Upcoming exhibition:
Detour:
Architecture and Design Along 18 National Tourist Routes in Norway
Current exhibition:
Control: Print
A Collaboration with the Royal College of Art, London
Considering the Fate of Ink on Paper Through Explorations in Design, Craft, and Technology
Friday, November 6 - Monday, December 14, 2009
Opening Reception: November 6, 7:30-9 p.m.
What is the fate of print in a digital age? Parsons The New School for Design takes on this challenge with Control: Print, a collaborative exhibition with the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, which explores the intersection of craft and technology. The exhibition will be on view from November 7 through December 14 at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. An opening reception will be held on November 6 from 7:30-9 p.m.
Control: Print features works by a number of notable international artists and designers who play with the notion of digital technology. In this first American presentation, prominent members of the Parsons community create work in traditional, digital, and mixed media that extend the idea of ink on paper and showcase how machinery and technology can enter the representational process. First conceived by RCA as a research project investigating the possibilities of a customized future for digital art and design, Control: Print also features the results of these experiments in a series of limited edition book spreads, large-scale artwork, and digital projections and renderings.
"The Control: Print research project was an effort to elevate the digital press, and consider its place in the future of the printed page," said Russell Warren-Fisher, co-organizer, designer, and lecturer in Communication Art and Design at RCA. "Partnering with Parsons has allowed us to keep this investigation alive through a reflective, cross-cultural dialogue."
Among the featured artists are co-organizers Lucille Tenazas, Henry Wolf Professor of Communication Design at Parsons, Warren-Fisher, and Dan Fern, Head of the School of Communications at the RCA; Parsons-commissioned artists Andrea Dezsö; Danny Durtsche, Jesse Hlebo and Arthur Ou; Zachary Lieberman with James Powderly, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue and Tony Quan (TEMPT); Spylab (Benjamin Bacon, Glendon Jones, Kyle Li, and Sven Travis); and Allan Wexler; and RCA-commissioned artists Chris Bigg of V23; Sara Carneholm and Leah Harrison Bailey; Malcom Clarke, and Mark Wilson. Also participating remotely are designers Reza Abedini (Iran), Bruno Monguzzi (Italy/Switzerland), Leonardo Sonnoli (Italy), and Catherine Zask (France).
"We often think of digital technology as alienating, as removing us from the production process in some way," said Tenazas. "Using the RCA project as a starting point, Parsons is exploring the notion that technology can also be a tool to re-engage, to adjust the tactile tradition of craft for the digital age, which is a particular focus of my work at Parsons.
In timing with Control: Print, Parsons will present a series of related programs, including three intensive 24-hour workshops, where the public can view teams of Parsons students and faculty creating work that actively explores the boundaries between traditional and digital technologies. A symposium on November 7 will bring together a number of the participants, including Clarke, Tenazas, Warren-Fisher, and Wilson, as well as leading voices from the worlds of art and design, including Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, and Susan Yelavich, Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons, who will discuss the future relationship of design, craft, and technology.
"This show is just the beginning of a long-term partnership between two world-class universities to explore urgent issues relating to all aspects of contemporary culture," said Fern, who also chairs the RCA's International Development Group.
For more information on the symposium and other related programming, please visit the Public Programs page.
Detour:
Architecture and Design Along 18 National Tourist Routes in Norway
What can rest stops, information centers, and observation decks tell visitors about a culture? The School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School for Design will explore this question when it presents Detour, a traveling exhibition documenting notable architecture and design along 18 Norwegian National Tourist Routes. The exhibition, which is sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General and presented in collaboration with the Architectural League of New York and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, will be on view December 4 through January 19 at the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons.
Detour features photography and architectural models of key works from Norway's National Tourist Routes Project initiated by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, which encourages designers across the world to propose alternatives to the traditional tourist-route architecture, which tends to value function over aesthetic beauty. The architects and designers make structures that harmonize with the surroundings and reinforce travelers’ appreciation of the great outdoors and unspoiled countryside. A centerpiece of the exhibition is a large viewing chamber that lets visitors peek inside at a film that winds along Norway's scenic roads and bike paths and explores in detail some of the projects.
The initiative has so far resulted in close to 200 built projects, ranging from stopping points, information centers, picnic areas, rest stops, and observation platforms; including works by architect Peter Zumthor in collaboration with artist Louise Bourgeois, and Snøhetta. The project emphasizes creativity and innovation over cost efficiency, and has served as a way for young architects to launch themselves as independent designers. Two of the earliest participants, Jan Olav Jensen and Børre Skodvin from Jensen & Skodvin Architects, have become internationally recognized names, and their viewing platform at Gudbrandsjuvet was nominated for the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award for Architecture.
Related Programming:
Detour Panel Discussion
Friday, December 4 at 6 pm at The New School's Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street
Followed by an opening reception in the galleries, which is free and open to the public.
The event will feature Karl Otto Ellefsen, an architect and principal of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, who chaired the Quality Council for Concept and National Considerations, which oversaw the development of the National Tourist Routes Project. Also participating are the Norwegian architects Marthe Melbye of PUSHAK and Ellen Hellsten of Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/events.
Detour: Art, Architecture, Cities and Landscapes
Tuesday, January 19, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will host , a symposium featuring an afternoon panel at 4:30 pm with architects and artists from Europe and the United States moderated by David van der Leer, Assistant Curator for Architecture and Design as well as two keynote lectures in the evening. Book signing and reception follows. Tickets for the symposium are $10; $7 for Guggenheim and Architectural League Members; and FREE to students and university staff with ID and RSVP. For information, call the Guggenheim Box Office, 212-423-3587, Mon-Fri, 1-5 pm. At noon, symposium participants can join a curatorial and artist walkthrough of the Detour exhibition. RSVP at igf@mfa.no or 212-310-1509.
Through the Architectural League of New York, AIA and New York State continuing education credits are available for both of these events. For more information, contact info@archleague.org.
The exhibition Detour is a collaboration between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Norsk Form - The Foundation for Design and Architecture in Norway with generous support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Innovation Norway. Detour has been exhibited in London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Brussels, Bologna, Bratislava, Caen, the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, and the Center for Architecture in Philadelphia.
General Information:
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, New York
Gallery hours: Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. and late Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m..; closed all major holidays and holiday eves.
Admission: Free
Info: Please contact 212.229.8919.