The annual Wendy Evans Joseph Lecture on Art and Architecture features artists whose work explores the built environment and humans' impact on the earth and other living things.
On Thursday, November 13th, Mel Chin will present his work in a public lecture, followed by a conversation with Part carpenter. The event includes a question and answer session.
Mel Chin is a conceptual artist known for a wide range of artistic approaches, including public initiatives realized through multidisciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that use science as an aesthetic component to elaborate complex ideas. Throughout his career, Chin has developed a diverse portfolio of projects that use artistic methods to not only address but also intervene in pressing social, political, cultural and environmental landscapes.
Chin's artwork includes:
Funded projecta campaign sparked by a visit to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to raise awareness of childhood lead poisoning by co-creating and distributing “Fundred Dollar Bill” drawings in schools, arts institutions and public facilities across the country.
In the name of the placea two-year, undercover public art project undertaken by the GALA committee founded by Mel Chin, which created and inserted conceptual and often subversive props for the popular prime-time soap opera Melrose Place.
The Funk & Wag from A to Zan installation consisting of 524 unique collages that rework images by Funk & Wagnall The Universal Standard Encyclopedia to formulate contemporary and historical cultural criticism.
Following his talk, Tei Carpenter will discuss with Chin. Carpenter is the founding principal of Agency—Agency, a New York City-based architectural firm specializing in cultural and public projects. In parallel to his design work, Carpenter is an assistant professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture, designing and leading participatory design and advocacy projects with previous partners such as the Ali Forney Center and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Your project New public fire hydrantwith Chris Woebken, is in the permanent collection of MoMA.
More about Mel Chin
Since the 1980s, Chin's work has been exhibited in art institutions around the world and installed throughout the United States as part of site-specific projects Revival fielda pioneering application of environmentally friendly remediation practices launched in 1990 Not mooreda 2018 mixed reality experience in Times Square that imagines a submerged future. Chin was one of the artists featured in the first season of the PBS series 21st century artfocused on the topic of “consumption”. His 40-year survey exhibition at the Queens Museum, Everywherewas named the best art exhibition of 2018 by Hyperallergic.
Chin has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 2019, his election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021, and the Hiroshima Art Prize in 2024. His work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Menil Collection, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.
About the Wendy Evans Joseph Lecture Series
The Wendy Evans Joseph Lecture on Art and Architecture is an annual lecture series highlighting artists whose work addresses the built environment and human impacts on the earth and other living things.
About the Architectural League
The Architectural League of New York supports critically transformative work in the related fields that shape the built environment. As an important, independent forum, the League inspires thought, debate and action on today's converging crises of racism, inequality and climate change, in service of a more livable and just world.