Please join us for Design Conversation 21: FESTIVALS at Artscape!

Saturday July 17th 2010
Charles Street Garage (across from the Charles Theatre) – 1714 N Charles Street
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Design Conversation 21 will feature Karin Bacon. Karin Bacon began her career as Festival Director for the City of New York, where she originated citywide celebrations such as the New Year’s Eve fireworks in Central Park, and July 4th in Lower Manhattan. She went on to produce celebrations, parties, and promotions for audiences as diverse as the thousands of kids at the Bronx Zoo and the chosen few who could get in the door at Studio 54. Since forming her own company in 1981, Bacon has created a broad range of events for clients from the worlds of fashion, architecture, finance, media, retail, entertainment, and real estate, known for their theatricality, imagination, and high production values.

Design Conversations are open to the public and are loosely curated by volunteers around a series of topics related to design, art, architecture, cities, and anything else that is on your mind. They are made possible by the generous support of Baltimore Community Foundation and D:center Baltimore.

Questions? ben.stone(at)gmail.com | www.dcenterbaltimore.com

Please join us for Design Conversation #20: Public Art (part 2) this Wednesday evening at the Windup Space. 
 
Panelists for Design Conversation 20 include:

-Angela Adams, Public Art Administrator, Arlington Cultural Affairs
-Cathy Byrd, Executive Director, Maryland Art Place
-Jann Rosen-Queralt, Baltimore City Public Art Commission

Wednesday June 2nd 2010
The Windup Space – 12 W North Ave @ Charles Street
6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
 
Design Conversations are monthly events held the first Wednesday of every month at the Windup Space (12 W. North Ave.) at 6:30 pm. These events are open to the public and are loosely curated by volunteers around a series of topics related to design, art, architecture, cities, and anything else that is on your mind. Cash bar and A/V hookup available.
 
Design Conversations are made possible by the generous support of Baltimore Community Foundation and D:center Baltimore.
 
Questions?    ben.stone (at) gmail.com  |  www.dcenterbaltimore.com

Come to the Windup Space, at 12 W. North Ave., Wednesday, May 5th at 6:30 pm for Design Conversation #19: Streets/Art (part 1)

This is part one of a two part Design Conversation on public art. This first one, curated by Fred Scharmen, will look at aspects of public art that occur outside and between the institutions that have traditionally supported art in communities.

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Panelists for Design Convo 19 include:

Sculptor and Performance Artist Jonathan Taube

Activist, Artist and Facilitator Paulo Harris

Street Artist, Sculptor and Painter Andrew Pisacane

… and more TBA

Check for part 2, curated by Ben Stone, on the first wednesday in June.

Designer and writer Andrew Shea was on hand at last week’s Design Conversation and he wrote a post about it for Core77. From the post:

Every month or so, a diverse group of Baltimoreans gather to talk about design of all kinds. In the past, these Design Conversations, have focused on sustainability, food, and bikes, but the most recent conversation was about invention. Design writer Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson MC’d the event, which featured an eclectic lineup of speakers who talked about how to spark those ever-elusive eureka moments.

Read the rest of the post by clicking here. (And check out the killer photos by D:center collaborator extraordinaire, Marian Glebes.)

And learn more about the work of Baltimore-based designer and writer, Andrew Shea, by visiting his Web site.

Inna Alesina and Ellen Lupton, who are speaking at tonight’s Design Conversation at The Wind Up Space at 6:30 pm, were featured on Maryland Morning today and Tom Hall gave a shout out to tonight’s D:center event. So did Baltimore Brew. And the City Paper!

Visit Maryland Morning’s site for more on the interview with Inna and Ellen and click here to see sample spreads from Inna and Ellen’s new book Exploring Materials.

Also, check out the nice piece about the D:center written by Elizabeth Suman for Baltimore Brew. If you’re not familiar with this Web site, it’s worth bookmarking. Baltimore Brew brings news and stories from around Maryland to the Web, all written by seasoned journalists (many former Sun writers make up the bylines). The site, which was founded by Fern Shen, earned a nod from City Paper last year for its depth of coverage.

