Closed Worlds Exhibition Opening

Exhibition Dates: February 17-April 9

Public Opening: February 16th 7-9pm

On Tuesday, February 16th, Storefront for Art and Architecture will open Closed Worlds, an exhibition curated by Lydia Kallipoliti that presents an archive of 41 living prototypes of closed resource regeneration systems built over the last century. The archive represents an unexplored genealogy of closed systems in architectural practice. The exhibition will also feature Some World Games, a virtual reality installation by Farzin Farzin that presents a contemporary 42nd prototype of a closed system inside the walls of Storefront’s gallery space at 97 Kenmare Street. A related public conference that further explores closed worlds will take place at The Cooper Union on Saturday, February 27th from 12-6 pm.

About the Closed Worlds Exhibition

What do outer space capsules, submarines, and office buildings have in common? Each was conceived as a closed system: a self-sustaining physical environment demarcated from its surroundings by a boundary that does not allow for the transfer of matter or energy.

The history of twentieth century architecture, design, and engineering has been strongly linked to the conceptualization and production of closed systems. As partial reconstructions of the world in time and in space, closed systems identify and secure the cycling of materials necessary for the sustenance of life. Contemporary discussions about global warming, recycling, and sustainability have emerged as direct conceptual constructs related to the study and analysis of closed systems.

 

Closed Worlds will exhibit an archive of 41 historical living prototypes built over the last century that present an unexplored genealogy of closed resource regeneration systems. The exhibition will also feature the virtual reality ecosystem Some World Games, a contemporary 42nd prototype selected as the winner of the Closed Worlds Design Competition hosted by Storefront in November 2015.

From the space program to countercultural architectural groups experimenting with autonomous living, Closed Worlds documents a disciplinary transformation and the rise of a new environmental consensus in the form of a synthetic naturalism, where the laws of nature and metabolism are displaced from the domain of wilderness to the domain of cities and buildings. While these ideas derive from a deeply rooted fantasy of architecture producing nature, Closed Worlds displays their integration into the very fabric of reality in our contemporary cities and buildings.

About the 42nd Prototype

Some World Games, the winning installation of the Closed Worlds Design Competition, is an immersive environment that urges visitors to explore and experiment with virtual prototypes generated from the archive of 41 closed systems exhibited as part of the larger Closed Worlds exhibition. Participants are guided through the installation on a looped track that channels their kinetic motion through an orbiting virtual environment.
Some World Games harnesses the expended energy of exhibition exploration-the acts of reading, viewing, and wandering-and puts this agency on display. Entering the installation is a decisive act in which the visitor consents to a moment of vulnerability, plugging into the universe of the archive and engaging with its content through virtual immersion in physical space.

Credits

Closed Worlds Exhibition:

Curator and Principal Researcher: Lydia Kallipoliti

Research: Alyssa Goraieb, Hamza Hasan, Tiffany Montanez, Catherine Walker, Royd Zhang, Miguel Lantigua-Inoa, Emily Estes, Danielle Griffo and Chendru Starkloff

Graphic and Exhibition Design: Pentagram / Natasha Jen with Melodie Yashar and JangHyun Han

Feedback Drawings: Tope Olujobi with Lydia Kallipoliti

Lexicon Editor: Hamza Hasan

Special Thanks: Bess Krietemeyer, Andreas Theodoridis, Cecilia Ramos, Alex Miller

42nd Prototype, Some World Games:

Installation Design, Concept, and Fabrication: Farzin Farzin (Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Sharif Anous, John Arnold)

Fabrication Assistance: Joseph Vidich, Kin & Company

Lighting Design Assistance: Christopher Adam Architectural Illumination Engineering

Support

This exhibition is supported by the Graham Foundation and the New York State Council for the Arts. The research for this exhibition has been supported by Syracuse University School of Architecture and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

42nd Prototype 3D printing resources provided by MakerBot.

3D printing provided by Voodoo Manufacturing.

General support for Storefront exhibitions is provided by the New York State Council for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Arup, KPF, Sciame Construction, DS+R, and ODA.

About Storefront for Art and Architecture Founded in 1982, Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization that advances innovative positions in architecture, art, and design. Our exhibitions, events, competitions, publications, projects, and platforms generate dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological, and disciplinary boundaries.











