Exhibition and Symposium at Yale School of Architecture Explore Digital Media

“Intricacy,” an exhibition opening at the Yale School of Architecture on September 3, and a related symposium held the same day will explore the new visual landscape wrought by the digital revolution.

Curated by the architect and theorist Greg Lynn, this exhibition includes works by artists, designers and architects that reflect an emerging sensibility Lynn has labeled “intricacy.” This notion refers, in the abstract, to a new visual and spatial language of folding, interweaving and layering-parts relating to wholes-that has been heralded by the digital and genetic engineering revolutions. This exhibition synthesizes a vast geography of ideas and practices drawn from many disciplines and cultural fields.

Akin to mid- and late-century machine and material design exhibitions, “Intricacy” creates an environment through which visitors can walk and physically experience the formal, technical and visual connections between art and architecture. Participating artists include Chris Cunningham, Adam Fuss, Fabian Marcaccio, Roxy Paine, David Reed and James Rosenquist; architects Karl Chu, Peter Eisenman (currently the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture), Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Preston Scott Cohen, Jesse Reiser, Nanako Umemoto, Wolf Prix, Monika Ponce de Leon, Nader Tehrani and Yale School of Art faculty members Bonnie Collura and Tom Friedman.

Lynn is the principal of Greg Lynn FORM, based in Los Angeles. The office combines a unique specialization in the design, manufacturing and construction of exotic forms through a creative expertise with techniques germane to the aeronautic, automobile and film industries of Southern California. Because of his early combination of degrees in philosophy and architecture, Lynn has been involved in merging the realities of design and construction with the speculative, theoretical and experimental potentials of writing and teaching. Lynn is currently the Davenport Professor at Yale University and holds a permanent position at the Universitat fur angewandte Kunst in Vienna. His architectural designs have received numerous awards and have been exhibited worldwide.

Lynn designed the exhibition’s display framework and a central installation: six Numinous Flowers define a ceiling of luminous fiberglass shells that float above the architectural models.

“Intricacy” was originally created by Lynn for the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Yale and the ICA is grateful for the generous support of the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative (PEI), funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts; The Stephen A. and Diana L. Goldberg Foundation; and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Additional support has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania.

“Intricacy” will continue at the gallery of Yale’s Art and Architecture Building, 150 York St., through November 7.

In conjunction with the exhibition “Intricacy,” the Yale School of Architecture will host an evening of discussions in three segments between pairs of participants in the exhibition. Each segment will consist of two presenters, each having ten minutes to make comments and show their work to be followed by a 10- minute question and discussion led by Lynn and another Yale faculty member.

An opening reception, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5 p.m. at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery. The symposium, at 6 -7:30 p.m., will take place at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St.

The hours for the gallery are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, contact the Yale School of Architecture, 203-432-2288, or visit their web site at www.architecture.yale.edu.