i. institutional support and commitment to continuous improvement

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
Master of Architecture
Master of Architecture with emphasis in Interior Architecture
exhibition was curated by faculty member Odile Compagnon and Hannah Swart, a visiting faculty
member from South Africa. It includes essays “Design and Problem Solving” by Wellington Reiter
and “Objects and Space” by Helen Maria Nugent. ISBN: 978-0-557-13754-1.
The newest journal from Gravity, the 2010 Thesis Exhibition is in production, and is designed by
graduates: Maureen Myers (MArch), Becky Midden (MArch/IA) and Lynn Lim (MDDO) with as-
sistance from Bethany Armstrong from the Visual Communication Design department. Essays by
AIADO faculty include Douglas Pancoast, Helen Maria Nugent, Ben Nicholson, Hennie Reynders and
Jim TerMeer. The exhibition was curated by Odile Compagnon and Felicia Ferrone
8) Modern Mondays
The exhibition Learning Modern, which is discussed above, was the centerpiece of the two-year
long citywide program Living Modern Chicago, a series of courses, lectures, tours, and installations
exploring the legacy of the Bauhaus, organized by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in col-
laboration with the Mies van der Rohe Society at Illinois Institute of Technology. Among the Learning
Modern lectures were the VAP lectures described above and a semester-long suite of weekly archi-
tecture and design lectures, which are archived online , called Modern Mondays. This series of gallery
talks and round-table conversations featuring artists, architects, designers, curators, and scholars
discussing the artworks and salient themes echoed throughout the “Learning Modern” exhibition:
perception, experience, and the place of pedagogy. Many guests artists and scholars and many of
the AIADO faculty participated in these lectures. They were:
o “Catherine Yass’s Suspensions”—September 14, 2009
Michael Newman, SAIC Associate Professor, Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism
Newman considered the dramatic slowing of time as a way of revealing space and con-
text in the film, video, and photography of British artist Catherine Yass.
o “Modern Muse: Claire McCardell, American fashion designer”
—September 21, 2009
Sandra Michel Adams, SAIC Instructor, Art History, Theory, and Criticism
Gillion Carrara, SAIC Adjunct Professor, Art History, Theory, and Criticism and Director,
Fashion Resource Center
Claire McCardell (1905–1958), ingenious in her efficient use of materials, ushered in a new era
of functional garments to match the lifestyle of the new modern woman. This conversation
examined her foundational concepts that run parallel to modernist art and architecture.
o “Modernity Retired”—September 28, 2009
Staffan Schmidt, artist
Anders Nereim, SAIC Professor, Architecture
Swedish artist Staffan Schmidt asked five octogenarians—Chicago architects Alfonso
Cararra, Natalie de Blois, Ken Isaacs, Gertrude Kerbis, and Peter Roesch—”What was mo-
dernity like when it was new?” This conversation considered their stories in the context of
Chicago, a quintessential modern city.
o “Moholy and Mies as Inspiration”—October 5, 2009
Carole Frances Lung, a.k.a. Frau Fiber, artist
Carla Duarte, artist
Using tactility to experience history, textiles are the primary medium for recalling and
re-imagining the work of László Moholy-Nagy, Mies van der Rohe, and Lilly Reich in the
installations Manufacturing Moholy in Weimar and Key Notes.
o “In Light of Moholy-Nagy”—October 12, 2009
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