Jonathan Olivares, A Taxonomy of Office Chairs, 2011.

Over the last two hundred years, the office chair has attained cult-like status among the design community and office workers alike. From flexible back supports to mesh webbing, technological enhancements are constantly evolving to meet the changing requirements of the modern worker. With each new development, the office chair confirms its standing not only as an iconic object, but as an important status item.

Filling a significant gap in design history, A Taxonomy of Office Chairs presents the first exhaustive investigation into the office chair's aesthetic and technological evolution. The book features more than 130 of the most innovative chairs from the mid-1800's to the present day, including chairs by Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Breuer, Charles and Ray Eames, and Richard Sapper among other notable designers.

On June 14, Olivares will give a talk about his new book. A signing and reception in the garden will follow.

Jonathan Olivares is the founder of Jonathan Olivares Design Research (JODR). JODR is an industrial design office founded in 2006. The office is run on the belief that research and writing on design informs and provokes the design process, and identifies objective goals for it. In addition to providing design services JODR is engaged in sociopolitical and historical research for its clients, which include innovative producers of contemporary furniture and lighting, distinguished museums for design and art, and leading publications on design and architecture.

Olivares is a respected product designer, having designed a number of pieces of furniture for both Danese and Driade. Olivares has taught design workshops at ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland, at ENSAD in Paris, France and has been a guest designer in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Designed Objects program. His products question conventional archetypes and define a culture of function that is specific for today's activity and technology. He recieved a grant from the Graham Foundation in 2010 for his research project, The Outdoor Office. He lives in Boston.

Related Links
Jonathan Olivares
http://www.jonathanolivares.com/

In 2002, Marcus Schmickler presented "<22-gliders>rule," a simulation of cellular automata transforming a string quartet at his Lampo debut. Since then, researchers at Germany’s Argelander Institute for Astronomy, have called Newton’s law of gravity into question.

For his June 11 performance at the Graham, Schmickler takes up these questions in his continuing astronomic investigation, with "particle/matter-wave/energy," a new computer generated composition that asks the question: What does it sound like when galaxy clusters of 30 objects reciprocally influence each other by means of gravitation? Using a sonification of astrophysical data, Schmickler will collide first two, then three simulated galaxies.

Marcus Schmickler (b. 1968, Cologne, Germany) studied composition and electronic music and works in both composed and improvised forms. He has won numerous prizes and honors and is closely associated with the Cologne label a-Musik. As a composer along with his many works of electronic music, he works with the ensemble recherche, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the musikFabrik, the Paragon Ensemble, the Ensemble Zeitkratzer, among others. As a musician he works with artists such as John Tilbury, Thomas Lehn, MIMEO and Julee Cruise. His discography consists of over 50 titles, and he has performed internationally. He lives and works in Cologne.

Schmickler has appeared at Lampo several times–solo in September 2002, together with Thomas Lehn in September 2005, and again solo in December 2007 when he presented the U.S. premiere of "Altars of Science." In May 2009 Schmickler performed at Lampo with Peter Rehberg in the duo's first live appearance.

This performance is presented in partnership with Lampo. Founded in 1997, Lampo is a non-profit organization for experimental music, sound art and intermedia projects. For information and to add your name to the Lampo list, contact info@lampo.org or visit www.lampo.org.

The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Houston Petrochemical Corridor Landscan, 2010

Co-presented by the Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Graham Foundation, Matthew Coolidge, founder and director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Culver City, CA, will discuss innovative projects impacting the American landscape and built environment, followed by questions from Graham Foundation director Sarah Herda.  This talk is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Public Works at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

For more information, click here.

Anthony Pateras. Photo: Marco Fusinato

For his first Chicago performance, Anthony Pateras will present a new 4-channel work made especially for the occasion – an homage to Henri Chopin, using revoxed voice, manipulated Doepfer synthesizer recordings and prepared piano polyrhythms, performed in the dark.

Anthony Pateras (b. 1979, Melbourne, Australia) is a composer and performer from Melbourne, Australia. He is an idiosyncratic pianist, works with the Doepfer A-100 synthesizer and writes works for ensembles, orchestras and soloists. Pateras explores diverse musical interests through his projects: high velocity piano/drums explorations, electro-acoustic improvising ensembles, extended prepared piano pieces and immersive noise. He has performed or recorded with Han Bennink, Valerio Tricoli, Oren Ambarchi, Jim Denley, Paul Lovens, Fennesz, Thomas Lehn and The Necks. Previous groups include a decade-long duo project with Robin Fox, and the acclaimed free music trio Pateras/Baxter/Brown. He plays regularly throughout the world, and his music is released through the labels Tzadik (New York), Editions Mego (Vienna) and Lexicon Devil (Melbourne). He holds a PhD from Monash University.

This performance is presented in partnership with Lampo. Founded in 1997, Lampo is a non-profit organization for experimental music, sound art and intermedia projects. For information and to add your name to the Lampo list, contact info@lampo.org or visit www.lampo.org.

Jonathon Muecke, Frame, Polished stainless steel, 77 x 166 x 100"

The Graham Foundation and Volume Gallery partner to present a talk by Jonathan Muecke in conjunction with Open Objects, his first solo exhibition. Rather than a collection, Muecke considers each of the objects in the exhibition to be its own project, the result being that every one is consistent to its counterparts only in its potential – “a quality that is itself immeasurable.”

Muecke’s projects reflect  common forms of design and a continual pursuit of the meta-object. It is within this confrontation, between viewer and object, that development of new thought on functionality and materiality lives. Utilizing materials such as coal slag, glass sand, carbon fiber and gold foil, each piece works to remove our limitations of understanding and encourages the viewer to engage and interact.

A reception in the garden will follow the talk at 5PM.

Open Objects will be on view at Volume Gallery in Chicago from April 30 through May 15, 2011. Visit www.wvvolumes.com for more information.

Graham Foundation grantee Jonathan Olivares wrote about Muecke’s work in Abitare last October. To read the article, click here.

Jonathan Muecke lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2010, where from 2009-10 he was the Florence Knoll Scholar. In 2006 he received a Bachelors of Architecture from Iowa State University followed in 2007 by an internship at the architectural office of Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland. In July of 2010 the jury of the Design Parade 5 (Hyéres, France) assigned him the Veuve Clicquot Award. His field of work circulates around the periphery of design.

Volume Gallery is an event-based gallery with a specific focus on American design, and a strong emphasis placed on emerging contemporary designers. The Volume Gallery releases editions, publications and organizes exhibits that showcase the work of American designers to regional, national and international audiences. The Gallery asks critical questions of what it means to be an American designer in a culture that is rapidly becoming more global, while simultaneously examining the American experience.

Related Links
Jonathan Muecke
http://jonathanmuecke.com/

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