Under the Influence 004

Please join us for Under the Influence 004, which will take place at the iconic Baldessari Gallery Residence by Gehry Partners.

Under the Influence is a series of conversations that expands upon the concepts of Los Angeles Modernism. This radical movement rejected predetermined rules and embraced experimentation, striving for freedom of expression in all areas of culture. Modernism also catalyzed an interest in social equality, politics, healthy environments, new materials, and innovation, ushering design into a new and transformative era. The series brings together architects, artists, and designers from all over the world to engage in dialogue with local architects, landscape architects, and creatives in LA's iconic modernist spaces. We aim to uncover the influence of this radical approach on today’s culture and will reflect on what we do next by bringing foreign and local voices into experimental and progressive conversations.

Two speakers are invited for each talk: one local and one from elsewhere. Each speaker will present their work, highlighting the experimental approach’s influence that Los Angeles Modernism set in motion. The presentation will be followed by a conversation among the speakers and with the audience, initiated by a question each speaker asks of the other.

Speakers: Maria Langarita and Victor Navarro, founders of Langarita Navarro (Madrid); and Jia Yi Gu, director and curator at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture and co-director of Spinagu (Los Angeles).

Date: Saturday, Jan 27th, 5:00 to 8:00pm

Venue: Baldessari Gallery Residence by Gehry Partners (address provided after RSVP)

Tickets:  SOLD OUT!

Bios:

Langarita Navarro langarita-navarro.com

María Langarita (Ph. D.) and Víctor Navarro (Ph. D.) have been partners in the Madrid-based architecture firm Langarita Navarro since 2005, where they design and direct innovative teams that join together desire and knowledge, resources and technique, and expectations and experience. Their work has received diverse international recognitions including the Emerging Architect Special Mention of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe award for the Red Bull Music Academy, and the ar+d Award for Emerging Architecture (2012). They have also received diverse national prizes, including the award from the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (2013), the COAM Award (2013 and 2022), the AD Heineken “Nuevos Valores'' Award (2013), and the FAD Architecture Award (2012).

Their work has been chosen for various exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2014 and 2008), the Iberoamerican Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (2014), and the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (2013 and 2011); and it has also been exhibited at the Architekturzentrum in Vienna (2014) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (2013). Additionally, it forms part of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou. Their work has been featured in various publications and as the sole subject of an issue of 2G magazine.

Jia Yi Gu jiayigu.com

Jia Yi Gu (b. Shanghai, China) is a Los Angeles-based architectural curator, scholar, and educator with a special interest in critical and alternative practices in architecture. She is director and curator at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture and co-director of Spinagu. She develops exhibitions, texts, public programs and experimental projects. 

Over the past decade, she has developed a pedagogical and curatorial practice centering on transdisciplinary and research-based exhibitions and the production of situations and environments, alongside the critique and transformation of institutional practices. Her research work focuses on histories of knowledge production and display practices in art and architecture.

She is currently director and curator of MAK Center for Art and Architecture. From 2014-2020, she served as director of Materials & Applications, a Los Angeles-based project space for experimental architecture, where she curated exhibitions of works by Figure, LADG, stock-a-studio, and EXTENTS, amongst others. In 2016, she co-founded the architecture studio Spinagu with Maxi Spina.  

She has contributed written work to LOG, e-flux Architecture, Offramp and MAS Context. Her projects have been recognized and supported by UCLA, Getty Foundation, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Checkpoint Charlie Foundation, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Pasadena Arts Alliance, Bentley Library at the University of Michigan, and the Canadian Center for Architecture.

This program is supported, in part, by Acción Cultural Española AC/E, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, and by Neutra VDL Studio and Residences.

Special thanks to Baldessari Gallery Residence for hosting this event.

Event Organizers: Lorena Garcia & Monica Lamela Blazquez, Donatella Cusmá, Roberto Paz

Image credits:

Image 1:  Baldessari Gallery Residence, Gehry Partners.

Image 2: Casa PS-50, Tarifa, 2022, Langarita Navarro. Photo by Luis Diaz Diaz.

Image 3: Medialab-Prado, Madrid, 2012, Langarita Navarro. Photo by Miguel de Guzman (Imagen Subliminal).

Image 4: Red Bull Music Academy, Madrid, 2011, Langarita Navarro. Photo by Luis Diaz Diaz.

Image 5: Olimpo Nômade, Portimao, Portugal, 2022, Langarita Navarro. Photo by Luis Diaz Diaz.

Image 6: Casa Hernández, Madrid, 2021, Langarita Navarro. Photo by Rafael Trapiello.

Image 7: Momento!, Los Angeles, 2017, Spinagu. Photo by James Leng.

Image 8: Thick, Los Angeles, 2017, Spinagu. Photo by Joshua White.

Image 9: Piaggio House, Rosario, Argentina, 2019, Spinagu.

Image 10: Craft Contemporary Courtyard, Los Angeles, 2023, Spinagu.