The MAK Center for Art and Architecture invites you to join author Eva Díaz in discussion with artists Oscar Tuazon and Connie Samaras to celebrate the release of Diaz’s After Spaceship Earth: Art, Techno-utopia, and Other Science Fictions. Diaz provides an expansive look at contemporary artists, including Tuazon and Samaras, who confront, challenge, and reimagine R. Buckminster Fuller’s techno-utopianism to envision more just futures.

Architect and designer R. Buckminster Fuller’s (1895–1983) concept of “Spaceship Earth,” one of the most powerful metaphors of the twentieth century, imagines our planet as a monumental vehicle sustained by the interdependence of human technologies and natural ecologies. In this book, Eva Díaz explores that metaphor through the work of contemporary artists from around the world who grapple with Fuller’s project to promote the equitable distribution of global assets through design, and with the technocratic euphoria of his era.

The discussion is included with the price of admission. Click here to reserve your ticket.

Eva DÍaz

Eva Díaz is Professor of Contemporary Art History at Pratt. Her teaching and scholarship are informed by historical and contemporary interdisciplinary collaborations between artists and other cultural producers. Her first book, The Experimenters: Chance and Design at Black Mountain College, was released in 2015 by the University of Chicago Press.

Díaz’s new book After Spaceship Earth: Art, Techno-utopia and Other Science Fictions, analyzing the influence of R. Buckminster Fuller in contemporary art, was published by Yale University Press in spring 2025. The book is supported by grants from the Warhol Foundation / Creative Capital, the Graham Foundation, a Barr-Ferree Grant, and the Pratt Faculty Development Fund. Recent sections of this project, featured in New Left Review, Aperture, e-flux journal, and Texte zur Kunst, take up artists’ challenges to a privatized and highly-surveilled future in outer space, analyzing how the space “race” and colonization can be reformulated as powerful means to readdress economic, gender, and racial inequality, as well as ecological injustices.

She recently edited the book Dorothea Rockburne, published by Dia Art Foundation and Yale University Press in 2024, contributing an essay on topology and techniques of folding in art. Díaz writes for magazines and journals such as The Art Bulletin, Artforum, Art Journal, Art in America, Cabinet, Frieze, Grey Room, Harvard Design Magazine, and October. Prior to coming to Pratt she taught at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, Sarah Lawrence College, and Parsons; she also worked as the curator at Art in General. She is currently at work on a book that explores non-visual experiences in art, such as olfaction, topological procedures, and haptics, by examining the overvaluation of certain experiences in culture (vision and cognition, distance and analysis, for example) and the devaluation of others (smell and sensuality, proximity and the body). In support of this new research, Díaz was awarded a grant from the Huntington Library, and she was in residence at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles as a Getty Scholar in 2023-2024.

CONNIE SAMARAS

Connie Samaras is a Los Angeles based artist and sometimes writer.  Over the past 45 years she has produced a range of projects in which the common denominators are an  ongoing engagement with social change, the confluence of vernacular and official histories, specualtive and auto fiction, and the intersection of political, cultural and psychological geographies in the everyday.  Relevant to the discussion with Eva and Oscar are her projects photographing built environments in range of places:  major U.S. cities, Dubai, the South Pole, Spaceport America (NM),  and an all women’s RV retirement community. The focus of these series considers how architecturally neo liberalism holds out the future as a singular probability in contrast to  communities that situate  the future as an ever changing series of multiple possibilities.  Recently over 50 works from these projects as well as  others were acquired in a jointly coordinated acquisition by LACMA, the Huntington, and the Getty.

OSCAR TUAZON

Oscar Tuazon is an artist based in Los Angeles and Oil City, Washington. Tuazon studied at The Cooper Union and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York. He is a co-founder of Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), New York in 2000; castillo/corrales, Paris in 2007; and Los Angeles Water School (LAWS), Los Angeles in 2016. He is currently working on the design and construction of Water School as a permanent work of public art in the Great Basin region of Nevada, a long-term Land Back initiative in collaboration with the Goshute Tribe. His work has been included in the São Paulo Bienal, Chicago Architectural Biennial, Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale and Skulptur Münster. Solo exhibitions include Le Consortium, Dijon; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany; and Kunst Museum Winterthur, Switzerland. Something in the Water, curated by Tuazon, will run from April - September at the MAXXI Museum in Rome. In 2025, Tuazon completed a major public artwork for the City of Seattle. 

