NEWS & EVENTS
NEW FACULTY HIRES New faculty are bringing research and studio skills to campus. CHRISTOPHER CSIKSZENTMIHÁLYI, distinguished visiting professor of art and design research, designs technologies for social change. He co-founded and directed the MIT Center for Future Civic Media (C4) and directed the Computing Culture Group, part of the MIT Media Lab. FRANCESCA GRANATA, assistant professor in the MA Fashion Studies program, has curated exhibitions on fashion and sustainable design. Granata has taught at Pratt, Parsons, NYU, and Goldsmiths College and was a research fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is the founder of the journal Fashion Projects. PASCAL GLISSMANN, assistant professor in Communication Design, is a media designer, artist, and scholar and the founder of the Studio Subcologne. He has taught and exhibited internationally and received the 2010 Sotheby’s Award from the Miró Foundation Mallorca. CHRISTIAN SCHNEIDER, associate professor in Strategic Management and Design, has worked as a design manager and written and lectured about strategic design. See the website below for a list of all hires.
BLACK STUDIES IN ART & DESIGN ED Last spring, Parsons presented the first international conference assessing the state of Black culture in art and design education. Organized by COCO FUSCO, artist, writer, and director of Intermedia Initiatives at Parsons, and YVONNE WATSON, associate professor and director of Academic Affairs at Parsons’ School of Fashion, the conference gathered creative practitioners to reflect on the underrepresentation of AfricanAmerican creativity in institutions of higher learning and to propose solutions. Scholars, educators, artists, and designers such as JANICE CHEDDIE, STEPHEN BURKS, LESLIE KINGHAMMOND, TONY WHITFIELD, CAROL TULLOCH, and PEPON OSORIO discussed recruiting and retaining Black students and faculty and reforming curricula to reflect the global influence of Black culture. Fusco and Watson are exploring ways to develop and share the work done at the conference.
www.newschool.edu/finearts/ blackstudies
BROOKLYN AMPLIFIED
EXHIBITIONS AT PARSONS
Parsons’ DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL INNOVATION (DESIS) LAB recently focused on social innovation in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in an exhibition and workshops. Amplifying Creative Communities: North Brooklyn brought together residents, activists, and designers to explore efforts to make Brooklyn more livable. The exhibition, at Arts@Renaissance, documented independent initiatives to effect sustainable change and projects arising from workshops hosted by DESIS with partners like the design consultancy IDEO. The events mark the culmination of DESIS’s urban design research in Brooklyn during the past year, which recorded activities involving sustainable food production, transportation, and resource sharing. The project’s goal, according to DESIS Lab director EDUARDO STASZOWSKI, “is to look at existing social innovations in a neighborhood and identify what positive change is happening and how to amplify it.” The research was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation New York City Cultural Innovation Fund.
Parsons’ Sheila C. Johnson Design Center presented (RE)COLLECTION (June 16–Sept. 7), an exhibition for which curators SILVIA ROCCIOLO, ERIK STARK, and JOHN WANZEL selected works owned by The New School to explore the curatorial process and role of institutional art collections in the 21st century. Curated by David Buckland and Chris Wainwright for Cape Farewell—an organization that enlists artists in the effort to communicate the science of climate change— U-N-F-O-L-D: A CULTURAL RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE (Sept. 30–Nov. 22) featured the work of 25 artists, musicians, and writers who participated in expeditions in 2007 and 2008 to the Arctic and in 2009 to the Andes, where they witnessed the effects of climate change. The show’s themes were explored in programs in partnership with Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, ARTPORT_making waves, and Positivefeedback, a collaboration between NYU, CUNY, and Columbia University. SPURRED CONVERSATIONS: THE CITY STUDIO + SEWARD PARK URBAN RENEWAL AREA (Jan. 23–Feb. 25) presents work created in visual urbanist studios led by GABRIELLE BENDINER-VIANI. Curated by Niels Van Tomme and organized by the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, WHERE DO WE MIGRATE TO? (Feb. 2–Apr.15) features the work of 19 artists and collectives responding to the political and psychological dimensions of the contemporary migrant experience.
amplifyingcreativecommunities. net See page 03, image 11.
See page 02, image 8.
www.parsons.edu/newappts
DIRECTIONAL VISITORS (DE)SIGNAGE ON CAMPUS On September 24, Parsons hosted “Making Cities: Whither Design?,” a day of public lectures and discussions on urban design and contemporary design practice. Scholars from across the nation presented on topics such as participatory urban design and cybernetics. The event marks the publication of the universitysponsored Companion to Urban Design and the growth of urban programs at Parsons and The New School. The symposium was organized by the SCHOOL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES (SDS) at Parsons and funded by a grant from the Office of the Provost at The New School.
www.newschool.edu/makingcities
Recent speakers on campus included designer MASSIMO VIGNELLI; artists LAWRENCE MALSTAF, LUIS CAMNITZER, JOHN EWING, CHRISTOPHER ROBBINS; designer MARTIN KALTENBRUNNER; graphic designers KAREL MARTENS, STEPHEN DOYLE, STEFF GEISSBUHLER; trend forecaster EMMANUELLE LINARD; architects MERRIT BUCHOLTZ, CRAIG SCHWITTERS, JEFFERY TILL; design scholar MOLLY WRIGHT STEENSON; journalist JULIANA ROTICH; media artist BETH COLEMAN; “Global Issues in Design and Visuality in the 21st Century: Culture” presenters DO HO SUH, TEDDY CRUZ, SEAN DONAHUE, BLAIR SATTERFIELD, MARC SWACKHAMER, SZE TSUNG LEONG, JAMES HOLSTON; “Start Something: Why Every Creative Needs to Be an Entrepreneur” panelists LAUREN LETO, LAUREL TOUBY, AUDACIA RAY, LEIGH ANN TUCKER; Visiting Artist Lecture Series presenters KIMSOOJA, CLIFFORD OWENS, WAFAA BILAL, LEIGH LEDARE, TRENTON DOYLE HANCOCK, the OTOLITH GROUP (ANJALIKA SAGAR and KODWO ESHUN), FAITH WILDING, SLAVS AND TARTARS, LIAM GILLICK, AMY CHEUNG, DANA SCHUTZ; “Making Cities: Whither Design?” speakers TRIDIB BANERJEE, CHRISTINE BOYER, GARY HACK, JEFFREY HOU, KATHY MADDEN; Design and Urban Practice Colloquium presenters SCOTT PAGE, KARIN MOSS, BRENDA ROSEN, PAUL WHITE, MAHER STINO and LAILA EL-MASRY STINO, CLAUDIUS PEREIRA, FERNANDO LARA, ROBERT HAMMOND, ARIF HASAN; Public Art Fund Talks speakers MICHAEL SAILSTORFER, PAOLA PIVI . See page 02, images 4, 5.
www.newschool.edu/sjdc See page 03, images 9, 10.
FABRICATED STORY Last summer, JULIA POTEAT, AAS FASHION DESIGN faculty member and construction coordinator, was contacted by decor magazine Veranda for an imaginative fashion editorial story. The magazine sought student work created from high-end fabrics intended for the interior design trade. For Veranda’s October issue, four AAS FASHION DESIGN students— KYUN KIM, MICHELLE MUELLER, SARA PAREHOFF, and YUANYUAN HU —created looks inspired by 18th-century fashion using printed cottons, embroidered silks, and luxurious trimmings usually found on walls and in curtains and upholstery.
www.newschool.edu/veranda
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