Reconstructions - Columbia GSAPP

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Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America

AD—WO. Wiregrass WAHO. 2020. Digital collage, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Germane Barnes. Miami Porch Portrayals. 2020. Digital print collage, 17 x 17″ (43.2 x 43.2 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Sekou Cooke. We Outchea. 2020. Digital drawings, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

J. Yolande Daniels, principal, studioSUMO | Los Angeles. Race Plate. 2020. Digital rendering, 24 x 36″ (61 x 91.4 cm). Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Felecia Davis. Fabricating Networks Quilt. 2020. Digital print on cotton broadcloth, copper-coated, ripstop nylon, copper tape, cotton thread, stainless steel conductive thread, lilypad microcontroller MP3 chip, speakers, and battery. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Huff + Gooden Architects. Nonviolent direct action sit-ins, marches, and protests in Nashville, Tennessee. 2020. Still from computer generated animation. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Walter Hood. Social Services. 2020. Digital rendering. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Olalekan Jeyifous. …other seasonal occupancy neighborhoods. 2020. Courtesy of Olalekan Jeyifous. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

V. Mitch McEwen with Kristina Kay Robinson and Princeton Black Box (Julia Medina, Sally Jane Ruybalid, Samuel Wright II). R:R Maroon System IIII. 2020. PETG, foam, PLA, dried plants, and neoprene, dimension variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Amanda Williams. Studies to Elsewhere: Devised Breathing. 2020. Digital collage, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, on view the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from February 27 through May 31, 2021, features work and contributions by several GSAPP alumni and faculty members.

The exhibition is organized and curated by Mabel O. Wilson ‘91 MArch, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor at GSAPP, and Sean Anderson, Associate Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA.

Press Release
2 March 2021

The exhibition Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an investigation into the intersections of architecture, Blackness and anti–Black racism in the American context, organized and curated by Mabel O. Wilson ‘91 MArch, Nancy and George E. Rupp Professor at GSAPP, and Sean Anderson, Associate Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA. The exhibition features ten commissioned projects that present ideas for how architecture can reinvent itself by learning from Black cultures and histories across the world. Featured projects address the parallel crises of climate destruction, wealth inequality, mass incarceration, inequitable housing, food insecurity, and systemic racism through spatial meditations on Black life in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Kinloch, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Oakland, Pittsburg, Syracuse, and outer space.

Among the exhibition participants and members of the Black Reconstruction Collective (BRC) are GSAPP alumni and faculty members Emanuel Admassu ‘12 MSAAD ‘13 AAR, Assistant Professor; J. Yolande Daniels ‘90 MArch; Mario Gooden ‘90 MArch, Associate Professor of Professional Practice; V. Mitch McEwen ‘06 MArch; and Amanda Williams, Adjunct Associate Professor; alongside Germane Barnes, Sekou Cooke, Felecia Davis, Walter Hood, and Olalekan Jeyifous. The exhibition also features newly commissioned multi-media work by David Hartt.

The accompanying publication, or “field guide,” includes scholarly essays by the curators, members of the advisory committee, and invited scholars in addition to the exhibition participants. Contributors with GSAPP affiliations include:

Emanuel Admassu '12 MSAAD ‘13 AAR, Assistant Professor
Ifeoma Ebo, Adjunct Associate Professor
Mario Gooden '90 M.Arch, Associate Professor of Professional Practice
Roberta Washington '71 M.Arch
V. Mitch McEwen '06 M.Arch
J. Yolande Daniels '90 M.Arch
Justin Garret Moore '04 M.Arch, '04 MSAUD, Adjunct Associate Professor
Amanda Williams, Adjunct Associate Professor

PIN–UP PORTRAIT: Mario Gooden by David Hartt

Mario Gooden ‘90 M.Arch is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia GSAPP.