifty architecture, environmental art, landscape, interior, and exhibition projects for private and municipal clients in eleven countries. He has lectured on environmental issues in fifty-two countries and contributed essays to many books and magazines in the USA, Europe, and Asia. In 1987 his book De-Architecture was released by Rizzoli International and, during the past two decades, there have been twenty-two monographic books and museum catalogues published on his projects for SITE. In 2000, Taschen Verlag released Professor Wines’ book on Green Architecture. He lives and works in New York City. His major interests are in environmental design, public space, the fusion of buildings with context and the connections between art and architecture.

6.30pm – 8pm
No booking required / first come, first seated

1-3 August/Hackney WickED Art Festival/Hackney Wick/London

Championing creativity through Exhibitions, Open Studios, Performance, Fetes, Music, Workshops, Tours and more. Hackney WickED CIC remains a dynamic force for promoting local culture - dedicated to providing a platform for artists to showcase their work alongside established and international names. 

Hackney WickED Art Festival (HWAF) will take place from Friday 1 August to Sunday 3 August 2014 across Hackney Wick and Fish Island. This will be the 6th annual art festival in the 7th year of the Hackney WickED lifespan. 

This year the festival epicentre is ‘Hackney WickED Riviera’, based at Forman’s Fish Island and Swan Wharf, where art will be celebrated in all its forms. Key elements include Curated Exhibitions, Open Studios, Performance, Film, Site-specific Art, Fate For The WickED (art market), Graffiti Jam, Development Workshops, Fashion, Music, Art Tours, Kayak Trips and great Food & Drink. 

Over 100 open studios to explore; over 15 exhibitions curated specially for the festival, brand new site-specific artworks and many many live performances and events popping up around the streets and venues of Hackney Wick. 

Arts Council England Grants for the arts funded commissions have been awarded to a series of site-specific works by Laura Oldfield Ford, Stephen Gill and Daryl Brown - selected by Ingrid Z of The Residence Gallery; performance commissions have been awarded to AAS, Eloise Fornieles and Rosie Ridgway; open studio bursaries will go to Dollyolli Studios, Dygoro Sasaki, Josephine Chime, Kirtland Ash, Linda Simmonds - Selected by Douglas Thackway and Fiona Furness of SPACE, Paul Abbott, ]performance s p a c e [, Rosie Emerson, Rossen Daskalov and Vittoria Wharf Collective.

Hackney WickED Art Festival, in its 6th year, has established itself as one of London’s biggest and certainly most uniquely creative Art events: promoting local culture and providing a platform for local emerging artists to showcase their work alongside more established names whilst celebrating the creative community that resides in Hackney Wick.

Festival Patron, Gavin Turk says,

“What people don’t realise about Hackney WickED Art Festival is the honesty of the festival; it is made from the energy of the artists... It really is quite different to any other festivals that people will have gone to” 

Download the 2014 programme:

http://www.hackneywicked.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HWAF14-MAP-PROGRAMME-web.pdf

Map:

http://www.hackneywicked.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HWAF2014-MAP.jpg

More info at:

http://www.hackneywicked.co.uk

Enjoy!

27th June/Barbitopia/Barbican/London

A special presentation to complement the House of Muses installation at the Museum of London, introduced by Elain Harwood. 
Built out of the bomb craters following the Blitz, the story of the Barbican is told through this enthralling programme of rare archive documentaries.
Titles include Barbican Regained (1963), My Lord Mayor(1960), Look At Life: Top People (1960), Barbican (1969) andSouth Of Watford (1988).

Film programme running time 95 min
This screening forms part of the London Festival of Architecture

With thanks to the London Metropolitan Archives

More info at:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-detail.asp?ID=16466

16th June/Housing Londoners: Is it just a numbers game?/Kings Place/London

One million more Londoners will need homes over the next decade. Yet the current level of house building in London is only skimming the surface of housing need, and the impact on levels of affordability is well documented.

This debate will take as its starting point the desperate need to house our growing, changing, population, and examine how we can achieve the numbers, while creating great neighbourhoods and quality homes that reflect both our changing lifestyles and an aesthetic value that London can be proud of.

Claire Bennie – Development Director, Peabody 

Richard Blakeway – Deputy Mayor for Housing, Land and Property, Greater London Authority

Teresa Borsuk – Executive Director, Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects

David Lammy MP – MP for Tottenham

Rob Perrins – Managing Director, Berkeley Group

More info:

http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on-book-tickets/spoken-word/lfa-keynote-debate-housing-londoners-is-it-just-a-numbers-game#.U54nQqXgVuY

http://www.londonarchitecturediary.com/event/4397

11 June/Saint Etienne:How We Used To Live/Kings Place/London

WITH ELAIN HARWOOD, CHARLES HOLLAND, BOB STANLEY AND JOE KERR

Saint Etienne present their new film How We Used To Live, which captures a moment in London's history – from the post-war rebuilding of London through to the onset of Thatcherism. Beautifully inhabiting London's streets and buildings, this latest film features rare footage from the BFI archive, and a musical score by Pete Wiggs.

The film will be followed by a conversation between Elain Harwood, from English Heritage, Bob Stanley from Saint Etienne, architect Charles Holland and Joe Kerr, co-editor of London: From Punk to Blair and a bus driver at Tottenham garage.

In association with Modern Culture.

Film, Spoken Word / Wednesday, 11 June 2014 - 7:30pm / Hall Two

More info:

http://www.londonarchitecturediary.com/?c=5

1-30 June/London Festival of Architecture/London

THE FESTIVAL IS A MONTH-LONG, CITY-WIDE CELEBRATION OF ARCHITECTURAL EXPERIMENTATION, THINKING, LEARNING AND PRACTICE.

The London Festival of Architecture consists of a programme delivered by partner organisations – leading cultural and academic institutions – alongside associated projects and open studios by architects, engineers, designers, artists, and curators. In 2014 the festival takes ‘Capital' as its central theme, and explores its various manifestations; from London's place as the UK's seat of government and finance, its flows of social and intellectual capital, the politics of regeneration and its impact on the city and its position as a world capital of architecture, through its practices and its built environment.

The London Festival of Architecture features debates, exhibitions, film screenings, walks, cycle rides, open studios and family events which focus on the importance of architecture and design in London today. An active programme of architectural installations and interventions provoke questions about the future life of the city and promotes positive change to the city's public realm. The festival also has a global focus with the International Architectural Showcase, organised by the British Council, highlighting innovative work from architecture practices around the world.

Stay tuned!

More info:

http://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org

30th May/Korea Friday Late/Victoria and Albert Museum/London

This Friday Late brings Korea to South Kensington. Join us as Korean culture and technological innovation collide and cross-pollinate the galleries. From soap pottery to bojagi sewing, poetry to straw chairs, and K-pop to experimental gastronomy, this event explores the vibrant landscape of Korean contemporary art and design.

Visualisation of Taste

19.00, 19.30, 20.00, 20.30, 21.00

Using synaesthesia as a source of inspiration, designer Jinhuyn Jeon takes experimental gastronomy to another level. Her creation of STIMULI cutlery enriches the eating experience, teasing your senses through texture, colour and sound. This workshop will literally tickle your taste buds.

The poet Ko Un

19.30, 20.30 (30 minutes)

Korea’s foremost poet and national treasure, Ko Un, will be reading Poems I Left Behind from his collection of Seon poems (a form of Korean Buddhist writing). At the age of 81 Ko Un has been a forerunner for the Nobel Prize in Literature and continues to captivate audiences worldwide. His lyrical poems exquisitely portray the powerful language and philosophically rich culture of Korea. Sir Andrew Motion will be reading the poems in English.

Curated by Jiyoon Lee

All Evening

Made Of Chair

Robe yourself in a Hanbok and a pair of Gomusin (both provided!) and take a pew on Made Of Chair. Designer Kim Been’s armchair evokes the sensual pleasures of sitting in straw, born out of a romantic sensibility and a realisation of the potential of rice straw, a material otherwise destined for fodder. 

TableStitch

Textile Futures graduate Soojin Kang invites you to master the art of traditional jogakbo sewing. With a different take on your usual Friday dinner dining, pull up a chair, sit and stitch the communal cloth to create a beautiful fusion of East meeting West across the table.

Meekyoung Shin

Situated within the Korean Gallery, Meekyoung Shin displays her ornate vases carved from soap. Take inspiration from Shin’s work and join her in the Learning Studio to engrave your own moon jar cast in soap.

Junebum Park

Watch filmmaker and video artist Junebum Park take the role of puppeteer as he manipulates the everyday scenes of Korean life. A comical distortion of the urban environment and an exploration of contemporary ideas of space, illusion and control. 

Complex, Red

Red, represents loyalty, good fortune and wealth in Korea. Borim Jun and Seung Hwan Lee’s red beacon will mark the start of your journey through this Friday Late, symbolising the role of red in the broader sweep of Korean culture.

Sung Jang Laboratory

With the head of a bear and the body of a dinosaur, build your own creature using EQB (Emotion Quotient Blocks). Each EQB unit connects to another with Sung Jang’s unique ‘genderless’ snap joints.

Surface Matters

In a world of touchscreen tablets and toasters that send emails, the role of the surface is changing radically. Audio 01 designed by Eunhee Jo is a tangible textural interface. You can control its sound using a fabric interface and feel the surface respond beneath your fingers.

