A series of talks aimed at expanding the public’s understanding of the wider role of architecture in society is being curated by the Irish Architecture Foundation, in partnership with IMMA, in a number of venues in Dublin over the coming months. Starting on Wednesday 25 April and continuing into the autumn, Agents of Architecture, marks IMMA’s use of the exhibition spaces at the National Concert Hall site in Earlsfort Terrace, beginning on 31 May next. High profile national and international speakers have been invited as agents of architecture to represent their involvement in the subject, their understanding of its definition, from the typical to the most un-orthodox views. The series aims to uncover architecture’s impact on society, analyse architecture’s connection to culture, and reveal new critical approaches to engaging audiences.
25 April, 7.30pm, Beatrice Galilee, Curator Lisbon Architecture Triennale
Harry Clarke Lecture Room, National College of Art and Design
Beatrice Galilee is a London-based curator, writer, critic, consultant and lecturer in contemporary architecture and design. Trained in Architecture at Bath University and in History of Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, Gallilee specialises in the dissemination of architecture through media, curatorial practice, research, editing and teaching. She is the Chief Curator for the 2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale, co-founder and director of The Gopher Hole, an exhibition and event space in London, architectural consultant and writer at DomusWeb, and associate lecturer at Central St Martins. She was a curator at the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale in Korea, directed by Ai Wei Wei and Seung H-Sang, and is a freelance contributor to a number of international publications on architecture and design.
24 May, 7.30pm, Zoë Ryan, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago
Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College
Zoë Ryan is the Chair and John H. Bryan Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ryan had previously been Senior Curator at New York’s Van Alen Institute, an independent not-for-profit architectural organisation dedicated to promoting inquiry into the processes that shape the design of public spaces. While at the Van Alen, Ryan organised numerous exhibitions and conferences including The Good Life, New Public Spaces for Recreation; VARIABLE CITY: Fox Square; OPEN: New Designs for Public Space; Renewing, Rebuilding, Remembering; and The Politics of Design: Competitions for Public Projects, and was also the editor of the Van Alen Report. Prior to joining the Van Alen, she served as a curatorial assistant at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
18 September, 7.00pm, Anne Lacaton, Lacaton Vassal, Paris
IMMA @ NCH, Earlsfort Terrace
Anne Lacaton was born in 1955 in Saint Pardoux la Rivière, France. She has a degree in town planning and is part of Lacaton & Vassal Architects, founded in 1987 with Jean Philippe Vassal. The practice has gained numerous awards and international recognition. One of their most emblematic and famous buildings is the Palais de Tokoyo in Paris. This talk is supported by the Institut Français.
1 November, 7.00pm, Eva Franch, Director Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York
IMMA @ NCH, Earlsfort Terrace
Eva Franch is a Catalan architect, researcher, teacher and founder of OOAA (office of architectural affairs). She has spent the last two years at Rice University where she was awarded the Worthman Fellowship and has been teaching as the Masters Thesis studio director. Previously she taught at the University of Buffalo. Franch’s work has been exhibited at the Center for Architecture, New York, Korean Institute of Architects, Daegu, FAD Barcelona, NAI Rotterdam, Shenzen Biennale of Architecture, SOA Princeton, COAR Rioja and ETSA Barcelona. Selected publications include Terminal B Barcelona Creative Database, 2008, CityThemeCity and Content A, 2006-7, Dementia, 2004, Pause Pavillion, 2004, Generative Metaphors, 2007 and R.E.D. studies, 2007. Awarded the Howard Crosby Butler Travelling Fellowship, 2006 by Princeton University, Franch also received an Akademie Schloss Solitude research grant, 2009, the Incubadora del FAD prize for emerging architects, 2007, a Pasajes-iGuzzini prize, 2004 and a Dragados Foundation prize, 2005.
Other national and international participants will also be invited to contribute to this talk series during spring and autumn 2012.
Booking is essential. Tickets are free and available online at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures
For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected]
13 April 2012