A panel discussion on the exhibit Richmond as a Work of Art will be held on Saturday, October 24th at the VCUarts Depot (2:30 – 4:00pm) featuring a selection of Richmond’s cultural figures: Edwin Slipek, Bill Martin, Ed Trask, Burt Pinnock as well as Dimitra Tsachrelia (Steven Holl Architects, New York).
Richmond as a Work of Art studies the founding conditions of a historic city to distill the modern consequences and to project a future civic vision. Archival research and original drawings of the city’s architectural form, infrastructural systems, and array of park spaces demonstrate the layering of history, the transformation of urban elements and their radical formal and programmatic reinvention.
The exhibition is currently on view at the intersection of East Broad and North Second Street in the windows of 201, 122 & 124 East Broad with an additional presentation in the gallery of The Storefront for Community Design. It first premiered in May of 2015 at Main Branch of The Richmond Public Library to the following review:
“Richmond as a Work of Art,”... offers a refreshingly different and highly enlightening lens through which to view infrastructural RVA. In a series of graphically simple, but elegantly designed wall scrolls that contain drawings, architectural plans and powerful photographs, curator Emma Fuller and photographer/draftsman Michael Overby offer up a highly contemporary architectural aesthetic that may challenge what places and spaces many folks consider worthy of consideration...
Edwin Slipek, Style Weekly, May 26 2015
The new iteration of the exhibition looks outwards from the storefront windows, with lighting during the evening hours to create a glowing installation across the intersection. The fabrication and current showing was made possible by support from CultureWorks, and the project draws on historic primary resources from local institutions including The Virginia State Library, The Virginia Historical Society, The Valentine Museum and The Richmond Public Library.
PANELISTS
CRITIC: Edwin Slipek, Style Weekly
Edwin Slipek is a generator of architectural discourse in Richmond as the critic for Style Weekly, a professor of architectural history at VCU, and through his presence as a cultural figure in the city. He has designed theatrical sets, hosted exhibitions, documented Richmond through extensively published writings, and most recently co-founding the website ArchitectureRichmond. For his writing and teaching he has been awarded honorary membership in the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects.
DIRECTOR: Bill Martin, The Valentine
William J. Martin is the Director of The Valentine Museum. As an institutional leader he has transformed the museum’s identity and promoted the idea of an actively engaged archival resource. He works collaboratively with the city and local groups to publicize the rich history of Richmond and holds positions on several civic councils.
ARTIST: Ed Trask
Ed Trask is known for his murals internationally and has a main body of work in the Richmond Downtown area. His paintings have been included in the permanent collections of Gap, G.E., Capital One, Fortune Magazine, NBC, Philip Morris, Media General, Mars and Play, and his work is currently on view at the Glavekocen Gallery.
ARCHITECT: Dimitra Tsachrelia, Project Architect Steven Holl ICA Building
Dimitra Tsachrelia is an Associate with Steven Holl Architects and is the project architect of the Institute for Contemporary Art. As well as practising professionally, Dimitra also teaches a masters design studio at Columbia University with Steven Holl. She received her Diploma in Architecture from the Patras University School of Architecture, Greece and a M.Arch from Columbia University GSAPP.
ARCHITECT Burt Pinnock, Baskervill
Burt Pinnock is a Principal at Baskervill where he is the lead designer of the Black History Museum, a transformation of The Leigh Street Armory, as well as the Slavery and Freedom Heritage Sites. Previously he was a founding member of the award winning practice BAM Architects. He is a recipient of the Virginia Society AIA’s award for Distinguished Achievement.
Closing remarks by Tyler King
Tyler King is the Program Director of the Storefront for Community Design. He received a Bachelors degree in Urban Studies from VCU and attended Bauhaus Universitat’s Institute for European Urbanism. He serves as the President-Elect of Design VA at the Branch Museum for Architecture & Design and volunteers at ROSMY.
EXHIBITION DESIGNERS
Emma Fuller
Emma Fuller is a native of Richmond VA who moved to New York to receive her Bachelors from The Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. She currently teaches at Pratt Institute, is an Associate with Diane Lewis Architect, and pursues independent research projects. Her writing has appeared most recently in The Richmond Times Dispatch and Style Weekly, as well as an essay and recent drawings in the Cooper Union’s Open City published by Charta Milano. She is a guest contributing writer to the website ArchitectureRichmond and her first article will be published this fall. Emma has participated in symposia at both The Architectural League and the NY AIA Center for Architecture. Her work focuses on city plans and the development of architectural projects from historic research, existing plan relationships and the position of significant structures in the urban fabric.
Michael Overby
Michael Overby is a graduate of the Cooper Union School of Architecture and was a finalist for the 2014-15 Rome Prize in Architecture. He is currently an Associate at RUR Architecture in NYC. His work addresses the latent subject matter embedded in architectural drawings and models, pursued through a variety of works including his most recent projects Little Monuments, Painted Fortresses, Broken Blocks, and In the Heather, a collaborative publication with a poet. He has been a teaching assistant in design studios and seminars at Princeton University, Columbia GSAPP, Pratt Institute, Syracuse University, and the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.