When: Tue., Feb. 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare St.
212-431-5795
Price: Free
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Exhibition Dates: February 17-April 9

Public Opening: February 16th 7-9pm

On Tuesday, February 16th, Storefront for Art and Architecture will open Closed Worlds, an exhibition curated by Lydia Kallipoliti that presents an archive of 41 living prototypes of closed resource regeneration systems built over the last century. The archive represents an unexplored genealogy of closed systems in architectural practice. The exhibition will also feature Some World Games, a virtual reality installation by Farzin Farzin that presents a contemporary 42nd prototype of a closed system inside the walls of Storefront’s gallery space at 97 Kenmare Street. A related public conference that further explores closed worlds will take place at The Cooper Union on Saturday, February 27th from 12-6 pm.

About the Closed Worlds Exhibition

What do outer space capsules, submarines, and office buildings have in common? Each was conceived as a closed system: a self-sustaining physical environment demarcated from its surroundings by a boundary that does not allow for the transfer of matter or energy.

The history of twentieth century architecture, design, and engineering has been strongly linked to the conceptualization and production of closed systems. As partial reconstructions of the world in time and in space, closed systems identify and secure the cycling of materials necessary for the sustenance of life. Contemporary discussions about global warming, recycling, and sustainability have emerged as direct conceptual constructs related to the study and analysis of closed systems.

 

Closed Worlds will exhibit an archive of 41 historical living prototypes built over the last century that present an unexplored genealogy of closed resource regeneration systems. The exhibition will also feature the virtual reality ecosystem Some World Games, a contemporary 42nd prototype selected as the winner of the Closed Worlds Design Competition hosted by Storefront in November 2015.

From the space program to countercultural architectural groups experimenting with autonomous living, Closed Worlds documents a disciplinary transformation and the rise of a new environmental consensus in the form of a synthetic naturalism, where the laws of nature and metabolism are displaced from the domain of wilderness to the domain of cities and buildings. While these ideas derive from a deeply rooted fantasy of architecture producing nature, Closed Worlds displays their integration into the very fabric of reality in our contemporary cities and buildings.

About the 42nd Prototype

Some World Games, the winning installation of the Closed Worlds Design Competition, is an immersive environment that urges visitors to explore and experiment with virtual prototypes generated from the archive of 41 closed systems exhibited as part of the larger Closed Worlds exhibition. Participants are guided through the installation on a looped track that channels their kinetic motion through an orbiting virtual environment.
Some World Games harnesses the expended energy of exhibition exploration-the acts of reading, viewing, and wandering-and puts this agency on display. Entering the installation is a decisive act in which the visitor consents to a moment of vulnerability, plugging into the universe of the archive and engaging with its content through virtual immersion in physical space.

Credits

Closed Worlds Exhibition:

Curator and Principal Researcher: Lydia Kallipoliti

Research: Alyssa Goraieb, Hamza Hasan, Tiffany Montanez, Catherine Walker, Royd Zhang, Miguel Lantigua-Inoa, Emily Estes, Danielle Griffo and Chendru Starkloff

Graphic and Exhibition Design: Pentagram / Natasha Jen with Melodie Yashar and JangHyun Han

Feedback Drawings: Tope Olujobi with Lydia Kallipoliti

Lexicon Editor: Hamza Hasan

Special Thanks: Bess Krietemeyer, Andreas Theodoridis, Cecilia Ramos, Alex Miller

42nd Prototype, Some World Games:

Installation Design, Concept, and Fabrication: Farzin Farzin (Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Sharif Anous, John Arnold)

Fabrication Assistance: Joseph Vidich, Kin & Company

Lighting Design Assistance: Christopher Adam Architectural Illumination Engineering

Support

This exhibition is supported by the Graham Foundation and the New York State Council for the Arts. The research for this exhibition has been supported by Syracuse University School of Architecture and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

42nd Prototype 3D printing resources provided by MakerBot.

3D printing provided by Voodoo Manufacturing.

General support for Storefront exhibitions is provided by the New York State Council for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Arup, KPF, Sciame Construction, DS+R, and ODA.

About Storefront for Art and Architecture Founded in 1982, Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization that advances innovative positions in architecture, art, and design. Our exhibitions, events, competitions, publications, projects, and platforms generate dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological, and disciplinary boundaries.

Buy tickets/get more info now