6.29

SPRAWL
SESSION 1:
WHITE
SUBURBIAS


Tuesday, June 29, 2021
3-5PM ET
2-4PM CT
1-3PM MT
12-2PM PT






RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sprawl-session-2-black-suburban-imaginaries-tickets-153701063017


Featuring architects Germane Barnes and Mira Henry, artists Davion Alston, Autumn Knight, and (back again!) lauren woods, scholars Matthew Lassiter and Jodi Rios + more TBA.


Starting with a postmortem on Campaign 2020’s “suburban strategies”, turning to the pivotal Black voter blocks that decided landmark elections in suburban St. Louis and Atlanta, and opening up to address the ways Black spatial imaginaries inhabit and transform suburbanized landscapes of power, Laboratory for Suburbia’s next online event will consider predominantly Black suburbias as sites—and sources—for critical art and design practice.


Laboratory for Suburbia’s Sprawl Sessions are a series of public exchanges considering strategies for site-specific art and tactical design in the complex spaces of 21st-century suburbia. These extended, casual think tanks for critical suburban practice unfold in long-form online conversations that move away from the standard panel format. The intention is not to offer authoritative statements on suburban art and design practice but to open up questions about it, not to rush to fill the gap in practice at the heart of the project but to publicly inhabit it. With numerous invited participants and space for an audience of invested practitioners and scholars to engage in dialogue, attendees are encouraged to treat the sessions as salons, dropping in and out as schedules allow (or catch the archived video).

RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sprawl-session-2-black-suburban-imaginaries-tickets-153701063017


Featuring architects Germane Barnes and Mira Henry, artists Davion Alston, Autumn Knight, and (back again!) lauren woods, scholars Matthew Lassiter and Jodi Rios + more TBA.


Starting with a postmortem on Campaign 2020’s “suburban strategies”, turning to the pivotal Black voter blocks that decided landmark elections in suburban St. Louis and Atlanta, and opening up to address the ways Black spatial imaginaries inhabit and transform suburbanized landscapes of power, Laboratory for Suburbia’s next online event will consider predominantly Black suburbias as sites—and sources—for critical art and design practice.


Laboratory for Suburbia’s Sprawl Sessions are a series of public exchanges considering strategies for site-specific art and tactical design in the complex spaces of 21st-century suburbia. These extended, casual think tanks for critical suburban practice unfold in long-form online conversations that move away from the standard panel format. The intention is not to offer authoritative statements on suburban art and design practice but to open up questions about it, not to rush to fill the gap in practice at the heart of the project but to publicly inhabit it. With numerous invited participants and space for an audience of invested practitioners and scholars to engage in dialogue, attendees are encouraged to treat the sessions as salons, dropping in and out as schedules allow (or catch the archived video).

As the second in a series of political-timing-specific Sprawl Sessions, “Black Suburban Imaginaries” was both a continuation of the previous fall’s “White Suburbias” event and a counterpoint to it. Shedding formal presentations to allow for a more sprawling exchange, the session began with a postmortem on Campaign 2020’s “suburban strategies”, turned to the pivotal Black voter blocks that decided landmark elections in suburban St. Louis and Atlanta, and opened up to address the ways Black spatial imaginaries inhabit and transform suburbanized landscapes of power. Sprawl Session 2 considered predominantly Black suburbias as sites—and sources—for critical art and design practice.

Featured discussants: Artist Davion Alston, architects Germane Barnes and Mira Henry, artist Autumn Knight, scholars Matthew Lassiter and Jodi Rios and artist lauren woods

With contributions from: Ellen Dunham-Jones, George Lipsitz, Andrew Weise

Find detailed bios and links for all participants here: [Participants Bio]

Event Coordinator: Lillian Gardner
Zoom Pilot: Joshua Peder Stulen