The Austrian Consulate General, Austrian Trade Commission, and MAK Center for Art and Architecture at Schindler House are pleased to invite experts and professionals to an upcoming panel discussion on Sustainable Materials in Urban Construction: Transatlantic Lessons from Austria and the U.S.

Panel 1: Beyond Concrete – Rethinking Materials for Sustainable Cities

This discussion will explore the future of construction materials beyond traditional options like concrete and steel. Panelists Gerhard W. Mayer, Frank Escher, and Mark Mack will discuss material innovations, circular economy solutions, and how new materials can reduce carbon emissions. The panel will compare Austrian/Swiss innovations with U.S. approaches and examine how regulatory frameworks and market demand drive material choices.

Panel 2: Designing the Sustainable City – Urban Development for a Changing World

Focus: This discussion will shift from materials to urban planning and city-scale sustainability challenges. Panelists Alexa Sekyra, Axel Schmitzberger, and Dana Bauer will explore how cities can integrate sustainable construction, renewable energy, and resilient design while overcoming regulatory, financial, and social barriers. The conversation will address how Los Angeles and Austrian cities are tackling sustainability from a planning and policy perspective.

GERHARD W. MAYER, Principal Architect and Urbanist at Mayer Architects

Mr. Mayer brings over 25 years of international experience in architecture and urban design, having worked across four continents. Originally from Vienna, Austria, he relocated to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship focused on sustainable design and architecture. His career includes collaborations with notable figures such as Geoffrey Bawa in Sri Lanka and Frank Gehry in the United States. He leads Mayer Architects in Los Angeles, emphasizing the development of walkable, multimodal, and sustainable urban environments. Recently, Gerhard has been consulting on major local transit projects.

DR. ANDREA ALEXA SEKYRA, Head of the Scholars Program at the Getty Research Institute​ 

Dr. Sekyra is an art and architectural historian serving as the Head of the Scholars Program at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. In her role, she oversees initiatives that support scholarly research in the visual arts. Her academic background and leadership contribute significantly to advancing art historical studies and fostering academic collaborations. ​ 

FRANK ESCHER, Co-Founder of Escher GuneWardena Architecture

Mr. Escher co-founded Escher GuneWardena Architecture, a Los Angeles-based firm recognized for its innovative approach to design, which thoughtfully integrates modern aesthetics with historical contexts. The firm is known for its commitment to sustainability and the adaptive reuse of existing structures, reflecting a deep understanding of environmental and cultural considerations in architecture.​

MARK MACK, Architect and Educator​

Mr. Mack is a distinguished architect and educator celebrated for his contributions to contemporary architecture. He has been influential in promoting minimalist and sustainable design principles throughout his career. As an educator, he has imparted his vision for environmentally conscious architecture to students at various esteemed institutions, shaping future generations of architects.​

AXEL SCHMITZBERGER, Designer and Academic​ 

Mr. Schmitzberger is a designer and academic specializing in sustainable design and digital fabrication. His work explores the intersection of technology and sustainability, aiming to create innovative solutions to contemporary architectural challenges. Through his academic endeavors, he contributes to the advancement of design methodologies that address environmental concerns.​

DANA BAUER, Partner and Design Principal at Elysian Landscapes

Dana Bauer is a Partner and Design Principal at Elysian Landscapes, a Los Angeles-based landscape design practice. She joined the firm in 2012, bringing a multidisciplinary approach that integrates architecture, art, and urban engagement. With over 20 years of experience, Ms. Bauer has collaborated across various design fields, including fine art, theater, television, and dance. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Master of Architecture with distinction from the University of London's Bartlett School of Architecture. In addition to her professional practice, Ms. Bauer has served as design faculty at institutions such as SCI-Arc and the University of Southern California's School of Architecture, contributing to the academic discourse on design and sustainability.

