Craig Dykers
ARCHITECT
1 October 2009 — 7:00 pm
at Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Concert Hall
Presented in Partnership with AIA Omaha and the University of Nebraska College of Architecture
Craig Dykers architect and Principal of the international architecture and design firm Snohetta will present the design for the National September 11th Memorial Museum Pavilion (2011) at ground zero in New York, along with their other significant works including the New Opera House (2008) in Oslo, Norway and their breakout design for the Alexandria Library (2001), in Alexandria, Egypt.
The 42-year-old American architect, based in Norway, literally builds mutual cooperation and inspiration into every project undertaken by Snohetta, the Oslo firm where he is principal designer. At Snohetta -- named for the mountain where Vikings believed heaven is located -- Dykers isn't the boss; he's one creative force among many. 'They say you can't make great design by committee,' he says. 'But you can, and you should. Buildings are used by many people, and many people should have input into how they are created.'
The firm was even formed cooperatively. Dykers, an Army brat born in Europe, was living in Los Angeles and trying to get an architectural practice going when he learned of an open competition to design an enormous new library in Alexandria, Egypt -- a modern replacement of the legendary library that burned more than 1,500 years ago. He created an ad hoc alliance of young architects around the world that won the competition and built the library, which opened in 1999. Dykers decided to join the Oslo contingent of his far-flung 'firm,' and Snohetta was born.
Objectified
FILM
December 2009 — 7:00 pm
at Film Streams' Ruth Sokolof Theater
Presented in Partnership with Omaha Creative Institute
Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability.
Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential product designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?
Majora Carter
ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE
25 February 2010 — 7:00 pm
at Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Concert Hall
Presented in Partnership with Metropolitan Community College
Majora Carter was born, raised, and continues to live in the South Bronx. Her career has taken her around the world in pursuit of resources and ideas to improve the quality of life in environmentally challenged communities. She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 after writing a $1.25M Federal Transportation grant to design the South Bronx Greenway with 11 miles of bike and pedestrian paths connecting the rivers and neighborhoods to each other, and to the rest of the city. That project secured over $20 million in funds for first phase construction and serves as alternative transportation, economic development anchor, storm water management infrastructure as well as healthy recreation.
She has been instrumental in creating riverfront parks, building green roofs, working to remove poorly planned highways in favor of positive economic development, and successfully implementing the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program— a pioneering green-collar job training and placement system -- seeding a community with a skilled workforce that has both a personal & economic stake in their urban environment.
These accomplishments grow from her notion that self-image is influenced by surroundings—so those surroundings should be beautiful! Her vision, drive, and tenacity earned her a MacArthur "Genius" Grant. She started 2007 as one of Newsweek’s “25 To Watch”, ended the year as one of Essence Magazine’s “25 most Influential African Americans”. She has been named one of the “50 most influential women in NYC” by the NY Post for the past two years, and "NYC's most influential environmentalist" by the BBC World Service. Majora is president of the Majora Carter Group, LLC, a board member of the Widerness Society, SJF, and CERES; and host of a special national public radio series called “The Promised Land”.
Paola Antonelli
CURATOR / ARCHITECT
25 March 2010 — 7:00 pm
at Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Concert Hall
Paola Antonelli joined the museum of modern art in 1994 and is a curator in the department of architecture and design. Her first acclaimed exhibition for MoMA, mutant materials in contemporary design (1995), was followed by thresholds: contemporary design from the netherlands (1996), achille castiglioni: design! (1997- 98), and projects 66: campana / ingo maurer (1999), open ends and matter (september 2000 / february 2001). Her most recent exhibition, workspheres (2/8 - 4/22/2001) was devoted to the design of the workplace of the near future.
The recipient of a master's degree in architecture from the polytechnic of milan in 1990, paola antonelli has curated several architecture and design exhibitions in italy, france, and japan. She has been a contributing editor for 'domus' magazine (1987-91) and the design editor of 'abitare' (1992-94). She has also contributed articles to several publications, among them 'metropolis', 'the Harvard design review', ', I.D. magazine', 'paper', 'metropolitan', 'home', 'Harper’s Bazaar' and 'nest'.
From 1991 to 1993, paola antonelli was a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she taught design history and theory. She has lectured on design and architecture in Europe and the United States and has served on several international architecture and design juries. Paola Antonelli, whose goal is to make design the most loved, understood, and celebrated discipline of the XXI century, is currently working on a book about foods from all over the world as examples of outstanding design; on an exhibition entitled emergency; and on trying to get a Boeing 747 into the collection of the museum of modern art.