[POSTPONED] An Archival Séance with Marina Otero Verzier

​Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event will no longer take place on Thursday, October 29. Please stay tuned for further updates. Thank you!

An Archival Séance: The Critical Record with Marina Otero Verzier
Thursday, October 29, 6–8 pm
303 Bond Street, Brooklyn

Presented alongside our fall exhibition Open Access: Exploring 130 Years of American Design, join us for a séance-inspired evening to interrogate the archival holdings unboxed in the show.

Exhibition participants will each present select materials from Van Alen’s archive through a performance of light and shadow. Moderator Marina Otero Verzier and respondent Mark Wasiuta, in conversation with the participating artists, will guide the audience through the hidden histories these materials represent and exclude. Together they will explore the topic of “the critical record:” How do scholars, historians, and critics actively reinterpret official architectural archives?

The evening’s séance format is informed by participating artist Paula Vilaplana de Miguel’s research exploring the performance of haunting as a critical tool in 19th century’s North American Spiritualist movement, and its spatial configuration — in particular, “the psychic cabinet,” an interpretation of which is part of the exhibition and will serve as the stage for the event.

About Marina Otero Verzier

Marina Otero Verzier is an architect and researcher whose work lies at the intersection of critical spatial practices, ecology, technology, and activism. She is a Lecturer in Architecture at Harvard GSD and a Dean’s Visiting Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s GSAPP, where she leads the Data Mourning clinic, an educational initiative examining the relationship between digital infrastructures and climate catastrophe.

About Mark Wasiuta

Mark Wasiuta is Co-Director of the Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture program at Columbia University’s GSAPP. He works on problems of media, environment, and technology in postwar architecture and its experimental practices. He is currently curating and producing Early Warning Architecture, the official representation for Canada at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.