Big City Forum #8

Big City Forum #8


Featuring:

Alexandra Grant

Michael Pinto


Thursday, October 15, 2009

7 – 9 pm

6:30 pm reception


Neutra VDL Research House

2300 Silverlake Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90039

http://www.neutra-vdl.org/site/

An event featuring Alexandra Grant and Michael Pinto in a conversation focused on issues around practices related to community renovation and activism, and sustainable urbanism.

Alexandra Grant is a text-based artist who uses language and networks of words as the basis for her work in painting, drawing and sculpture. Her work has been the subject of shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), the Contemporary Museum (Baltimore), and galleries in the US and abroad. Grant’s work maps language in different media: from intricate wire filigree sculptures to large scale drawing/paintings on paper. She investigates translation not only from language to language, but also from text to image, spoken language to written word, and representations in two dimensions to three dimensional objects
Grant is currently at work on a public art collaboration with Watts House Project in Los Angeles, an artist-driven redevelopment of the homes across the street from Watts Towers. She is also preparing a second solo show with Honor Fraser Gallery in 2010.

Michael Pinto is an architect, educator, and community activist. Michael teaches at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) where he is also coordinating of SCI-Arc’s Community Design Program, which engages students in researching and constructing design-build projects for nonprofit and civic agencies. Additionally, Michael is Design Principal at Osborn Architects, where he steers design toward an expressive functionalism: work highly influenced by the realities of program, structure, and building technology while aspiring to beauty, simplicity, and harmony with nature.

Michael is the founder of Project Food / LA, a group of educators, chefs, artists, architects, planners, nutritionists, growers, and caring individuals concerned with improving access to healthy food choices in underserved communities. The organization grew out of Michael’s research on the relationship between urban infrastructure and food systems. In service of larger projects focusing on infrastructure, planning and sustainable urbanism, Michael founded Intercision, a global collective of like –minded practices. The collective includes architects, engineers, ecologists, and planners interested in radically rethinking contemporary urban models. Michael holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Penn State University, and a Master of Architecture from SCI-Arc.

A contribution of $10 will be asked towards the renovation campaign for the Neutra VDL House.


Big City Forum is an interdisciplinary project and collective network of leaders, formed to sustain efforts in the creative community that promote the civic and cultural vitality of metropolitan and urban communities. Through various formats such as gatherings, symposiums, exhibitions, and special events, Big City Forum fosters dialogue and engagement around capacity-building approaches that engender cultural growth and community transformation, Ultimately, Big City Forum functions as an “idea lab” to develop new solutions to key problems that impact contemporary urban centers.

Big City Forum events are BY INVITATION ONLY


Please rsvp to this event at:


bravoarts@gmail.com