AMES, Iowa -- An artist internationally known for his projections of activist images on public buildings will kick off a national design education conference next week at Iowa State University.
Krzysztof Wodiczko, director of the Center of Art, Culture and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, will give the first keynote address for "Intersections: Design Education and Other Fields of Inquiry," the 22nd National Conference on the Beginning Design Student. Wodiczko's presentation, "Interrogative Design," will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in the Sun Room, Memorial Union. It is free and open to the public.
Wodiczko's large-scale multimedia productions, projected on historic monuments and public buildings, are intended to provoke a broader discourse on political, social and cultural issues. Among his more than 70 public projections are the St. Louis Public Library (2004), A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima (1999); Bunker Hill Monument, Boston (1998); City Hall Tower, Krakow (1996); the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1989); and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. (1988). Wodiczko was awarded the Hiroshima Art Prize in 1999 for his contributions as an artist to world peace.
Wodiczko's work may be found in collections throughout the world and has been exhibited in many international exhibitions, including the Kwang-ju Biennale, South Korea; the Venice Architectural Biennial, Italy; and the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial, New York.
He earned his master of fine arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, in 1968. Wodiczko is a professor of architecture at MIT.
More than 70 presenters from 55 colleges and universities worldwide will participate in the 22nd National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, being held at Iowa State for the first time. The conference will be at the Memorial Union, April 6 and 7, and at the College of Design, April 8. Conference co-chairs are assistant architecture professors Igor Marjanovic and Clare Robinson.
Also for the first time, this annual conference incorporates design disciplines other than architecture. Through keynote lectures, an exhibition, panel and paper sessions, the conference provides educators with the opportunity for discussion and critical reflection on interdisciplinary design education and practices.
Presentations are organized into sessions focused on ways of working; drawing and design; sustainability, ecology, criticism; theorizing space; curricular approaches; digital technologies; design/build; cultural studies; and approaches to teaching.
In addition to Wodiczko's keynote, two other addresses will be featured. Both will be in the Kocimski Auditorium, College of Design. Jonathan Hill, professor of architecture and visual theory, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, will present "Drawing Forth," 6 p.m. Friday, April 7. Kyna Leski, professor of architecture, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, will present "The Making of Design Principles," 6 p.m. Saturday, April 8.
A panel discussion on "Adjusting Foundations: Design Education and Its Discontents" will be 10:30 a.m. April 8, also in Kocimski Auditorium. Dan Hoffman, professor of architecture, Arizona State University, will moderate the panel, which will feature short presentations by Laura Briggs, director of the bachelor of fine arts program in architectural design, Parsons New School for Design; David Gersten, professor of architecture, Cooper Union; and Peter Lynch, former chair, Cranbrook Academy Department of Architecture.
The Wodiczko lecture is sponsored by the College of Design; the departments of architecture, art and design, community and regional planning and landscape architecture; the student Design Council; and the ISU Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Government of the Student Body. Hill's address is part of the Department of Architecture Lecture Series.
The conference is sponsored by the College of Design. A complete conference schedule and additional details on the lectures are available at http://www.design.iastate.edu/NCBDS.
