Events
Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe
on view June 26, 2008-September 21, 2008
R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of the great American visionaries of the 20th century. Best-known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller devoted much of his life to resolving the gap between the sciences and the humanities, which he believed was preventing society from taking a comprehensive view of the world. His theories and innovations traversed the worlds of architecture, visual art, literature, mathematics, molecular biology, and environmental science and have had a deep impact on all of those fields.
In addition to the Whitney Museum show, there will be a number of exciting events throughout June in New York City. We will announce the details as they become available.
For more information about the Whitney show, please visit: http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/upcoming.jsp
To download the Whitney Museum's press release about the show, click here [pdf]
A symposium about Fuller and his influence on contemporary Architecture and Art
Friday, April 25 from 10:00am – 6:00pm
Harvard Graduate School of Design
48 Quincy Street
Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium
Cambridge, MA 02138
Session I: 10am – 12pm
- Shoji Sadao, “Working with Fuller”
- Michael Hays, “Fuller’s Geo-logic”
- Antoine Picon, “Fuller’s Digital and Utopian Avatars”
Session II: 1-3pm
- Jesse Reiser, “Non-linear Geodesics”
- Tobias Putrih, “Holism and Entropy”
- Leire Asensio Villoria, “Transformations”
- Monica Ponce de Leon, “Fabrications”
Session III: 3:30-5pm
- Stephanie Smith, “Green Entrepreneurship”
- David Erdman, “Jitterbug”
- Michael Meredith, “Natural Growth Algorithms”
Panel discussion: 5-6pm
- Moderated by Ingeborg Rocker
For more information, please see http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/events. This symposium is sponsored by the Department of Architecture.
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008, 12:00–2:00pm
Organized by: Center for Architecture; NYU; Buckminster Fuller Institute
Sponsored by:Center for Architecture; Environmental Health Clinic, NYU; Buckminster Fuller Institute
Location: Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY
Price: Free
Credits: CES LUs: 1.5, CES HSW: 1.5
Contact: NYU Environmental Health Clinic
Join us for the third event of the monthly Design Heroix series.
Dean Corren, Director of Technology Development, Verdant Power
Dean Corren leads Verdant Power's technology development efforts, having been the original designer of the Kinetic Hydropower System (KHPS) during his time as a Research Scientist at New York University. Before Verdant Power, he consulted on diverse energy and technology projects, as well as researching a wide range of energy technologies at NYU. He also chaired the Burlington Electric Commission, which governs Vermont's largest public utility, and served four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives. He holds an MS in Energy Science from New York University and a BA, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Middlebury College.
Arthur C. Clarke was not only a friend of Buckminster Fuller's, but a longtime Advisory Board member, Founding Contributor and generous supporter of BFI. His contributions to the fields of science and science fiction have become an indispensable part of 20th century history and will be remembered and enjoyed for many years to come.
Clarke and Bucky shared a common fascination with the concept of a "space elevator" (the subject of Clarke's book The Fountains of Paradise) and Clarke wrote in his introduction to Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for a New Millennium, "when the space elevator is built, sometime in the twenty-first century, it will be his greatest memorial."
From the New York Times: Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90. Rohan de Silva, an aide, confirmed the death and said Mr. Clarke had been experiencing breathing problems, The Associated Press reported. He had suffered from post-polio syndrome for the last two decades. The author of almost 100 books, Mr. Clarke was an ardent promoter of the idea that humanity’s destiny lay beyond the confines of Earth. It was a vision served most vividly by “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the classic 1968 science-fiction film he created with the director Stanley Kubrick and the novel of the same title that he wrote as part of the project.
image via Core77.com
Design and the Elastic Mind
February 24–May 12, 2008
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019-5497
For more information, visit the MoMA website
In the past few decades, individuals have experienced dramatic changes in some of the most established dimensions of human life: time, space, matter, and individuality. Working across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps and nanoscale images, gleefully drowning in information, acting fast in order to preserve some slow downtime, people cope daily with dozens of changes in scale. Minds adapt and acquire enough elasticity to be able to synthesize such abundance. One of design's most fundamental tasks is to stand between revolutions and life, and to help people deal with change. Designers have coped with these displacements by contributing thoughtful concepts that can provide guidance and ease as science and technology evolve. Several of them—the Mosaic graphic user's interface for the Internet, for instance—have truly changed the world. Design and the Elastic Mind is a survey of the latest developments in the field. It focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.
Michael Desmond, Ph.D., architectural historian with the LSU School of Architecture, will share his insights on R. Buckminster Fuller and the recently demolished Union Tank Car Dome in north Baton Rouge.
Fuller, known for his 5 to 6 hour public lectures, was one of the most inventive personalities of the 20th century. His ideas and inventions range across many fields, from physics and mathematics through material science to architecture and construction.
This one hour presentation, will be filled with the bright spots of Bucky’s life and ideas, including an introduction to the specifics of geodesic geometry as it applies to the Baton Rouge dome. We will also look at other such structures in existence. As the now lost Union Tank Car dome was among the world’s largest and most elegant, the lecture will invite a lively discussion of this remarkable structure and the people that made it possible.
Enjoy wines and cheeses compliments of Calanadro’s Select Cellars at this event!
The lecture begins at 6 p.m. and is free to Foundation for Historical Louisiana members and $10 for non-members. The Old Governor's Mansion is located at 502 North Boulevard in Baton Rouge.
Call 387-2464 or go to the FHL website for more information on FHL preservation activities.
January 17, 2008 - February 10, 2008
Rubicon Theatre Company
1006 E Main Street
Ventura, CA
93001
This powerful play may change your life.
R. Buckminster Fuller has been called a crank, America's first engineering saint, the Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th C., and the P.R. Man to the Universe. This tour-de-force performance explores Bucky's life and work through a blend of testimony, lecture, autobiography, poetry, comic antics and video imagery. The play spirals and spins through ideas and experiences, leaving the audience with their lives placed firmly back in their own laps. L.A. Drama Critics' Circle and Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Spano escorts you on this unforgettable journey.
For tickets, please call the box office at 805.667.2900 or reserve online.
Paula Cooper Gallery 534 West 21 Street, New York
Thursday, December 20 at 8pm
S.E.M. Ensemble: Petr Kotik, Director - Gayla Morgan, Soprano - Steven Fox, Tenor, Narration
- Petr Kotik Spheres & Attraction (Text by R. Buckminister Fuller) 2005
- J.S.Bach Recitativo & Aria (“Er hat uns allen wohl getan”) 1729
- Petr Kotik String Quartet (premiere) 2007
- Alex Mincek Nucleus II (premiere) 2007
- Galina Ustwolskaja Symphony No. 5 “Amen” 1990
The S.E.M. Ensemble
is dedicated to the performance and advancement of new music, with a focus on works that can best be described as post-Cagean. Since its inception in 1970, SEM has collaborated with composers who have also often performed with the group. In 1992, the Ensemble expanded into The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble with a debut concert in Carnegie Hall, “Tribute to John Cage,” premiering the complete Atlas Eclipticalis with an 86-piece orchestra, Kotik conducting, and David Tudor at the piano. Since then, the SEM Orchestra has toured Europe five times and performed in Japan. SEM holds yearly concerts in New York at the Paula Cooper Gallery and other venues such as Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.
November 3, 2007 through January 15, 2008
R. Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi, two of the most highly regarded creative minds of the 20th century, might at first glance seem to have little in common: Fuller the “Spaceship Earth” visionary, known for his geodesic domes and hours-long lectures to enraptured student audiences; and Noguchi the sculptor, whose creative vocabulary found a quiet but forceful voice in the sometimes graceful, sometimes aggressive shaping of stone, metal, water, wood and light into monuments, playgrounds, gardens, fountains, furniture and lamps. There is, however, a congruence, a deeper sense of shared concerns and values, that underlies their lives and their work, and it is this congruence that lies at the heart of Best of Friends: Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi.
This highly acclaimed exhibit features Fuller's 1934 three-wheeled Dymaxion Car, sculptures by Noguchi and dozens of rare documents, models and artifacts.
An exhibition organized by The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum. Exhibition Curator, Shoji Sadao. PHOTO: Isamu Noguchi (left) with Buckminster Fuller, 1971. Courtesy: Estate of Arnold Eagle.
For more information, visit the Henry Ford Museum website
from the The Digital Earth Secretariat
 Digital Earth is a visionary concept for "Spaceship Earth" sparked by R. Buckminster Fuller, grokked by the Apollo astronauts returning from their moon missions, and popularized by Vice President Al Gore.
On June 5th 2007, the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE5) will open in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California, USA. The symposium will span four days and will address a broad national and international audience across a spectrum of industry, academic, government, and citizen attendees. All individuals who share a common interest in the concept of a digital Earth are urged to participate and attend.
For more information please visit the conference website: http://www.isde5.org/
Join Worldchanging.com and the Buckminster Fuller Institute for a reception and evening of art, music and inspired discussion as we celebrate the launch of the much-anticipated new book:
Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century
Date: Tuesday, November 21st
Time: from 6:30-9:00 p.m (presentations begin at 7:15pm)
Location: 15 Nassau St. corner of Pine St. New York City*
RSVP: please send and email to: worldchangingBFI (at) gmail.com
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J,M,Z to Broadway-Nassau stop.
*The event will be part of an on-going installation/performance piece by environmental artist Beaumont entitled: Boxed-In/Boxed Out, sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Dear Friend of the Buckminster Fuller Institute,
We would like to invite you to join us Sunday October 8th for an intimate and rare performance of Spheres and Attraction (2005), a special piece created by the internationally-acclaimed composer Petr Kotik for voice, strings and percussion with texts by R. Buckminster Fuller performed by the S.E.M. Ensemble.
BFI's 24 foot Fly's Eye Dome will be on view for the duration of the Mobile-living exhibition.
The Future Has Arrived
From new designs by America's classic Airstream Trailers, Adam Kalkin's Push Button House shown at Art Basel Miami, to Shiguro Ban's Paper Tube Architecture featured in MOMA's Safe Exhibition — Mobile Living is in the forefront of design. Mobile homes, prefab homes, temporary homes all address the need for new innovative methods of housing.
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Tuesday, 5/23/2006, 6:00—9:00pm
Mobile Living Film Series
Basic Bucky
An 11-segment video taken from Comprehensive Design: The Legacy of Buckminster Fuller, a Dome-Encapsulated Multi-Media Traveling Exhibit (1990). The clips feature Fuller demonstrating his own futuristic inventions through Nature's Generalized Principles: Leverage, Tension and Compression; Pattern Integrity; Synergy; Universe as Scenario; Artifacts/Inventions: Dymaxion House, Dymaxion Car, Geodesic and Fly's Eye Domes, and Roofs over Cities; Energetic/Synergetic Geometry: Euler's Topology: Angle and Frequency, The Triangle: Basic Structure; The Three Basic Structural Systems; The Vector Equilibrium. 32 minutes. |
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