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Ryerson University's Department of Architectural Science will host two public discussions this week starting on Wednesday, November 26, with a first lecture sponsored by the Canadian Wood Council and led by Christoph Meier, from SJB.Kempter.Fitze AG. Meier studied civil engineering in Switzerland with a strong emphasis on structural design and timber construction. Now board president of the executive management at SJB. Kempter. Fitze AG, his team specializes in complex steel, concrete and timber structures from commercial buildings to museums, conference rooms or multi-purpose halls. The event will be held on Wednesday, November 26 at 6.30PM at the PIT (ARC 200), 325 Church Street.
On Thursday, November 27 Aaron Levy, Sascha Hastings and George Kapelos will discuss the current state of architectural exhibition, its role in the larger architectural discourse and its relationship to research and practice. Editor of more than 20 books, films and multimedia publications Dr Aaron Levy lectures at the Departments of English and History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing his work on histories and practices of public cultures and the cultural politics of memory and display; exploring how artists and communities negotiate belonging, estrangement and the consequences of modernity and globalization.
Sascha Hastings is the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada's manager as well as Deputy Commissioner for Canada's representation at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Also working as a fundraiser for large projects including an important number of stakeholders, she previously worked as a freelance producer for the CBC amongst others, as well as a curator at the Design at Riverside Gallery in the University of Waterloo's Architecture Building in Cambridge, Ontario.
Professor George Kapelos has a long experience as a critic and curator of architecture, with several noted works as the curator or co-curator of exhibitions, including Toronto's Modern Architecture 1945-1965 (1987). Fellow of the Royal Architecture Institution Institute of Canada, he is the past chair of Ryerson's Department of Architectural Science, where he gives lectures in the areas of design, history and theory. His academic career also includes the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, landscape and Design, the Harvard University Career Discovery Program and Colombia University where he taught architecture, landscape architecture and historic preservation.
The discussion will be moderated by Marco L. Polo, FRAIC and associated with the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University where he teaches design studio as well as courses in architectural history and theory. recently he co-curated, with Professor Colin Ripley, Architecture and National Identity: The Centennial Projects 50 Years On, currently on exhibit at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, PEI. This panel discussion complements his graduate seminar on the topic of The Curatorial Position in Architecture. In 2008, his work as a curator with John McMinn on the exhibition 41° to 66° was selected as the official Canadian Representation for the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
This event will take place on Thursday, November 27, at 6.30PM at the PIT (ARC 202), 325 Church Street.
