Spring public lecture series

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré, author and illustrator Deb J.J. Lee, avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson and fashion technologist Anouk Wipprecht are among an international array of creative professionals who will discuss their work during the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis’ spring Public Lecture Series.

Celebrated sculptor Chakaia Booker will launch the series January 19. Known for her use of salvaged rubber tires, Booker fuses ecological concerns with questions of identity, citizenship, and industrial production. Last summer, Booker installed Shaved Portions, the largest single work of her career, outside WashU’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Artist Anika Todd, who investigates systems of landscape, ownership and control, will continue the series January 24. On February 3, Wilson—whose groundbreaking works include collaborations with Tom Waits, Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs—will kick off the Sam Fox School’s annual Laskey Charrette.

Architect Mario Gooden, currently designing The Woodson African American Museum of Florida, will discuss his practice February 6, followed by photographer and digital artist Al-An deSouza February 8 and installation artist Alison Hiltner February 22. Jason Ross, founder and creative director of accessories label Artemas Quibble, will speak February 23.

Los Angeles-based architects Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston will discuss their work March 1. Sarita Sundar, founder of Bangalore-based design consultancy Hanno, will speak March 2. Cory Henry, whose namesake atelier spans art, architecture, and urbanism, will speak March 3, followed by Barcelona-based architects Anna and Eugeni Bach March 6. Sculptor Tamara Johnson, the Sam Fox School’s Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will speak March 8.

Art director Chad W. Beckerman, whose credits include more than 40 New York Times best-selling books, will speak March 9. On March 10, curators Jamaal Sheats and Perrin Lathrop will discuss the exhibition African Modernism in America, on view at the Kemper Art Museum this spring, with Saint Louis University art historian Olubukola Gbadegesin. Textile artist L.J. Roberts, whose work explores queer and trans activism, will speak March 20. Lee, author of the forthcoming graphic memoir In Limbo, will speak March 30.

Kéré, the first African architect to win the Pritzker Prize, will discuss his work April 1. Born in Burkina Faso, Kéré studied carpentry and architecture in Berlin, where he established his studio in 2005. Known for inventive civic buildings, particularly schools, the firm employs both local labor and eco-friendly, locally sourced materials, such as clay and eucalyptus wood. Kéré’s talk is presented in conjunction with the 111th annual meeting of the ACSA, hosted by WashU’s Sam Fox School beginning March 30.

Wipprecht will discuss her practice, which spans couture, technology and interaction design, April 4. Concluding the spring lecture series, on April 24, will be art historian Joshua Cohen, author of The “Black Art” Renaissance: African Sculpture and Modernism across Continents (2020).

All events are free and open to the public and begin at 6pm in the Sam Fox School’s Steinberg Hall unless otherwise noted. For more information, call T +1 314 935 9300 or visit here.

Spring 2023 speakers
January 19: Chakaia Booker / January 24: Anika Todd / February 3: Robert Wilson / February 6: Mario Gooden / February 8: Al-An deSouza / February 22: Alison Hiltner / February 23: Jason Ross / March 1: Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee / March 2: Sarita Sundar / March 3: Cory Henry / March 6: Anna & Eugeni Bach / March 8: Tamara Johnson / March 9: Chad W. Beckerman / March 10: Jamaal Sheats, Perrin Lathrop and Olubukola Gbadegesin / March 20: L.J. Roberts / March 30: Deb J.J. Lee / April 1: Francis Kéré / April 4: Anouk Wipprecht / April 24: Joshua Cohen.