Public Lecture Series Spring 2021

With frenetic editing, absurdist humor, and a stubbornly improvisational ethos, artists Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin create deliriously non-narrative videos, sculptures, and installations that both investigate and embody the arch, hyper-self-consciousness of social media and reality television.

On February 4, Fitch and Trecartin will discuss their collaborative practice as part of the spring public lecture series, sponsored by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. In all, the series will feature 22 virtual presentations by renowned artists, architects, designers, and scholars.

Events began January 30 with a panel discussion about the work of Charles E. Fleming, a 1961 alumnus and one of the first African American students to earn an architecture degree from Washington University. Co-sponsored by the school’s College of Architecture and Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, as part of the museum’s “In Conversation” series, the discussion included Fleming as well as fellow architecture alumnus Michael Willis (BA73/MArch76/MSW76) and faculty architectural historians Shantel Blakely and Eric Mumford.

Following Fitch and Trecartin, the lecture series will continue February 10 with a panel discussion on “Architectural History and Conservation,” and February 16 with Ghanaian-American interdisciplinary artist Addoley Dzegede (MFA15). Next up will be Valentina Castellani, former director of New York’s Gagosian Gallery (February 20), architect Edward R. Ford (February 22), urban designer Alex Krieger (February 24), and designer-in-residence Jude Agboada (also February 24).

On February 25, the Sam Fox School, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and the university’s recently founded Center for Race, Ethnicity and Equity (CRE2) will host a panel discussion with artist-in-residence Jordan Weber.

The “In Conversation” series will continue March 6 with artist and deaf activist Christine Sun Kim, whose site-specific mural, Stacking Traumas, recently was installed in the museum atrium. Amy Sillman, whose animated short After Metamorphoses (2015–16) is on view this spring in the museum’s Video Gallery, will discuss her work April 10.

Other talks will include artist and architect Amanda Williams and Assemble, a multidisciplinary collective (March 4), illustrator Ping Zhu (March 5), Island Press visiting artist Erika Blumenfeld (March 22), architect and urban designer Toni L. Griffin (April 8), and landscape architects Charles A. Birnbaum (April 19), and Kotchakorn Voraakhom (April 27). For a complete list, see below.

Spring 2021 speakers
All events are free, open to the public, and presented online. RSVP required.

January 30: Charles E. Fleming w/ Shantel Blakely, Eric Mumford, and Michael Willis / February 4: Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin / February 10: Fallon Aidoo, Daniel M. Abramson, Maristella Casciato, and Michelangelo Sabatino / February 16: Addoley Dzegede / February 20: Valentina Castellani / February 22: Edward R. Ford / February 24: Alex Krieger / February 24: Jude Agboada / February 25: Jordan Weber / March 1: Zeuler Lima / March 4: Amanda Williams and Assemble / March 5: Ping Zhu / March 6: Christine Sun Kim / March 10: Zeynep Çelik Alexander, Mark Jarzombek, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, and Tao Zhu / March 22: Erika Blumenfeld / April 8: Toni L. Griffin / April 10: Amy Sillman w/ Meredith Malone and Rebecca Sears / April 19: Charles A. Birnbaum / April 26: Igor Marjanović and Katerina Rüedi Ray / April 27: Kotchakorn Voraakhom / April 28: Lydia McKelvie, Alice Nguyen, and Hannah Ward / TBD: Dana Levy

Learn more about the programs in art, architecture, and design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis here. Learn more about programs at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum here.

Note: Due to COVID-19, the Kemper Art Museum is currently closed to the public but remains open to Washington University students, faculty and staff.