Exhibits at the Townsend Center
Plug-in Pavilion, Valparaíso, Chile: Architectural Design by René Davids and Taylor Medlin
On Exhibit: January 19 – May 15, 2009
Opening Reception: January 27, 2009 | 4:00 – 5:30 pm
Plug-in Pavilion, Valparaíso, Chile features the award-winning architectural designs of René Davids, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, and Taylor Medlin, MA student in Architecture. The work in the exhibition comes from Medlin and Davids’ entry to the 43rd Central Glass Architectural Design Competition, which won first prize out of 733 international entries. Judged by renowned architects including Toyo Ito, the 2008 competition invited proposals that would encourage visits to the UNESCO World Heritages Sites while simultaneously protecting them from the damage and environmental destruction caused by crowds of visitors.
Davids and Medlin chose the Chilean port city of Valparaíso for their entry, designing wind-powered “plug-in pavilions.” Located atop Valparaíso’s unique ascensores (hillside elevators), the pavilions would provide free electricity to the city’s residents while also promoting a twenty-first century urban revival. The modern architectural plans and digital conceptualizations of the pavilions, superimposed onto black and white photographs of Valparaíso, are both architecturally and aesthetically remarkable.
Read the full project statement here.
Ala Ebtekar - A Breath of Air
On Exhibit: February 5 - May 25, 2009
The Townsend Center is pleased to have Ala Ebtekar’s striking diptych, “A Breath of Air” (2008, acrylic and ink on book pages mounted on canvas) on display for the 2009 spring semester. Born in the United States to Iranian parents, Ebtekar was raised in both Iran and the U.S. As a young teenager he joined the K.O.S. (Kids of Survival), working with artist Tim Rollins on collaborative artworks involving groups of urban youth. He received his BA from the San Francisco Art Institute and in 2006 his MFA degree at Stanford. Ebtekar was a 2005 recipient of the San Francisco Foundation’s Murphy & Cadogan Fellowships in the Arts Award. His work is exhibited internationally and was recently featured in two prestigious exhibitions: “One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now,” a touring exhibition originating at the Asia Society, NYC, and the 2006 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art. In 2007, Ebtekar’s work was featured in a solo exhibition at Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco and in “Under the Indigo Dome” at The Third Line in Dubai. In 2008, he was featured in Bay Area Now 5, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. He is a visiting lecturer at UC Berkeley and Stanford University.