AUSTRIAN CONSULATE GENERAL

The Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles is Austria’s official diplomatic representation for the Western United States, covering sixteen states including California. It serves as a key point of contact for Austrian citizens, companies, and institutions, and promotes Austria’s political, cultural, economic, and scientific interests in the region. The Consulate General supports a wide range of activities, from organizing official visits and cultural events to fostering academic and scientific collaboration. It also provides consular services such as passports, visas, and citizenship matters. Through its engagement with local communities, universities, policymakers, and cultural organizations, the Consulate General works to strengthen the close ties between Austria and the United States and represents Austrian values on the West Coast.

ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA

ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA (Austrian Trade Commission) is the trade promotion organization of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. With around 100 offices in over 70 countries, ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA provides market intelligence, business development services, and networking opportunities for Austrian companies and their international business partners. A global team of 800 professionals organizes approximately 800 events annually, other services provided by ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA offices range from introductions to Austrian companies looking for importers, distributors, or agents to providing in-depth information on Austria as a business location and assistance in entering the Austrian market. ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA works to generate more international business opportunities by promoting the products and services of Austrian businesses around the world, by helping companies and organizations outside Austria to build strong relationships with Austrian companies and by fostering the exchange of the world’s and Austria’s best minds and innovations. The Austrian Trade Commission in Los Angeles covers the following industries of the entire US market: Agriculture, Aviation & Aerospace, Electrics & Electronics, Entertainment (Music, Film), Environmental Technologies, Forestry & Timber, Green/Sustainable Building, Infrastructure (Traffic & Transportation), Logistics & Transportation, Maritime, Mining, New Technologies (Energy Conversion, Optoelectronics, Photonics, Semiconductor, Software Development), Rail, Renewables & Natural Resources, Safety Standards, Software & IT, Sporting Goods and Leisure, Telecommunications, Test & Measuring Instruments.

MAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles is a contemporary, experimental, multi-disciplinary center for art and architecture and is headquartered in three architectural landmarks by the Austrian-American architect Rudolph M. Schindler. Founded in 1994, the MAK Center is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization and the California satellite of the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna. The core of the programming includes the internationally recognized MAK Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program, an annual residency program for emerging international artists and architects. The MAK Center works in cooperation with the Friends of the Schindler House (FoSH), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve and maintain Schindler's Kings Road house in West Hollywood.

Join us for the opening reception of Final Projects: Group LVI, exhibiting bodies of work produced by our Artists and Architects-in-Residence, Artor Jesus Inkerö, Ursula Mayer, and Paula Strunden. Final Projects: Group LVI marks the culmination of the 56th iteration of the Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program at the Mackey Apartments.

**This program has been cancelled due to the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles

“Experiments with Life Itself”
—Francisco González de Canales

This workshop is made for the study of perspective and botany to create textiles through printing with nature, collage, drawing, embroidery, patchwork for finished interior tapestries to translate to a garment or sculpture. Examples will be shown and open to free interpretation, always in flux. 

Understanding the process of making as a process of healing, Susan Cianciolo leads the program as an extension of her spiritual practice, building off her 2009 cookbook This Cookbook Is Made for Jesus.

This program includes a meditation, tea and lunch.

SUSAN CIANCIOLO

Susan Cianciolo was born in 1969 in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives and works in New York. Between 1995 and 2001, she created eleven ‘runs’ of handmade, unique garments under her label RUN, which at one time was alternatively incarnated as a popup restaurant. Her presentations blended fashion with music, film, performance, and food. Cianciolo has held academic appointments at Städelschule, Parsons School of Design, Yale School of Art and NYU Steinhardt. Since 2013, she has been Assistant Professor of Fashion Design at Pratt Institute. Her work has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at The Community Centre, Pantin (2022); the Lumber Room, Portland (2021); South London Gallery (2019); Yale Union, Portland (2016); and 365 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles (2016). Her participation in the 2017 Whitney Biennial saw the reprisal of RUN Restaurant as Run Restaurant Untitled, a three-day installation and gastronomic event.

TICKETS TO RON ATHEY GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT: AUTOMATIC WRITING PERFORMANCE ARE NOW SOLD OUT.

This public performance follows a workshop bringing together 15 automatic writers, 5 ecstatic typists, and 2 editors using Gysin/Burroughs cut-up technique to create a series of collectively authored texts. Working on approaching the paper with hypnotic inductions and somatic work, participants will access (and channel) the writing and drawing sessions. The collectively authored score will be performed by Ron Athey following the conclusion of the workshop.

Purchase tickets here.

RON ATHEY

Ron Athey has worked in esoteric forms since the early 1990s including ecstatic state movement, archetype work, hypnosis, glossalalia, and automatic writing installations that consult both Spiritualist practices and early surrealism. The first version of this piece, Gifts of the Spirit, was developed in the Great Hall at Queen Mary University, London. The last version, a collaboration with Opera Povera, was an opera at the Cathedral of St. Vibiana in 2018.

This workshop brings together 15 automatic writers, 5 ecstatic typists, and 2 editors using Gysin/Burroughs cut-up technique to create a series of collectively authored texts. Working on approaching the paper with hypnotic inductions and somatic work, participants will be able to access (and channel) the writing and drawing sessions. The collectively authored score will be performed by Ron Athey following the conclusion of the workshop. This performance will be open to the public. 

RON ATHEY

Ron Athey has worked in esoteric forms since the early 1990s including ecstatic state movement, archetype work, hypnosis, glossalalia, and automatic writing installations that consult both Spiritualist practices and early surrealism. The first version of this piece, Gifts of the Spirit, was developed in the Great Hall at Queen Mary University, London. The last version, a collaboration with Opera Povera, was an opera at the Cathedral of St. Vibiana in 2018.

Join us for the opening reception of Half-Life, the 24th iteration of Garage Exchange Vienna—Los Angeles featuring works by Katrin Hornek and Brody Albert at the Mackey Apartments Garage Top Gallery.

Katrin Hornek

Katrin Hornek (1983) lives and works in Vienna. She studied Performative Art and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Her work playfully engages with the strange paradoxes and convergences of living in the age of the geologic Anthropocene, where the effects of capitalism, colonialism, and extractivism are written into the body of the earth. Both her artistic and her curatorial practice assert an understanding of the entwinement of nature and culture, implicitly arguing for more complex formulations ­– most recently, at secession, Vienna (2024), ar/ger Kunst, Bolzano (2021), Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt (2021), the Riga Biennale (2020), Hysterical Mining at Kunsthalle Wien (2019), and I: project space, Beijing (2018).

She teaches at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Department of Site-Specific Art) and is a member of the interdisciplinary research group The Anthropocene Commons. She was awarded the Msgr. Otto Mauer Award (2021), the Studioprogram of the Federal Ministry for Arts (2020-2026), the Austrian State Scholarship for visual arts (2017) and the Theodor Körner Award (2013).

BRODY ALBERT

Brody Albert lives and works in Los Angeles. He holds an MFA from University of California, Irvine (2016), and a BFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA (2011).  Albert is the Associate Professor of Sculpture at Chaffey College and the co-director of the experimental publishing imprint, OHPAPERS. Selected exhibitions include Shapes from The Extramundane with Sara Ellen Fowler, Soldes, Los Angeles (2024), Empty Except for the Ghost, Hunter Shaw Fine Art, Los Angeles (2023); Wavelength, TIMES Museum, Beijing (2022),  Built In, Neutra VDL, Los Angeles (2021), We Are All Guests Here, Bridge Projects, Los Angeles (2021); Strata, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena (2018); Nonlocal, Access Gallery, Vancouver (2018); Exit Strategy with Sara Ellen Fowler, River Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); Solids, Contemporary Art Center, Irvine (2016); Open To The Public, VACANCY, Los Angeles (2016).

Related Exhibition

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture is pleased to announce Final Projects: Group LV, exhibiting bodies of work produced by our Artists and Architects-in-Residence, Uwe Brunner, Dominic Schwab, Karl Holmqvist, Michèle Pagel, and Kris Lemsalu. Final Projects: Group LV marks the culmination of the 55th iteration of the Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program at the Mackey Apartments.

The opening reception will feature three performances by our residents:
6:00pm - Uwe Brunner and Dominic Schwab - Vapors Launch
6:30pm - Karl Holmqvist - OCEAN’S 24/7ELEVEN Reading and Book Launch
7:00pm - Mariela Gutierrez SITES performance as part of Michèle Pagel’s Cassette-Label “RatRights”

Related Exhibition

Maya Livio, recipient of the 2024 Researcher-in-Residence, will lead a conversation with artist Huntrezz Janos and writer and researcher Emma Kemp as part of her research project “Hospes: Housing Justice and Multispecies Cohabitation at the Wildland-Urban Interface.”

