Building Exhibitions in the Age of Reparations
Building Exhibitions in the Age of Reparations. photo / provided
The seminar Building Exhibitions in the Age of Reparations explores a critical history of modern architecture through architectural exhibitions, including venues with drawings, photographs, and models in a gallery space; 1:1 scale structures built for display; buildings in world expositions; and building exhibitions as large city segments. As part of the seminar, six student teams have designed site-specific exhibitions about historical exhibitions of their choice, using the media, venue, and verse of their choice. Student exhibitions respond to the questions discussed throughout the seminar, such as the changing relevance and limits of architectural exhibitions, shifting definitions of curatorship, geopolitical implications of exhibiting "other cultures," inclusion and exclusion decisions, freedom of expression in exhibitions, waste produced through temporary exhibitions, social housing as permanent building exhibitions, the policy of wall-texts, choice of media, the status of the object and the image, exhibition design, and finally the future of exhibitions in the age of reparations and reckoning with the wounds of the past.
Exhibitions
Introduction
2–2:05 p.m.: Milstein Hall Dome
- Esra Akcan
Geopolitics of Absence: Retroactive Revision for the Venice Architecture Biennale 1991–2000
2:05–2:25 p.m.: Milstein Hall Dome
- Filip Galić
- Jebreel Bessiso
- Anusha Dasgupta
- Nguyen Doan
- Mengmeng He
- Yash Mangukia
Grafted Imperialism: From Colonies to the Kew Gardens
2:25–2:45 p.m.: Milstein Hall Dome
- Yakin Kinger
- Luyao He
- Xinyue Ru
Speed Traps: A critical reflection and update on Speed Limits at CCA 2009
2:50–3:10 p.m.: Dragon Annex
- Thomas Pace
A City is not a Plan: Chandigarh in Architectural Exhibitions
3:15–3:35 p.m.: E. Sibley 140
- Sara Ather
- Jessica Kaiman
- Ela Malaz
- Ola Taha
Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2006–2018
3:35–3:55 p.m.: E. Sibley Hallway
- Polo Dong
- Tina Gao
- Angelina Guo
- Fabian Yu
The Dinner Party: A Re-invitation
4–4:30 p.m.: Milstein Wood Floor and Stepped Auditorium
- Alix Hoffstaetter de Torquat
- Jiwon Chung
- Edwin Flores
- Malika Johnson
- Tina Kvelashvili
- Frank LaPuma
- Xie Peng
- Gustavo Pulido
DISCUSSION
4:30–5:15 p.m.: Milstein Hall Dome
Discussants:
- Esra Akcan
- Jose Castillo
- María González Pendás
- Pamela Karimi
- Suzanne Lettieri
- Martino Stierli
- Ana Ozaki
- Andrew Scheinman
- Priyanka Sen
- Alican Taylan
PANEL
Rethinking "Tropical Architecture" and Independence
5:30–7 p.m.: Milstein Hall Dome
Panelists:
- Nana Biamah-Ofosu (Director, YAA Projects)
- Ana Ozaki (Assistant Professor, U. Penn)
- Martino Stierli (Chief Curator, MoMA)
- Moderator: Esra Akcan (Professor, DGS, Cornell)
As part of this seminar, the panel Rethinking "Tropical Architecture" and Independence brings together a movie director, a scholar, and an exhibition curator to present their work on the concept of tropical architecture. The term and expertise of "tropical architecture" has colonial origins and had been used intensively during the British colonization in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The same know-how has also been mobilized to contest colonial models and used as an alternative to European modernism during the independence eras. In addition to its relatively well-recognized British legacy, "tropical architecture" has been impactful in the construction of the Brazilian postcolonial nation-state after Portuguese colonization, the Portuguese colonies in Africa, as well as the work of Afro-Brazilians who returned to Africa. The panel fosters a critical lens to analyze climate-specificity in architecture and shows Global South's agency in inventing modernist climate-responsive architecture.
RECEPTION
7:30 p.m. – until it concludes: Milstein Wood Floor and Stepped Auditorium
