Architects Hilary Sample and Thomas Phifer; artists Katharina Grosse, Derrick Adams, and Meleko Mokgosi; and fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg are among the internationally renowned visual thinkers who will discuss their work as part of the fall Public Lecture Series sponsored by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Events will begin Thursday, September 1, with Sample, co-founder of MOS Architects in New York. Established in 2003, the firm’s eclectic body of work ranges from housing and cultural spaces to furniture, exhibitions, books, software and video. MOS’ House with Two Chimneys, currently under construction as part of St. Louis’ On Olive project, reflects the city’s rich history of brick construction and craft.
Events will continue September 7 with Adams, a Brooklyn-based artist and the Sam Fox School’s Bunny and Charles Burson Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, who will be interviewed by St. Louis artist Damon Davis. On September 8, Daniel Jacobs and Brittany Utting of HOME-OFFICE, based in Houston, will discuss Field Station, their new project for the Sam Fox School’s Weil Project Wall.
Writer and photography curator David Campany will present a Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visiting Artist Lecture September 14. On September 22, the Sam Fox School’s MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture program will present comics scholar Douglas Wolk.
Grosse, one of Germany’s most acclaimed contemporary painters, will present a public Q&A September 23 with Sabine Eckmann, the William T. Kemper Director and chief curator of Washington University’s Mildred Kemper Art Museum. An exhibition opening for Katharina Grosse Studio Paintings, 1988-2022: Returns, Revisions, Inventions immediately follows.
Shaun O’Dell, the Arthur L. and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist, will discuss his work September 28. Artist and illustrator James McMullan, known for his influential theater posters and more than a dozen children’s books, will discuss his work September 29. Painter Meleko Mokgosi, who served as the Sam Fox School’s 2021–22 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will discuss the work in his solo show on view as part of the Currents exhibition series at the Saint Louis Art Museum September 30. Landscape architect Peter Osler will speak October 3.
Von Furstenberg, whose distinguished career began in the early 1970s with her celebrated “wrap dress,” will discuss her work October 12, in a talk co-sponsored by the Saint Louis Fashion Fund’s annual Speaking of Fashion series. Ethiopian designer Miriam Hillawi Abraham will discuss her work November 3.
Phifer, whose recent projects include the Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theatre in Warsaw, will speak November 10. Todd Gannon, author most recently of Megastructure: Urban Futures of the Recent Past (2020) will lecture November 17. Other speakers include artist Shana Moulton, known for humorous performances in the guise of her alter ego Cynthia (October 27), and Zurich-based architect Annette Helle (date TBD). For a complete list, see below.
Fall 2022 speakers
September 1: Architect Hilary Sample / September 7: Artist Derrick Adams, interviewed by Damon Davis / September 8: Daniel Jacobs and Brittany Utting of architecture, research, and design practice HOME-OFFICE / September 14: Artist David Campany / September 22: Comics scholar Douglas Wolk / September 23: Artist Katharina Grosse, interviewed by Sabine Eckmann / September 28: Artist Shaun O’Dell / September 29: Artist and illustrator James McMullan / September 30: Artist Meleko Mokgosi / October 3: Landscape architect Peter Osler / October 12: Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg / October 17: Maria Lisogorskaya, founding director of Assemble / October 27: Artist Shana Moulton / November 3: Designer Miriam Hillawi Abraham / November 10: Architect Thomas Phifer / November 17: Architectural historian and theorist Todd Gannon / Also featuring the following speakers, dates to be confirmed: Architect Annette Helle, gastronomic artist collaborative Studio Mela, and artist Anika Todd.
Learn more about the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
