Remarks and moderating panel at The Logistical City symposium organized by Clare Lyster and hosted by the UIC Institute of Humanities, February 7, 2017, 9am-5:30pm.
conference _ CHICAGOISMS: A CITY TO SPECULATE?
A panel on Chicago’s catalytic potential for urban and architectural speculation, convened by Alexander Eisenschmidt and Jonathan Mekinda at the Chicago Cultural Center, Millennium Park Room, 5th floor, 4-6 PM, November 22, 2014. Related to the book and the exhibition at the Art Institute, “Chicagoisms: A City to Speculate?” brings together practitioners to present and discuss ideas on speculative projects for the city. Speakers included Sarah Dunn (UrbanLab), Sean Lally (Weathers), Andrew Moddrell (Port A+U), Stanley Tigerman (Tigerman McCurry Architects), and Frances Whitehead (ARTetal Studio). Continue Reading →
conference _ VISIONARY CITIES: URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL FUTURES TO COME
Organizer and chair of the international conference on the state of visionary urbanism, in collaboration with and hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, 10am-6pm, September 22, 2012 (over 200 attendees, 3 panels, 15 speakers, 3 moderators). Event is featured in full length at Radio WBEZ-NPR.
Architecture’s failure to engage the contemporary city will have devastating consequences that simultaneously diminish the role of architecture and trivialize the city. This symposium will, therefore, probe architecture’s ability to function once again as urban “vision maker.” After all, architecture and urbanism are by definition visionary; its drawings, animations, and scenarios are always an act of forecasting. They are about something that is not yet – a projective envisioning of a world to come. What at first sight might seem to run counter to the professionalism of architecture and urbanism could, in fact, revitalize these disciplines. Hence, the symposium calls on architects to enter the contemporary city with visions for the immediate urban future.
conference _ INFORMAL CITIES
Colloquium chair and speaker, in collaboration with and hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, October 24, 2010 (participating speakers: Daniela Fabricius, Jiang Jun, Jesse LeCavalier). The colloquium is prompted by the exhibition Urban China, curated by Jiang Jun who is editor of the China-base magazine of the same name. The event sets out to detect global perspectives on the informal, not bound to a particular geography, economy, or period but, instead, defining the informal/formless city as a condition that is with us everywhere. It implies that the “informal” is always part of that strange environment we call “city.”
conference _ METROPOLIS
Panel chair at the ACSA West Central Fall Conference Flip your Field, University of Illinois at Chicago, October 21-23, 2010 (speakers included Michael Chen and Jason Lee, Daniela Fabricius, Jesse Le Cavalier, and Neyran Turan).
conference _ CHICAGO IN THE WORLD
Session co-chair in collaboration with Jonathan Mekinda at the Annual SAH Meeting, Chicago, April 22, 2010 (speakers included Penelope Dean, John Harwood, Igor Marjanovic, and Joanna Merwood-Salisbury). Continue Reading →