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, Atelier LUMA, Ben Loescher, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Christine Yogiaman, Katie MacDonald, 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.
Events will be held between Craft Contemporary and the USC School of Architecture.
Please note: USC Campus requires guest registration for all visitors. RSVP is required. RSVP links are below. Upon RSVP, guests will receive parking and campus access code one week before the event. Please contact organizers at materialacts@gmail.com for questions or concerns.
Schedule
Friday, November 22, 2024
USC School of Architecture
Gin D. Wong Auditorium
12-1pm
RSVP
Rethinking Materiality: Lecture by Anupama Kundoo
Friday, November 22, 2024
Craft Contemporary
6:30-8pm
RSVP
Material Acts: Book Launch
Saturday, November 23, 2024
USC School of Architecture
Verle Annis Gallery
10am-4pm
RSVP
10:00am
Symposium Welcome & Introduction
Rody Lopez (Craft Contemporary)
Amy Murphy (USC)
Kate Yeh Chiu (USC)
Jia Yi Gu (HMC)
10:15am-11:15am
Re-thinking Construction
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes (EPFL)
11:15am-12:45pm
Session 1: Sourcing
Anupama Kundoo (Anupama Kundoo Architects)
Katie MacDonald (After Architecture)
Meredith Miller (Post Rock)
Presentation by practitioners working on before-building processes including material sources, bioregional design, and sites of labor, followed by a moderated Q&A.
12:45pm-1:30pm
Lunch 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.
1:30pm-2:30pm
Bioregional Design Practices
Daniel Bell (Atelier LUMA)
2:30pm-4:00pm
Session 2: Networking
Ben Loescher (Adobeisnotsoftware)
Christine Yogiaman (Yogiaman Tracy Design)
Matthias Kohler (Gramazio Kohler Research)
Presentation by practitioners working across organizational scales and sites of production, to address the social, political, and infrastructural networks behind a material’s making.
4:00pm
Concluding Remarks
Parking
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
Transit
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. Fare is 50 cents. For a list of DASH “F” line stops, visit www.ladottransit.com/dash and select “Downtown F.”
Material Acts: A Symposium is hosted by Craft Contemporary, USC School of Architecture, and Harvey Mudd College.