Contacts:
New School University:
Gloria Gottschalk, 212-229-5667, ext. 239
Lauren Erlichman, 212-229-5667, ext. 215
Parsons School of Design:
Carole Schaffer, 212-229-8950
Gallery Contact:
Clinton Kuopus, Director of Exhibitions, 212-229-8987
PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN TO HOLD EXHIBITION:
MICHAEL KALIL RETROSPECTIVE: DESIGNS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
NOVEMBER 1ST - NOVEMBER 30TH
(New York, NY — October 24, 2001) The Department of Architecture at Parsons School of Design, a division of New School University, will open a retrospective exhibition of the work of Michael Kalil. The exhibition will run from Thursday, November 1 through Friday, November 30, with a reception on November 1, from 6-8 p.m. The gallery is located at 26 E. 14th Street, 2nd Floor and gallery hours are 9 a.m. — 9 p.m. (The exhibition will be closed during Thanksgiving vacation, November 21-25.) For more information, call the Department of Architecture at 212-229-8955.
Michael Kalil was an educator, interior architect and an artist. Up until his death in 1991, he was the principal of Kalil Studio in New York City. Known for his innovative work with technology and materials, Kalil developed a prototype for a space module for habitation, for NASA (1984-1987). The model for this prototype will be included in the exhibition. Also shown will be Kalil's Electronic Communications Center, designed for Armstrong World Industries, residences and industrial designs. Kalil's work has been extensively published, and exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Sao Paulo Biennial, and MOMA, among other places.
In 1980, he received the Interior Design Award for an automated office space he designed for Armstrong World Industries, and in 1994, he was posthumously awarded the Pratt Institute Alumni Achievement Award for outstanding achievement in design. It was the fist posthumous alumni award granted by the Institute. Kalil taught at Parsons School of Design, The University of North Carolina, and Columbia University, among other schools. In the early 1970’s, he co-founded the Open Atelier of Architecture & Design, with Giuseppe Zambonini, to develop new approaches to design education.
In 2000, the Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design was established at the Department of Architecture, Parsons School of Design. This endowment will sponsor an annual lecture on natural/technological systems, a topic of growing importance and urgency to architects and society. The first lecturer in the series, William McDonough, a renowned architect who has been at the forefront of sustainable design, will lecture on April 18 in Tishman Auditorium at The New School. The endowment will also award yearly grants to students and practitioners conducting research in the spirit of Michael Kalil's designs.
Parsons' Architecture Department offers a BFA in Architectural Design, the Masters of Architecture and an MA in Lighting Design. The Architecture programs teach students about the built environment in all of its complex forms. They examine the designed world in multiple scales and social practices: from landscapes to furniture, from cities to performance spaces. Students' interdisciplinary training and digital expertise provide them with a range of career opportunities in the design world, such as exhibition design, theater design, environmental art, interior architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and digital/virtual space production.
Parsons School of Design is one of the largest degree-granting colleges of art and design in the nation. Currently enrolled are 2,400 undergraduate students, 380 graduate students, and 2,500 non-degree students from all 50 of the United States and from 60 countries. Parsons' main campuses are in New York City's Greenwich Village and Midtown Manhattan. In addition, Parsons has affiliate schools in France, Japan, South Korea and the Dominican Republic. Undergraduate degrees are offered in Architectural Design, Communication Design, Design and Management, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Illustration, Integrated Design Curriculum, Interior Design, Photography, Product Design. Graduate degrees are granted in Architecture, Design and Technology, Lighting Design, Painting, Sculpture, and the History of Decorative Arts. For more information on Parsons, call (212) 229-8910 or go to the Web site at www.parsons.edu.
New School University, with 7,000 matriculated students and 25,000 continuing education students, comprises seven academic divisions: The New School, the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College, Mannes College of Music, the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, and the Actors Studio Drama School, as well as the University’s B.F.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music. New School Online University offers one of the largest selections of online courses in the nation. For further information about admission to New School University, call (877) 528-3321 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu.