Tuesday, May 17th, 2016

7 – 9 pm

97 Kenmare Street, New York, NY

 

#storefrontseries     #salonseries     #sexualityandspace     @storefrontnyc

 

With Mario Gooden, Mabel Wilson, and Meredith TenHoor

 

Azurest South is a little known modernist house by Amaza Lee Meredith, an untrained black woman architect practicing in Virginia from the 1920s onward. The house, designed by Meredith for herself and her partner, stood radically apart from its surroundings.

 

Salon Series: (Black) Sexuality and Space brings together Mario Gooden, Mabel Wilson, and Meredith TenHoor to discuss the the contemporary resonance of Azurest South, which presents complex negotiations regarding the notions of public and private space and reworks the masculinist guises of modernism.

 

Prompted by the lines of inquiry opened by Mario Gooden in his newly-released Dark Space: Architecture, Representation, Black Identity, this Salon Series will discuss architecture, representation, gender, and race as it relates to Azurest South. Placing the house within the context of projects such as Adolf Loos’s House for Josephine Baker, participants will explore how the Azurest South relies on particular tropes and notions of identity to communicate its significance. Participants will question the implications of the project, and ask how it might inform future approaches to spatial practice that address gender and race.

 

Copies of Dark Space: Architecture, Representation, Black Identity (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2016) will be available for purchase at the event. The book can also be ordered online here.

 

This event is free and open to the public, with seating on a first come, first served basis. Storefront members receive reserved seating. If you are a member and would like to reserve a seat, you can RSVP here. If you would like to become a Storefront member, please see here.

 

 

About the Salon Series and OfficeUS

Storefront Salon is a informal gathering at Storefront’s gallery space that addresses the 25 issues of OfficeUS, a project introduced at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. The salon promotes dialogue connecting art and architecture to these broader contemporary issues, which include:

Ex-Im, Trojan Horses, Best Practices, Crude Ideals, International Comfort, Reprogramming, The Invisibles, Global Citizenship, Magical States, Profit Margin, Smart Concrete, Little Americas, Anger/Love Management, Cargo Cult, Housing Public Good, Bullets Without Ideology, Code Upgrade, Culture Capital, Superlatives, Big Box Rules, Network Patents, Mission Good, Around the clock, Labor LEED and Mission Statement

These facilitated discussions are open to everyone, and will bring together Storefront’s members, network, and the community to discuss and dissect the role of culture in the most recent and relevant public debates. The OfficeUS project maintains the momentum and spirit of transformative thought coupled with collaborative action that was present at the US Pavilion, and captures its vigor in order to bring to New Yorkers a model of social engagement through art and architecture. This model deals with both ideas and practice that are simultaneously intellectually stimulating, innovative, cross-disciplinary, and accessible.

 

About the Book

 

Dark Space: Architecture, Representation, Black Identity is as collection of essays by architect Mario Gooden that investigates the construction of African American identity and representation through the medium of architecture. Comprised of five texts, Dark Space moves between history, theory, and criticism to explore a discourse of critical spatial practice involved in the constant reshaping of African Diaspora. Within his discourse, Gooden presents series of questions that interrogate and illuminate alternative narratives of “African American architecture,” to reveal compelling methods of translating the philosophical idea of the African Diaspora experience into space.

 

Support

Storefront’s programming is made possible through general support from Arup; DS+R; F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc.; Gaggenau; KPF; MADWORKSHOP; ODA; Roger Ferris + Partners; the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; The Greenwich Collection Ltd.; the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; The Peter T. Joseph Foundation; and by Storefront’s Board of Directors, members, and individual donors.

 

 

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