This panel discussion brings together five of the most prominent architecture critics and writers from across the US to discuss the evolving role and future direction of criticism today. Critics of the built environment have become an endangered species. Countless column inches are devoted to film, TV, music, theatre and books, yet the one discipline that no-one can escape goes woefully under-scrutinised. Ever fewer newspapers and magazines employ architecture critics, while the internet is awash with sponsored content and regurgitated press releases. In an underfunded media landscape, PR companies increasingly control the message, blocking probing eyes from access, and dictating who gets to publish, and for whom. Has criticism lost its way? How can we restore its urgency, engage new audiences, hold power to account, and shine a spotlight on the forces that are shaping the built environment, for better and worse?
Author Frances Anderton, environmental artist Lauren Bon, and urban historian Norman Klein approach the city of Los Angeles from different perspectives and fields: together they will discuss how L.A.’s unique history, architecture, and environment have shaped the city. The conversation will be moderated by L.A.-based critic, editor and curator Mimi Zeiger.
Join artist Barbara Kasten (b. 1936) alongside authors Stephanie Cristello and Mimi Zeiger for this exclusive program featuring the advanced book launch of her most recent monograph, Barbara Kasten: Architecture & Film (2015–2020), published by Skira (March 2023).
Delving into unearthed comparisons and histories, this conversation contextualizes Kasten’s ongoing investigations into how moving images and perception play within and through architectural forms in the setting of one of her influences, the former home and studio of Richard Neutra.
Two pioneering works of radical television from the mind of the iconoclastic architecture critic Reyner Banham.
The writings and thinking of Reyner Banham, born 100 years ago this year, came to define and create architectural culture. His hugely innovative and engaging analyses of architecture, the city, culture and its artefacts continue to mark generations.
Banham’s trademark formal and intellectual wit, invention and creative critique found a perfect home on TV. In tonight’s first episode he drives the streets of his beloved LA, aided by an Alexa-like technological tour guide. In the second, he departs from there for Las Vegas, finding his own personal jackpot in the desert landscapes on route.
The ScreenTalk is chaired by Professor Richard J Williams, author of Reyner Banham Revisited, with guests writer and journalist Owen Hatherley, architectural historian Adrian Forty and LA-based critic, editor and curator Mimi Zeiger.
This event is co-organized by Gavin Kroeber & Mimi Zeiger and presented in partnership with SCI-Arc.
The discussion will feature a remarkable group of architects, designers, and planners, including Keller Easterling, Patty Heyda, James Rojas, M. Casey Rehm, and Andrew Zago, along with artists Mary Ellen Carroll and Tim Portlock, journalist Gustavo Arellano.
Peter Reyner Banham is one of the most relevant architectural and design critics of the 20th century. Join us to celebrate his 100th birthday on March 4 with a symposium, organised as a collaboration between the AA and The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, which will bring together multi-generational duets of scholars and practitioners engaging on themes key to the life and intellectual legacy of the English critic.
The symposium will precede two AA Visiting Schools held from June-July 2022 – “Farewell Reveries” (online) and “A Blighty Safari” (a road trip throughout the UK) – that will reflect on Banham’s passion for travel and field exploration.
Original image by Tim Street-Porter
Exhibit Columbus is a two-year exploration of architecture, art, design, and community that activates the design legacy of Columbus, Indiana. It is a feature program of Landmark Columbus Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to caring for, celebrating, and advancing the cultural heritage of Columbus.
For the Fall 2021 Exhibition, co-curators Iker Gil and Mimi Zeiger invited exhibition participants to create site-specific, future-oriented installations, which responded to the theme: New Middles: From Main Street to Megalopolis, What is the Future of the Middle City?
The League’s FF – Distance Edition, an online version of the long-running First Friday series, will continue on Thursday evenings. This season’s events feature design practices that are redefining the contemporary public landscape by responding to social and environmental concerns and exploring the intersections of architecture, technology, and ecology.
FF – Distance Edition brings participants on site, offering virtual access to practices’ workspaces and current projects. Following each presentation, join in an open conversation with the designers.
Founded in Boston by Chris Reed in 2001, Stoss Landscape Urbanism is a landscape architecture and urban design firm committed to “the power of open space to bind communities to one another and to the environment,” according to its website. At Stoss, landscape is a catalyst for positive change, enhancing both human wellbeing and ecological diversity. The firm’s work focuses on creating active and environmentally sustainable urban realms, socially vibrant public spaces, and diverse, vital neighborhoods in which people can live, work, and play.
Lecture by architectural historian Emily Bills, critic and curator Mimi Zeiger, and author and designer Chris Grimley.