board

Ron Botting

actor

Anita Cooney

chair, interior design, Pratt Institute

Elliott Earls

performance artist; artist-in-residence, Cranbrook Academy of Art

Gabrielle Esperdy

associate professor of architecture, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Ben Van Dyke

assistant professor, program head, communication design, State University of New York at Buffalo

Peter Hall

design critic; senior lecturer University of Texas at Austin

Margo Halverson designinquiry.info@gmail.com

graphic designer; design faculty, Maine College of Art

Melle Hammer

typographer; artist

Douglass Scott

design director WGBH; design faculty, Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University

Andrew Twigg

graphic designer; entrepreneur

Paula Volent

vice president for investments, Bowdoin college; arts conservator

 

advisory board Lynn Fleming

Cranbrook MFA candidate

Natalia Ilyin

critic

 

 

 

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TOPIC: JOY
June 20-25 2010, Vinalhaven Maine

'The absence of joy is the biggest threat to our society.'
- Will Alsop, architect
read more

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TOPIC: Being Here
March 11-14 2010, Marfa Texas

With mesquite, cacti and tumbleweed, pristine air and the distant Chinati and Davis mountains, Marfa has a spare and sublime atmosphere that literally suggests a site-specific creativity.
read more

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Contact us for scholarship opportunities.

Dig into our archive to see a sample of our program
Jump to our Journal

TOPIC: Being Here
March 11-14 2010, Marfa Texas

With mesquite, cacti and tumbleweed, pristine air and the distant Chinati and Davis mountains, Marfa has a spare and sublime atmosphere that literally suggests a site-specific creativity. The minimalist sculptor Donald Judd relocated here from New York in 1971, taking over a former military compound and setting his house in field of gravel; the crunch underfoot was meant to raise awareness, as Judd put it, of every footfall. Many artists have followed Judd's path, and the sleepy town now hosts a surprisingly well-stocked bookstore, several galleries, the Chinati Foundation, and some fine eating establishments. Nights are cold but as the desert warms in the sun, Judd's 100 aluminum boxes can be heard popping on a cement floor, and the winds sweeping through town are punctuated by the occasional Amtrak train whistle. Our thinking is that being in Marfa is an opportunity to explore an approach to design that is contemplative and reactive, a design that does not prescribe or impose formulas but responds to the conditions that surrounds it. BeingHERE challenges design as an act of premeditation, and seeks instead to situate it in time and place, be it in Marfa or elsewhere.

Accommodates 15 people.

LOCATION: We'll be meeting and eating in a 3000 square foot loft-like space, an open-plan converted former gas station with modern appointments and a generous outdoor space in which to eat, drink and dive into the topic. Located in the center of Marfa.

Housing options are listed below, and should be organized well in advance of the event, as Marfa places are few and book up fast.

APPLY: Propose a short (20 min) presentation, workshop or installation relating to the topic of BeingHERE. Contact us and we'll email you a questionnaire. You can also contribute by submitting essays, questions, links or anything that will expand the topic for possible inclusion in the DesignInquiry journal.

COSTS
$375 participation donation (not including housing)
+ $175 fee for breakfasts and dinners (cooking is a communal design project)

Listen to "The Man Who Bought Marfa"

Read a recent New York Times article about Marfa

--------------------------
Contact us for scholarship opportunities.

Dig into our archive to see a sample of our program
Jump to our Journal

Back

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HOTEL/MOTELS: (book early!)
thunderbird motel
$130-150 per night weekdays
$150-180 per night weekdays

hotel paisano
$99-210 per night

OTHER ACCOMMODATION: (book early!)
casitamarfa
1Bd/1Ba
sleeps 2-4
$140 per night (2 night minimum)

windmill retreat
1Bd/1Ba
sleeps 2-4
$175 per night
$900 per week

private, cozy
2Bd/2Ba
sleeps 4-5
$110 a night

cozy casita
1Bd/1Ba
sleeps 2-4
$650 per week

fuschia door
2Bd/2Ba
sleeps 4-5
$139 per night (2 night minimum)

violet door
2Bd/1Ba
sleeps 4-5
$119 per night (2 night minimum)
$720 per week

yellow door
1Bd/1Ba
sleeps 2-4
$79 per night (2 night minimum)
$474 per week

TOPIC: JOY
June 20-25 2010, Vinalhaven Maine

"Surely joy is the condition of life."
- Henry David Thoreau, philosopher (1842)

"The absence of joy is the biggest threat to our society."
- Will Alsop, architect (2003)

Whether it is understood as an emotional state or an expression of pleasure, joy is difficult to capture and even more difficult to manufacture. In an age of rampant cynicism and ironic detachment, joy becomes ever more elusive.

But if joy is essential and its lack is dangerous, then designers ignore joy at their peril. This meeting of DesignInquiry invites participants to consider the design of joy and the joy of design.

Does design create or embody joy, or does it merely create conditions for joy to emerge? Is there joy in the designed artifact or in the act of design? Is a designer's joy the same as a user's joy? What is the relationship between joy and play and how might design conjoin the two? What might a taxonomy of joy look like?

accommodates 20 people
framers Margo Halverson, Melle Hammer, Peter Hall

COSTS
+ $475 participation donation (not including housing)
+ $175 fee for breakfasts and dinners (You and I take care of the cooking)

--------------------------
Contact us for scholarship opportunities.

Dig into our archive to see a sample of our program
Jump to our Journal

Back