RECORD’s monthly list of upcoming and ongoing exhibitions, events, and competitions.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Drawing on Ideas
Princeton, New Jersey
Through December 16, 2024
An exhibition on view at the Princeton University School of Architecture seeks to challenge the conventional understanding of architectural representation. Featuring 77 works from the collection of Cynthia Davidson and Peter Eisenman, the Monica Ponce de Leon–curated show explores how drawings, collages, prints, and paintings serve as independent vehicles for pursuing and constructing ideas rather than being mere precursors to building. See princeton.edu/soa.
Always Modern: A Photographic Story
Milan
Through December 19, 2024
A photographic exhibition dedicated to Order of Architects PPC Milan’s ongoing cultural program Sempre Moderno (Always Modern) is on view at their headquarters. In May of 2024, the Italian professional organization launched an open call for photographic tryptichs of any Milanese building constructed in the second half of the 20th century. The selected images on display highlighting the impact of modern architecture in the Italian city and point the way toward how such architectural heritage can be adapted for contemporary needs. See ordinearchitetti.mi.it.
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Images of modern Milanese buildings on display in Always Modern: A Photographic Story. Photos © Giorgio Danesi (1); Andrea Oldani (2), courtesy Order of Architects PPC Milan
Changing Climates
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Through December 20, 2024
This exhibition at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design explores the transformation of built environments into urban ecologies, showcasing how cities can evolve into living “organisms” to combat climate challenges. A selection of projects from Bas Smets’s international practice demonstrates how urban spaces can be reimagined as intelligent interfaces between uncertain meteorology and underused geology. Also on view are student projects from Smets’s Biospheric Urbanism studio at the school, focusing on case studies of New York and Paris, as illustrations of his methodology. See gsd.harvard.edu.
Energies
New York
Through January 5, 2025
The Swiss Institute presents an expansive group exhibition exploring energy issues from artistic perspectives rooted in local New York history and expanded to global concerns. Featuring works by 19 international artists including Ash Arder, Liu Chuang, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Otobong Nkanga, the show spans the Institute’s entire building and extends into partner locations throughout the East Village. Inspired by a 1970s community-driven wind turbine project, Energies examines past and present ecological, social, and political arrangements attached to energy production and consumption, including influential historical pieces, contemporary projects, and new commissions addressing topics ranging from renewable energy and the climate crisis to energy poverty and green colonialism. A public program accompanies the show, featuring workshops, lectures, and installations. See swissinstitute.net.
Material Acts: Experimentation in Architecture and Design
Los Angeles
Through January 5, 2025
Curated by Kate Yeh Chiu and Jia Yi Gu, this exhibition at the Craft Contemporary museum explores the evolving role of nature in material experimentation across architecture, craft, and science. Organized around five thematic clusters—Animating, Disassembling, Feeding, Re-fusing, and Stitching—the show examines how contemporary design practices engage with, transform, and generate new understandings of nature and materials. On view are works by over 20 contributors, including Assemble, Atelier LUMA, and Rael San Fratello, that challenge traditional notions of building materials, championing innovative approaches such as degrowth and biodesign. See craftcontemporary.org.
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Gramazio Kohler and Skylar Tibbits, Mini Jammed rock printing (3); Maru Garcia, Membrane Tensions in glass containers with SCOBY culture, bacterial cellulose sculptures, webcam, overhead projector, drawings (4). Photos courtesy Gramazio Kohler (3); LAMAG (4)
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Rotor: Entangled Matter
Brussels
Through January 12, 2025
bi-monthly magazine A+ Architecture in Belgium and the Bozar fine arts center showcase work by Brussels-based collective Rotor, known for its investigations into architecture, ecology, and recycling. The exhibition looks at the circulation of resources and raw materials, based on Rotor’s two-decade-long explorations of material flows. Also on view is a series of previously unshown short films by filmmaking duo Bêka & Lemoine documenting sites of mining, production, and material processing. These complement Rotor’s reflections on the construction industry’s challenges, particularly in relation to the environmental crisis. See bozar.be.
Foster + Partners: Architecture of Light and Space
San Diego
Through April 27, 2025
The San Diego Museum of Art presents an exhibition showcasing the work of Pritzker Prize–winning architect Norman Foster. Conceived as a “futurspective,” the show is organized around three themes—Working with History, Embracing the Environment, and Community and Culture—and features models and designs from Foster’s celebrated global projects. Coinciding with the firm’s upcoming renovation of the museum’s west wing, the exhibition offers insight into Foster’s vision for integrating modern design with historical structures and landscapes. See sdmart.org.
Events
Design Miami 2024
Miami
December 3-8, 2024
The annual festival celebrates its 20th edition with the theme “Blue Sky,” curated by Glenn Adamson. International collectors, gallerists, designers, curators, and critics will showcase artworks and installations across five days, highlighting design as “a risk-taking venture, with the potential to meet the challenges of the present.” The event takes place during Miami Art Week, alongside the Miami Beach edition of Art Basel 2024. See designmiami.com.
New York
December 7, 2024
The Columbia Graduate School of Design's Historic Preservation Program and Places journal presents a day-long event exploring how architecture curricula in response to the cascading impacts of climate change, inspired by an article published by the journal earlier this year. Featured speakers include Erica Avrami, Nick Axel, Daniel Barber, Deborah Berke, Shumi Bose, Mario Gooden, Olaf Grawert, Josephine Minutillo, Andrea Roberts, and Mireille Roddier. See arch.columbia.edu.
E-mail information two months in advance to schulmanp@bnpmedia.com.
