Faculty Spotlight: Fall 2019
Updates from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture Faculty
Department of Architecture and Urban Design Professor and Director of xLAB at UCLA, Hitoshi Abe launched a new initiative called the Architecture Urban Design for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience initiative (ArcDR3). This three-year global interdisciplinary architecture education initiative centers on the study and design of resilience in our contemporary environment to create a more effective integration of theory (research) and practice (design).
Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance Studio Professor Kyle Abraham’s company, Abraham.In.Motion, will perform in New York and Arizona this fall.
In October, the catalogue for Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths, edited by Marla C. Berns, the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler Museum at UCLA and Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance Professor Allen Roberts, will be published.
After launching the podcast, Pang!, this summer, Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance Professor and Chair Dan Froot will present live performances in three cities in New England where he has partnered with community members and social service agencies to begin the process of fostering cross-class dialogue around food insecurity and income disparity that culminates in the live performances.
Presented by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, “Through Positive Eyes” is a large-scale photography and storytelling project co-curated by David Gere, UCLA professor of world arts and cultures and director of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center. Created in collaboration with more than 130 people living with HIV/AIDS from 10 cities across the globe, the works conjure a broad picture of the epidemic. On Oct. 5, the exhibition’s opening program features a curator lecture, live storytelling performances by members of the Los Angeles Through Positive Eyes Collective, and an opening party with a live DJ set.
Department of Architecture and Urban Design Adjunct Assistant Professor Julia Koerner is showing work in group exhibitions in New York, Jordan, Philadelphia, and Switzerland this fall. She will also be giving a lecture at the AIA Arizona State Conference in Phoenix in November.
Department of Art Assistant Professor Candice Lin will have a solo exhibition, A Materialist History of Contagion, on view at the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff, Alberta, Canada this fall, as well as work in group exhibitions in Denmark, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Lebanon.
This fall, UCLA Arts presents 10 Questions, a program that brings together nearly 30 leading minds from a wide range of disciplines to discuss 10 timely and fundamental questions. Each session is moderated by Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance Professor and School of the Arts and Architecture Associate Dean Victoria Marks, and seven of the presenting faculty members come from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. See the full listing and RSVP here.
Department of Design Media Arts Assistant Professor Lauren McCarthy’s work will be on view in group exhibitions in Beijing, Bilbao, and Florida. She will participate in Ars Electronica in Austria, MozFest by the Mozilla Foundation in London, and Meteoric Truth or Consequences NM: Desert Carnival for the Mind in New Mexico.
Department of Design Media Arts Professor Rebeca Méndez has been named a Lucas Artist Fellow in Visual Arts for 2019–2022 at the Montalvo Arts Center.
Department of Art Professor Catherine Opie has work on view in 14 exhibitions across the world this fall. She will give an artist walkthrough of Distinguished Professor Lari Pittman’s retrospective at the Hammer Museum in December, a lecture with art department lecturer Matt Lipps at the Euclid Gallery at HGA Architects, Los Angeles on November 7, and will participate in an Artspeaks conversation with Robin Coste-Lewis on November 13. Opie will be an honoree at the Hirshhorn New York Gala on November 4.
Department of Art Distinguished Professor Lari Pittman has a retrospective on view at the Hammer Museum titled, Lari Pittman: Declaration of Independence.
This fall, Department of Design Media Arts Professor Casey Reas is presenting work in group exhibitions in Los Angeles, Germany, and Italy. He will also give a lecture at Woodbury University in Burbank and a workshop at SCI-Arc in October.
This fall, Department of Art Assistant Professor Anna Sew Hoy will unveil a new public sculpture on the campus of UC Riverside. She will also present work in exhibitions and fairs across the globe including in Brooklyn and Shanghai.
Department of Design Media Arts Professor Jennifer Steinkamp has a solo exhibition, Still-Life, on view at Lehman Maupin Hong Kong through October 26.
Department of Art Professor and Interim Chair Patty Wickman has a solo exhibition on view at Lora Schlesinger Gallery titled All is Leaf. Wickman will be giving a gallery talk on October 12 at noon.
Header Image: From left: Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Todd Presner, Victoria Marks and Kristy Edmunds talk about the nature of knowledge in the inaugural edition of 10 Questions in 2018.