Material Acts: A Symposium

Material Acts: A Symposium

Material Acts: A Symposium brings together artists, designers, and architects experimenting with material processes and systems. Understanding materials as process-based events with human actors, rather than artifacts found in stasis, this symposium on new materials explores the rich milieu of ideas that accompany their making, including practices in bioregional design, waste economies, and living systems, alongside perspectives of care, constraint, and regeneration.

Contributors including Anupama Kundoo, Ben Loescher, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Matthias Kohler, and Meredith Miller will present their research and thinking against the backdrop of accelerating environmental degradation, framing materials as a chain of operations, rather than fixed objects.

Please note: USC Campus requires guest registration for all visitors. RSVP is required. Upon RSVP, guests will receive parking and campus access code one week before the event. Please contact organizers at [email protected] for questions or concerns.

Schedule

10:00am Symposium Welcome & Introduction

Rody Lopez (Craft Contemporary)

Amy Murphy (USC)

Kate Yeh Chiu (USC) and Jia Yi Gu (HMC)

10:15am-11:10am Re-thinking Construction
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes (ETH Lausanne)

11:15am-12:45pm Session 1: Sourcing

Presentation by practitioners working on before-building processes including material sources, bioregional design, and sites of labor, followed by a moderated Q&A.

Speakers:

Anupama Kundoo, Anupama Kundoo Architects

Ben Loescher, Adobeisnotsoftware

Meredith Miller, Post Rock

12:45 pm-1:45pm Intermission

On view in USC Fischer Museum of Art: Sci-fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation Getty PST Art: Art and Science.

Light refreshments will be provided.

1:45pm-3:15pm Session 2: Taking Apart

Presentation by practitioners working across organizational scales and sites of production, to address the social, political, and infrastructural networks behind a material’s making.

Speakers:

Christine Yogiaman, Yogiaman Tracey Design

Matthias Kohler, Gramazio Kohler Research

Axelle Gisserot, Atelier LUMA

3:15pm-4:00pm Concluding Roundtable

ABOUT MATERIAL ACTS

The symposium is organized as part of Material Acts: Experimentation in Architecture and Design, and is hosted by Craft Contemporary and USC School of Architecture as part of the regional initiative Getty PST ART: Art and Science Collide.

The exhibition Material Acts: Experimentation in Architecture and Design examines the role of nature as a starting point for material experimentation in the domains of architecture, craft, and science. While nature has often stood in as a model, metaphor, or resource for designers, the recent global upheavals in climate, ecology, and technology are driving intensive understandings of nature’s tangible and imagined substrate. The exhibition examines how contemporary design practices mobilize, confound, and generate natures, whether through simulating mechanics or growing biological matter. On view until January 5, 2024 at Craft Contemporary.

ABOUT CRAFT CONTEMPORARY

⁣Founded as a museum in 1973, Craft Contemporary reveals the potential of craft to educate, captivate, provoke, and empower. With a focus on contemporary art made from craft media and processes, Craft Contemporary presents dynamic exhibitions by established and emerging artists and designers who are often underrepresented in larger art institutions. Craft Contemporary complements these exhibitions with a creative line-up of educational programs, including hands-on workshops led by professional artists. Craft Contemporary cultivates an environment for people in Los Angeles to deepen their relationship to art, creativity, and one another.

https://www.craftcontemporary.org

ABOUT GETTY PACIFIC STANDARD TIME

Southern California’s landmark arts event, Pacific Standard Time (PST), returns in September 2024, presenting more than 50 exhibitions from organizations across the region, all exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART: Art & Science Collide follows Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA (September 2017–January 2018) and Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980 (October 2011– March 2012). PST ART is a Getty initiative.

Generous support of Material Acts: Experimentation in Architecture and Design is provided by The Getty Foundation. Additional Support is provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and The Antonia and Vladimir Kulaev Cultural Heritage Fund.

Please note: USC Campus requires guest registration for all visitors. RSVP is required. Upon RSVP, guests will receive parking and campus access code one week before the event.

On Campus: Please inquire with USC Campus Security upon check in for parking directions. Guests can now purchase short-term or all-day parking using their credit card, using either Text2Park (T2P) on their mobile device or by entering their vehicle license plate in a nearby Pay-By-Plate (PBP) station.

Off Campus: Metered street parking can be found on Vermont. Please allot 15-20 minutes for parking and walk to Gin D. Auditorium. Parking is also available in various USC-area parking lots is available for $14. Here are the areas to park in for the event:

• Downey Way Parking Structure
• Royal Street Parking Structure
• Flower Street Parking Structure
• Figueroa Street Parking Structure
• USC Shrine Structure

From Union Station:
Take the Metro Red Line or Purple Line to 7th Street/Metro Center Station, then transfer to the Metro Expo Line and exit Expo Park/USC Station.

From Santa Monica, West L.A., Culver City, Downtown L.A.:
Take the Metro Expo Line to Expo Park/USC Station.

From Hollywood, Universal City, Mid-City:
Take the Metro Red Line to 7th Street/Metro Center Station, then transfer to the Metro Expo Line and exit Expo Park/USC Station.

From Mid-City/Wilshire Corridor area:
Take the Metro Purple Line to 7th Street/Metro Center Station, then transfer to the Metro Expo Line and exit Expo Park/USC Station

From East L.A./Pasadena:
Take the Metro Gold Line to Union Station, then transfer to the Metro Purple Line or Red Line and exit at the 7th Street/Metro Center Station. Transfer to the Metro Expo Line and exit at the Expo Park/USC Station.

From Long Beach:
Take the Metro Blue Line to Pico Station, then transfer to the Metro Expo Line heading towards Culver City and exit Expo/Park USC Station.

Downtown L.A. DASH “F” Line
Downtown residents are encouraged to take advantage of the DASH “F” line to reach the USC campus. The DASH “F” line will operate on both days of the Festival of Books, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. DASH shuttles will pick up every 20 minutes at all “F” line stops. Fare is 50 cents. For a list of DASH “F” line stops, visit www.ladottransit.com/dash and select “Downtown F.”

Please contact organizers at [email protected] for questions or concerns.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

USC School of Architecture, 850 Bloom Walk, Los Angeles, United States