September 9, 2011

Join Lab Team member Omar Freilla, founder of the Bronx-based cooperative incubator Green Worker Cooperatives, as he weaves together what a future could look like if we make democracy a part of daily life. Get a bird’s-eye view of the threads that bind immigration, prisons, the economy, the environment, technology, urban design, health care, and more as he kicks off the two and a half weeks of programs he will host at the BMW Guggenheim Lab.

Photo: courtesy Deltree

Leaving from: BMW Guggenheim Lab
Location: A visit to Rocking the Boat, South Bronx
Mode: By subway, walking and rowing 

What if we could recognize environmental injustices with more than just our eyes - how would new forms of action take shape? Building a more interwoven world of justice, growth, health and the commons demands new forms of collaborative enterprise with species and systems beyond ourselves. To understand these new tools at work, creative consulting and design collaborative spurse will conduct an afternoon of research with the good folks of Rocking the Boat, investigating the Bronx River by rowboat.

We strongly recommend you wear appropriate clothes and comfortable shoes as this activity will take place outdoors. In the event of rain the activity will not be cancelled. 

Photo: courtesy spurse

Above: BOOM Palm Springs

We have to start a revolution. The way we age in America is inhumane and inadequate, he says: there are 17,000 nursing homes in this country, and there are 17,000 reasons not to move into any of them. The dignity of aging needs to be reinstated, and we cannot do that by chasing eternal youth. Architect Matthias Hollwich explores a new way for society to deal with aging, by outlining how we can pioneer our own future selves, and how architecture and urbanism can be reengineered to support new living typologies, service proximities, and social relevance and space. Join the conversation and become part of the New Aging revolution!

Image: courtesy Squared Design Lab

Artist, critic, and theorist Dan Graham has built a career around our shifting perception of space, which he examines through performance art, installations, video, sculpture, photography, and writings. Join him for a session in which he continues his constant blurring of the distinction between architecture and art in an analysis of comfort that confronts the Atelier Bow-Wow design for the BMW Guggenheim Lab, his own pavilions, and a variety of spatial experiences in Lower Manhattan and far beyond.

Video artist Kelly Loudenberg’s New Urbanism series looks at imaginative and sustainable solutions for urban living, from rooftop farming to Dumpster swimming pools and underground opera houses. Traveling around the world, she visits designers and artists bringing nature to urban settings, finding new ways to live and exploring alternative uses of existing spaces.

Photo: by Mary Mattingly