Big City Forum: Edgar Orlaineta - Solar Nothing

Charles and Ray Eames, Solar Do-Nothing Toy (1958)

Big City Forum in conjunction with Steve Turner Contemporary presents a panel focusing on the myth and impact of Southern California Design.

Edgar Orlaineta
Solar Nothing

Monday, Oct. 3rd
7 – 9 pm

Steve Turner Contemporary
6026 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036 (across from BCAM at LACMA)

Please join us for a lively conversation focused around the solo exhibition Solar Nothing by Mexico City-based artist Edgar Orlaineta that uses Charles Eames Solar Do-Nothing Toy (1958) as a starting place to comment on issues related to diminishing resources, activating history, and modern design as related to aesthetic and social values. Alongside Orlaineta the panel will include architect John Southern, design and architecture writer Sam Lubell, and LA based artist Bari Ziperstein. The conversation will be moderated by Marissa Gluck from Design East of La Brea (DeLab) and further explore ideas around California design and how this has become a currency to convey a myth or sense about LA history.

Presenters:
Sam Lubell
Edgar Orlaineta
John Southern
Bari Ziperstein

Moderated by:
Marissa Gluck

Marissa Gluck As co-founder and managing partner at media research firm, Radar Research, Marissa Gluck is a writer, speaker and consultant covering the marketing and media industries. Marissa became interested in Los Angeles' architecture as she was completing her master's thesis for The London School of Economics and USC. Thus began a love affair with LA's buildings, sushi and sun. In her spare time, Marissa writes about LA real estate, architecture and urban planning for Angeleno, The Architect's Newspaper, and LA mag, volunteers as a docent for the Schindler House in West Hollywood, and chases after late night taco trucks. Follow her at @marissagluck

Sam Lubell is the West Coast Editor of the Architect’s Newspaper. He has written four books about architecture: Paris 2000+ (Monacelli Press), London 2000+ (Monacelli Press), Living West (Monacelli Press) and Julius Shulman Los Angeles: The Birth of a Modern Metropolis (Rizzoli). He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Architectural Record, Architect Magazine, Angeleno, Travel+Leisure, New York Magazine and other publications. He studied Architectural History at Brown University.

Edgar Orlaineta Born in Mexico City in 1972, Edgar Orlaineta received an MFA from Pratt Institute, New York (2004) and a BFA from Escuela Nacional de Pintura y Grabado, Mexico City (1998). He has had solo exhibitions at the Casa Estudio Luis Barragan, Mexico City; Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City and Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York.

John Southern is principal of the Los Angeles architecture firm, Urban Operations. The office specializes in design/build projects, installations, and research endeavors which seek to expand critical discourse within the design profession. Urban Operations has extensive experience in collaboration and focuses on a variety of practical topics and conceptual avenues within contemporary culture. The firm’s work has appeared in galleries and publications in both Europe and the United States. Recent projects include a pocket park designed and built for the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, an experimental hillside home affectionately called DONUT, as well as a pair of CNC-fabricated formwork pieces entitled Diamond Dogs. The firm has also just released its 4th pamphlet on the American skyscraper entitled “Wilshire Starmaps”, through its research division, Urbanops.org.

John holds a Masters of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles (SCI-Arc). He is a Professor of Practice at Woodbury University in Burbank, California where he teaches both design studio and theory courses. As a journalist John has written for Tropolism.com, Loudpaper, MONU, Junkjet, and Form Magazine- publications specializing in the field of urbanism and design. He is the editor for Drowninginculture.com, an ever expanding archive of cultural criticism, documenting metropolitan life in Los Angeles and beyond.

Bari Ziperstein's work explores America’s perverse love of excess and desire to collect through inventive site-specific sculptural tableau. Utilizing a collage aesthetic, her artistic practice draws attention to the way various built environments, ranging from architectural to consumer-oriented constructions, relate to desire and aspiration. A selection of recent solo shows includes Santa Monica Museum of Art (2010); Las Cienegas Projects, Los Angeles (2010); Project Space, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art at Chaffey College(2010); See Line Gallery, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles (2009); and (This Isn’t Happening) Popular Hallucinations For Your Home, Bank, Los Angeles (2007). Her exhibitions have been reviewed in publications including: The Los Angeles Times, Flash Art, X-TRA, Los Angeles Weekly, Artnet, and Art Papers. Ziperstein holds an MFA from CalArts and double majored at Ohio University to receive a BFA in painting and a Women’s Studies Degree.