GEORGE LEGRADY | INTRODUCTORY PRESENTATION BY BRYANT AUSTIN

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2018 AT 7:30 PM 

SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE OSHER LECTURE HALL
800 CHESTNUT STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA

George Legrady will present a selection of his photographic-based works as they evolved from analog to digital, from the still-image to computational-generated interactive digital media installations.

Global, networked, repeatable, cross-material, easy to inhabit with or without a family, to drive on a road, to be made sliding on water through some good rowing: when it comes to Richard Buckminster Fuller,  it is hard to use such reductive words as world. The subject of Fuller’s research may be better defined as a system.

 The imagination of the late R. Buckminster Fuller is on scintillating display in Culver City:

Visitors to Edward Cella Art + Architecture’s new exhibit “R. Buckminster Fuller: Inventions and Models” have likely heard the acronym STEM: science, technology, engineering, mathematics. But they may not have heard the acronym that best describes the spirit of design innovator R. Buckminster Fuller’s philosophy: STEAM. The “A” stands for — you guessed it — art.

“The more we emphasize that ‘A,’ then we start to understand Fuller,” said Thomas T.K. Zung, Fuller’s protégé and CEO of Buckminster Fuller, Sadao and Zung Architects. “How could you look at the Eiffel Tower and not think of art? How could you look at the Brooklyn Bridge and not think of it as art? You’re leaving out most of the universe when you say, ‘Oh, you have to be a nerd to do science or technology or math.’ The ‘A’ embraces all of it.”

This past weekend saw the seventh edition of Expo Chicago return to the iconic, picturesque lakefront festival hall Navy Pier. The event offered the finest stock of modern and contemporary art from 135 galleries representing 63 cities in 27 countries, including the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Zimbabwe — but our entirely biased view is that the extensive L.A. gallery contingent won the day.

Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (1895-1983) achieved superstar status in his lifetime, and the cultlike legend of his career in architecture, philosophy and sustainable design has only grown in the decades following his death.

September 22, 2018 - January 20, 2019

This exhibition takes as it inspiration British architectural historian Reyner Banham’s treatise Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, a tribute to LA as a “mobile city." San Diego: The Architecture of Four Ecologies similarly pays homage to San Diego as a city of change and possibility, with a focus on the car as the current and predominant means to access and experience four of its own ecologies: Beaches, Freeways, Sub/urban and Border.  Four Ecologies is organized around these terrains, providing a gateway to engender dialogue about how we navigate and engage each environment. Works in various media—including drawing, painting, photography, installation, and video—will illuminate San Diego’s evolving narrative about the relationship between the automobile, architecture, and the environment.  Participating artists include: Doug Aitken, Abe King, Cy Kukenbacker, Robert Minervini, Margaret Noble, Jens Ochlich, Rene Peralta, Hector Perez, Iana Quesnell, Philipp Scholz Rittermann, Dustin Shuler, Paul Turounet, UCSD Design Lab/Colleen Emmenegger, Gareth Walsh, and Michael Webb.  Essay contributors include: Jennifer Luce FAIA, Kent Yoshimura, Bruce Appleyard, Lawrence Herzog, and Bruni Mori.

Curated by Rebecca Webb

Hunter Drohojowska-Philp talks about the visionary’s relevance in the 21st Century.

If the name R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) brings up any associations in the 21st century, it is for his creation of the geodesic dome. This structure looks complex because it is made of interconnected geometric forms that result in a slightly spherical shape. It has been used for decades as inexpensive and pragmatic shelter, an alternative to more traditional but also more costly methods of construction that involve foundations and load- bearing walls.

One of the greatest design scientists and thinkers of the 20th century, Buckminster Fuller is often referred to as the da Vinci of the modern era. From his prefabricated housing designs to his now-ubiquitous geodesic domes and Dymaxion maps, Fuller’s work was prodigiously ahead of its time.

But perhaps more than the outcome of his inventions, it was his cross-disciplinary, collaborative approach to problem-solving that remains revolutionary. Tackling everything from transportation, ecological destruction, and affordable housing, Fuller wasn’t afraid to confront complex problems. And he certainly wasn’t afraid to fail.

Here, Edward Cella, curator of Richard Buckminster Fuller, Inventions and Models in Los Angeles, discusses the self-taught prodigy.

October 20, 2018 – October 28, 2018

Anna Halprin’s career has been exceptionally long and varied—even for an artist who turned 98 this year—and her pieces have inspired generations of other artists around the world, across many disciplines, artistic and social movements, and communities. This October we celebrate Halprin and her multidisciplinary practice by presenting a selection of performances, film screenings, workshops, and participatory events, including Planetary Dance(which has been staged in forty-six countries on six continents to date).

Halprin has consistently defied the boundaries of dance, using experiments with everyday movement and contextual shifts away from the stage to reinvent its forms, subjects, and intentions. She has pushed the medium even further as a tool to address social justice issues, connect people with one another and the environment, foster community across racial and social divides, and facilitate both physical and psychological healing. Long renowned in the dance world, Halprin is increasingly recognized as a contemporary artist who brings a pioneering approach to social and collective artistic practices. Richard Schechner, editor of TDR: The Drama Review, calls her “one of the most important and original thinkers in performance.”

This presentation’s multiple performances, workshops, and screenings together offer a glimpse into Halprin’s work, methods, and legacy, allowing reflection on her key past projects and active engagement with the continuing vitality of her work.

Please click here for event information and performance dates. 

Distinctive architecture, uninhibited ocean views, bold supergraphics, shared open space, and meditative tranquility—these were the beginnings of the Sea Ranch, a beacon of Modernism on the Northern California coast. Designed by a small group of Bay Area architects and designers in the early 1960s, the development was envisioned as a progressive, inclusive community, guided by the idealistic principles of good design, economy of space, and harmony with the natural environment.

This exhibition brings together original sketches and drawings from the project's designers, along with archival images, photographs of the Sea Ranch today, and a full-scale architectural replica. The environmentally attentive design philosophies explored at the Sea Ranch, along with the now-iconic graphics, resonated globally and continue to influence architecture and design today.

The exhibition features works by artist and architect Lawrence Halprin. Click here for more information and tickets.