Don’t forget that this Wednesday, April 14th is Design Conversation #18. The theme is invention, and the diverse lineup of guests includes neuroscientist Charles Limb, MICA’s Ellen Lupton and Inna Alesina, and David Peloff, Program Director for Emerging Technologies at Hopkins. As always, at the Windup Space, 12 W. North Ave., at 6:30 pm.

The Baltimore Sun reported today on the city’s efforts to create a new Arts & Entertainment District on the West Side and on the D:center’s participation in the process. You can read more by clicking here.

@ Open Space
2720 Sisson Street
Baltimore, MD

Speedism is the duo Julian Friedauer (Germany), and Pieterjan Ginckels
(Belgium). Speedism works at the borders of architecture, architectural
theory, visual arts, visual theory, urban tactics, imagineering, and
scriptwriting. As visual artists and architects, Speedism develops visual
universes, theoretical landscapes, denkräume, narratives and scenarios.

www.speedism.net

B more B green is a traveling sustainability exhibit developed jointly by the architectural firm of Hord Coplan Macht, S.H. Silverblatt Electrical Contractor, Silsam Energy Group and Baltimore Green Works. Through a unique combination of three-dimensional and interactive displays, the exhibit teaches children about the important concepts underlying sustainable living practices while facilitating a fun learning experience for everyone.  Samuel Silverblatt, president of Silsam Energy Group, created the original vision for the exhibit. Tarek Saleh and Lisa Ferretto have brought Hord Coplan Macht’s considerable expertise in sustainable technologies and design to the project.  Phase 1, expected to open Earth Day, April 22, 2010 at Port Discovery, consists of a 4 interactive exhibits teaching about water, waste, transportation and energy.  Information on tax-deductible Sponsorship opportunities can be found at www.bmorebgreen.com/pdf/sponsorship.pdf and more information on the project at www.bmorebgreen.com.

They are looking for ways to spread the word and bring in funding.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! 

Phase 1 of the exhibit will be interactive displays at Port Discovery Children’s Museum. The exhibit will stay at  Port Discovery for about 5 months, and will then move to the Maryland State Fair in Timonium, where the [B]house will be added. The [B] House will be a replica house complementing the interactive displays and will provide an opportunity to display energy efficient products, recyclable material, etc.  Phase  3 is still under development, but  the exhibit could travel through the fall and spring to local schools, Museums, Home Depot stores etc.

Design Conversation #18: Invention

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

6:30 – 8:30 pm

The Wind Up Space, 12 W. North Avenue

The line up for April’s design conversation is finalized and it promises to be an exciting evening. The theme for the night is “invention” and we will look at how we can spark Aha! moments and create new creative connections. Invention will be explored from three angles: the brain, materials, and collaboration.

Neuroscientist Charles Limb will discuss his breakthrough research on the brain as it relates to creativity and jazz.

Ellen Lupton, designer, writer, teacher, and curator of contemporary design at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Inna Alesina, product designer and teacher, will showcase projects from their new book, Exploring Materials : Creative Design for Everyday Objects. They will encourage us to see everyday materials in new ways while expanding our materials vocabulary.

David Peloff from the Johns Hopkins Center for Emerging Technology will tell us how he collaborated with the Applied Physics Lab to bring NASA technology to the creation of a cutting-edge virtual learning environment being piloted in Baltimore public schools.

As always, this event is free and open to the public. Special thanks to the Baltimore Community Foundation for its support of these conversations and to The Wind Up Space for being our gracious host.

About the Baltimore Design Conversations:

D:center Baltimore is a new organization composed of a broad cross-section of disciplines and individuals invested in improving and encouraging design—in all its iterations—in the Baltimore region.

Each month the group hosts a Design Conversation at the Wind Up Space in Station North. The event is a casual gathering that is free and open to the public. It is supported by the Baltimore Community Foundation as well as the hard work of a core of dedicated volunteers. Each Design Conversation is curated by an individual or a team of people and is organized around a theme related to design, architecture, community building, urban planning, and city life. (For a list of upcoming themes click here.)

Local and national participants are invited to address the evening’s theme in order to stimulate a dialogue among audience members. Since it launched in 2008, the Design Conversation has spurred creative projects across the city through a number of collaborations born at the event. It has also stimulated a recognition of shared interests and existing projects around the city and the country.