Open Access: Exploring 130 Years of American Design critically examines the evolution of architecture by placing key works from Van Alen’s archive in dialogue with contemporary reinterpretations by emerging architects. The project treats the archive not as a fixed historical record, but as living material to be questioned, reinterpreted, and held accountable to the present. It also invites careful reflection on Van Alen’s 130-year influence within the field of design and on the shaping of American cities. The exhibition creates opportunities for architects, designers, curators, historians, and the public to consider architecture’s role in shaping civic life. The accompanying programming series, Reactivations, extends these ideas beyond the gallery, engaging international experts and culminating in an exhibition booklet. Together, the exhibition and public programs make architectural history accessible to broad audiences interested in reparative justice through design.

Hayley Eber is the executive director of the Van Alen Institute. An architect, designer, and educator, Eber previously served as the acting dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union. While there, she forged partnerships with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Storefront for Art and Architecture, and The Museum of Modern Art. Eber is also the principal of Studio Eber, an award-winning practice whose work spans buildings, interiors, objects, environments, and installations. Her projects have been showcased in international exhibitions, including the Venice Architecture Biennale, Tallinn Architecture Biennale, Shanghai SUSAS, and the Triennale Milano. In this project, Eber serves as the exhibition cocurator and helps shape programming themes and speakers.

Emily Conklin is the network and public programs manager at Van Alen Institute. Conklin spearheads all of Van Alen’s public programming, activating exhibitions, panels, and gatherings for the broader Van Alen community. She works as a translator, connecting designers and visual thinkers with resources and new audiences. She specializes in systems-based thinking to solve problems and take ideas from the drawing board to the real world, bringing people and diverse stakeholders together to make things happen. Through her studio practice, Tiny Cutlery, she has planned, produced, and hosted dozens of events for arts organizations across New York. Her writing and criticism can be found in The Architect’s Newspaper, The Brooklyn Rail, New York Review of Architecture, and Surface, among other publications. In this project, Conklin supports the production of all public programming as well as the creation of an exhibition booklet.

Mina Morales is a queer Mexican American multidisciplinary artist, curator, and organizer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her personal and artistic work explores liberation, divination, and surrealism as practices for navigating life's transformations. Mina is a founder and organizer of Poets for Palestine NYC, where she has hosted and continues to host events that give people space to process and express themselves through spoken word, poetry, music, and other artistic forms. Her work has been featured at Brooklyn Art Cave, The Living Gallery, and Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning. She is dedicated to building spaces where artists—especially queer artists and artists of color—can freely express themselves and connect with others working toward political and artistic change, and believes community is essential to collaborative, interdisciplinary artmaking as both a site of political power and collective action. Mina currently serves as Curatorial Assistant at Van Alen.

Van Alen Institute is a driving force behind community-led urban design, which believes that local knowledge and care enrich the design process. Since 1894, Van Alen has invested in people with a passion for improving cities through the power of architecture and design. Our public space projects build unconventional coalitions of designers, local stakeholders, and city leaders, and we support their visions through project scoping, hands-on guidance, and seed funding. From our home in New York City, our work confronts longstanding power imbalances in citymaking, showcases the vanguard of community-led design, and supports the next generation of designers in creating more just cities.