Liam Young: film screening and talk

In this talk and film screening, speculative architect Liam Young presents works that move among the realms of architecture, film, and fiction. By merging documentary footage taken on expeditions around the world with fragments of speculative narratives, Young produces a vision of what he describes as an “exaggerated present.” Using this visually provocative and powerful medium and the fluency of language that comes from storytelling, Young explores the complexity of cities and the influence of new technologies and networks on space, culture, and community.

Liam Young is an Australian-born architect. He is founder of the think tank Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today, a group whose work explores the possibilities of fantastic, speculative, and imaginary urbanisms. Building his design fictions from the realities of the present, Young also co-runs the Unknown Fields Division, a nomadic research studio that travels on location shoots and expeditions to the ends of the earth to document emerging trends and uncover the weak signals of possible futures. He has been acclaimed in both mainstream and architectural media, including the BBC, Wired, The Guardian, and Dazed and Confused magazine, and his work has been collected by institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Presented in collaboration by the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative, the Film Studies Center, and the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at The University of Chicago. A partner program of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial.