June 20–July 15, 2016
SCI-Arc
960 E. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
sciarc.edu
Four weeks, full time Monday–Friday 10am–6pm
To make an exhibition in architecture today is to redesign architecture itself. This requires the capacity to mobilize multiple forms of knowledge and design, an understanding of the institutional and economic frameworks of exhibitions, and a strategic approach to how exhibitions serve as the interface between architecture and its publics. SCI-Arc’s MEAT is a four week intensive summer program that will engage students in these contemporary conversations, while grounding their explorations in a robust historiography of the exhibition as a format for production and dissemination of architectural knowledge. Led by internationally known historian, theorist and curator Sylvia Lavin, the program will combine a schedule of bi-weekly lectures and seminar work, as well as studio-based research and reviews. The program takes advantage of the diverse cultural venues of Los Angeles with behind-the-scenes visits to museums, offices and archives, alongside workshops with visiting curators from various institutions in the US and Europe.
The programis aimed at students who have a general interest in learning about the broadening range of curatorial directions in architecture, and as a preparatory introduction for those planning to pursue postgraduate programs in curatorial practice. Backgrounds including art and architectural history, curatorial practice, new media and museum studies are all encouraged to apply.
Workshops
The workshops engage key figures and institutions to discuss the most pressing issues of practice including:
–Institution building, grant writing and funding models with Sarah Herda (Director of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and Artistic Director of The Inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015).
–Acquisitions and collecting protocols of digital and ephemeral media with Paola Antonelli (MoMA senior curator of Architecture and Design and director of R&D).
–Programming and research initiatives in the Museum institution with Giovanna Borasi (Chief Curator at Canadian Center for Architecture).
Research
Over the course of four weeks the group will work alongside Lavin on a collective research and curatorial project that will culminate in an exhibition in the SCI-Arc gallery. This year’s theme, Salvage, will build upon an exhibition initiated at Princeton University School of Architecture. At SCI-Arc the program will continue to examine the effects of postmodernization on architecture in two simultaneous ways: by presenting building fragments that demonstrate that architecture of the period was not a timeless image but a material artefact subject to decay, and by examining the complex technical and bureaucratic procedures necessary to produce them. Students will handle, research, and install materials from the likes of Venturi Scott Brown, Charles Moore, Frank Gehry and Cesar Pelli.
Site visits:
MoCA, LACMA, The Getty Research Institute, Frank Gehry Partners and more.
Program information may be subject to change.
For more information and application details see: sciarc.edu
About SCI-Arc
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is dedicated to educating architects who will imagine and shape the future. It is an independent, accredited, degree-granting institution offering undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture. Located in a quarter-mile-long former freight depot in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles, the school is distinguished by its vibrant studio culture and emphasis on design. SCI-Arc’s approximately 500 students and 80 faculty members, most of whom are practicing architects, work together to re-examine assumptions, create, explore and test the limits of architecture. SCI-Arc faculty and leadership have garnered more than 500 national and international design awards and recognitions, including Progressive Architecture awards, American Institute of Architects (AIA) awards, and the prestigious Jencks and Pritzker architecture prizes. SCI-Arc is ranked 1st in computer applications and 2nd in design in the 2013 America’s Best Architecture Schools survey from DesignIntelligence, and #1 graduate and undergraduate architecture school in the Western U.S.
