Spring public lecture series

Artists Judith Barry and Kahlil Robert Irving, architects Fernanda Canales and Michael Maltzan, landscape architect Julie Bargmann and philosopher Timothy Morton are among the internationally renowned creative professionals who will discuss their work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis’ spring Public Lecture Series.

Uniting WashU’s academic units in art, architecture and design with its acclaimed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, the Sam Fox School brings an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary issues and challenges, from sustainable design and the role of digital creative tools to the importance of strengthening local communities.

The spring Public Lecture Series will highlight themes relating to social equity, resilient cities and the impact of emerging technologies. Events will begin January 26 with architects Brennan Buck and David Freeland, co-founders of FreelandBuck. The practice, based in Los Angeles and New York, is known for exploring the spatial, atmospheric and structural potentials of computational patterning.

New York-based artist Josh Kline, whose multimedia installations explore the politics of consumerism and climate change in 21st-century life—and whose recent solo exhibitions include shows at LAXART and the Whitney Museum of American Art—will speak February 6. Gina Ford and Brie Hensold, co-founders of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Agency Landscape + Planning, will discuss the foundational role of community engagement in public-oriented design February 8.

Jonathan Louie and Nicole McIntosh, co-principals of Zurich-based Architecture Office, will discuss their transdisciplinary practice February 16. Mexico City architect and theorist Fernanda Canales, whose writings and built works explore the history of Mexican housing and the nature of shared structures, will speak February 19.

On February 23, the Kemper Art Museum will host a conversation between Irving, a Sam Fox School alumnus (MFA ’17), and LAXART director Hamza Walker. An opening reception for “Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present,” which investigates our relationship to the city street, will immediately follow. Irving also will present a gallery talk, on April 3, with Andrea Achi, the Mary and Michael Jaharis Associate Curator of Byzantine Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

David Dowell, a partner at El Dorado in Kansas City, Missouri, will discuss integrated architecture, urban design, and curatorial, education and fabrication practice February 26. Los Angeles architect Cory Henry, whose current projects include residential housing for St. Louis’ celebrated On Olive development (other architects include the Sam Fox School’s Constance Vale), will speak March 18.

Landscape architect Julie Bargmann, dubbed a “visionary” by the New York Times for revitalizing toxic sites and reconnecting them to surrounding communities, will discuss her practice March 25. Architect Michael Maltzan—whose major projects include MoMA QNS, the Museum of Modern Art’s home in Long Island City, New York; Qaumajuq, the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s center for Inuit art; and a 35-unit apartment building for On Olive—will speak April 4.

Artist Tamara Johnson, the Sam Fox School’s 2023-24 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will speak at the Saint Louis Art Museum April 5. The talk coincides with the opening of Currents 123: Tamara Johnson, which will remain on view at the museum through September 15.

Quinlin Messenger, founder of JUST Design Inc. and a contributor to The Black Experience in Design (co-edited by the Sam Fox School’s Penina Acayo Laker) will discuss his work April 11. Artist and writer Judith Barry, whose work is included in the collections of MoMA, the Whitney Museum and the Centre Pompidou, among many others, will speak April 25.

Concluding the Public Lecture Series, on May 6, will be author, philosopher and filmmaker Timothy Morton, who frequently grapples with the state of environmental theory and the nature of nature itself. The talk is held in conjunction with the Kemper Art Museum exhibition Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit here.