More info at:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/friday-late/

17th April-15th June/Lebbeus Woods Architect/Drawing Centre/New York

Acknowledging the parallels between society’s physical and psychological constructions, architect Lebbeus Woods has depicted a career-long narrative of how these constructions transform our being. Working mostly, but not exclusively, with pencil on paper, Woods has created an oeuvre of complex worlds—at times abstract and at times explicit—that present shifts, cycles, repetitions within the built environment. His timeless architecture is not in a particular style or in response to a singular moment in the field; rather, it offers an opportunity to consider how built forms impact the individual and the collective, and reflect contemporary political, social and ideological conditions, and how one person contributes to the development and mutation of the built world. Lebbeus Woods, Architect brings together works from the past forty years by one of the most influential designers working in architecture. Beyond architects, he has been hailed by designers, filmmakers, writers, and artists as a significant voice in recent history, his works resonate across many disciplines for their conceptual depth, imaginative breadth, lasting beauty and ethical potency. The exhibition centers on transformation as a recurring theme, providing a framework for understanding the experimental nature of the work.

This exhibition originated at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and will be on view at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, November 22 through March 2, 2014.

Lebbeus Woods, Architect is curated by Joseph Becker, Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design, and Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, Helen Hilton Raiser Associate Curator of Architecture and Design, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Lebbeus Woods, Architect is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The exhibition at The Drawing Center is made possible by the generous support of Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, Steven Holl + 32BNY, Edward Cella Art + Architecture, Friedman Benda, and Stéphane Samuel and Robert Melvin Rubin. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Wednesday 12-6pm
Thursday 12-8pm
Friday-Sunday 12-6pm
(closed on Monday & Tuesday)

More info at:
http://www.drawingcenter.org/en/drawingcenter/5/exhibitions/6/current/588/lebbeus-woods/

13 February 27 May/ Exhibitions The Brits Who Built the Modern World, 1950 – 2012/Riba/London

Launching the new architecture gallery, The Brits Who Built The Modern World, 1950-2012 tells the the fascinating global story of how British architecture underwent a transformation in the post-war years to become world-leading in the second half of the 20th century.

From Beijing to New York, airports to museums, Foster to Rogers, this era of vast change saw a generation of British architects redefining the world’s cities and creating extraordinary buildings that put British architecture back on the world map. The exhibition charts what was created and where, revealing the buildings, their designers, influences and the style they inspired. It explores the reasons behind this global success story through over 190 photographs, drawings, models and other material, taken from RIBA's incredible collections and key architectural practices.

The exhibition is part of a RIBA season of exhibitions and events inspired by the BBC series The Brits Who Built The Modern World.

RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London 

Free entry

13 February - 27 May 2014

More info:

http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/RIBAPublicProgramme/brits-who-built-the-modern-world/ExhibitionsandEvents/season.aspx#.UyhYnRZYkyE

17th February/Designing with Nature: Michael Pawlyn Lecture/The Architecture Foundation/London

Exploration Architecture Founder and Director Michael Pawlyn will deliver a lecture presenting his working philosophy and latest projects featured in the exhibition, including the Sahara Forest Project, designs for a Biomimetic Office Building and two new, previously unpublished schemes for the BioRock pavilion and the Mountain Data Centre. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session moderated by Noemi Blager, Acting Director, The Architecture Foundation, and will include a discussion with a group of multi-disciplinary respondents comprised of Graham Dodd, engineer and design leader of materials and making, ARUP, Nick Baker, physicist and lecturer, Architectural Association School, and Mike Tonkin, architect and director, Tonkin Liu.

Michael Pawlyn established Exploration in 2007 to focus exclusively on biomimicry. In 2008 Exploration was short-listed for the Young Architect of the Year Award and the internationally renowned Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Prior to setting up the company Michael Pawlyn worked with Grimshaw architects for ten years and was central to the team that radically re-invented horticultural architecture for the Eden Project. He was responsible for leading the design of the Warm Temperate and Humid Tropics Biomes and the subsequent phases that included proposals for a third Biome for plants from dry tropical regions. Pawlyn has lectured widely on the subject of sustainable design in the UK and abroad, and in May 2005 delivered a talk at the Royal Society of Arts with Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface. In 2007 he delivered a talk at Google’s annual ‘Zeitgeist’ conference and in 2011, became one of only a small handful of architects to have a talk posted on TED.com. In the same year, his book Biomimicry in Architecture was published by the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is currently working on a range of biomimicry-based architectural projects and a book commissioned by TED (planned for completion/release early 2014).

More info on:

http://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/programme/2014/exploration-architecture-designing-with-nature/michael-pawlyn-lecture