In Los Angeles, a city in which questions of land use are particularly visible as sites of negotiation for human and more-than-human thriving, artists have been at the forefront of envisioning new approaches to shared livability. Offering proposals for alternative land use practices, creative practitioners have been activating local communities and devising models that reimagine what cohabitation can look like.

In this conversation, programmed and moderated by MAK Center and SOM Foundation Researcher-in-Residence Maya Livio, artist Huntrezz Janos and writer and researcher Emma Kemp will present their work. Janos will discuss ExtraTerraceTrill, a sustainable infrastructure project and prototype for an off-grid community space in LA. Kemp will introduce No Canyon Hills, a community coalition working to protect an area of the Verdugo Mountains that is under threat of luxury development. Placing these projects into dialogue, this discussion will survey the challenges and possibilities that artist-led land use projects can surface.

HUNTREZZ JANOS

Huntrezz Janos is an Afro-Hungarian artist whose work transcends dimensions but often takes form in ours as 3D interactive experiences. She is the black transgender founder of ExtraTerraceTrill, a sustainable community space currently under construction in Los Angeles, and she currently works independently as a self identified transcorporeal artificer both on and offline. Janos is a CalArts experimental animation alumni and current USC student soon to complete a Masters of Science degree in Integrated Technology, Design, and Business. She proudly creates AR, VR, 3D prints, animations, as well as architectural and automotive designs from solar power, and is widely recognized for her creative use of the virtual medium, poetry, and performance.

EMMA KEMP

Emma Kemp is a writer and researcher based in Los Angeles, working across art, ecology and cultural criticism. She is an Assistant Professor at Otis College of Art and Design, where she has taught writing and design since 2015. She holds an M.F.A. in Writing and Critical Studies from California Institute of the Arts (2014), where she is Program Coordinator of the CalArts Summer Institute. Her essays have appeared in X—TRA Journal of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Flash Art, CARLA, and others. She is the recipient of grants and awards including a Utah Humanities Fellowship, an Al Larvick National Grant, and the Ithaca New Voices literary award. Kemp is co-founder and director of Concerning Landscape, a non-profit and interdisciplinary research studio exploring ecocritical activism through their primary project, No Canyon Hills (NCH), which is working to protect a significant ecological area in LA’s Verdugo Mountains.

MAYA LIVIO

Maya Livio is a writer, media-maker, and curator whose research and practice are invested in the relationships between ecosystems and technological systems. She is Assistant Professor of Climate, Environmental Justice, Media and Communication at American University and divides her time between Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Her work has been featured in and supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, NPR, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post, among others. She has also commissioned and programmed media arts old and new as Curator of Medialive, an annual international festival at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) and the Media Archaeology Lab, a collecting institution for historical technologies. Livio is currently the Researcher-in-Residence at the MAK Center for Art & Architecture. In 2023, she was a Caltech-Huntington Art + Research Resident. She holds a PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder and MA from the University of Amsterdam.

ABOUT RESEARCHER-IN-RESIDENCE

The Researcher-in-Residence is the inaugural residency program between the SOM Foundation and the MAK Center, provides an architect, artist, or research dedicated space and time for innovative work that addresses pressing issues related to the built environment. This year’s topic seeks to explore affordable, equitable, and innovative modes of multifamily housing that respond to current and future needs.

Join us for a tour of Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village on Saturday June 1! Two tours at 10:00am and 12:30pm will be led by Preserve Bottle Village Committee board members and will guide visitors through the site, and provide the history of Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey’s life and work.

Please RSVP here and bring cash for a requested donation of $10.00 per person, which goes towards the conservation of the site.

An artist, collector, builder, writer, entertainer, caretaker, and retired factory worker, Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village is an artist-built environment of bottle-constructed houses that served as her artwork, home, and attraction for visitors in Simi Valley, CA. 

From the first structure she built to house her extensive pencil collection in 1956, Bottle Village would eventually become a collection of sixteen buildings and structures made out of bottles and other materials, almost entirely discarded items sourced from a local dump. Though damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Bottle Village is a nationally recognized landmark and one of the few existing female built “folk art” sites worldwide. Please join us in activating the site and preserving the legacy of Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey!

Related Exhibition