Collective Difference with Dark Matter University

TOPIC

The compound crises of 2020 brought greater awareness to the social and environmental harm that has disproportionally affected Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour globally.

This unjust harm has been relentless for generations and only underlines the need to confront both whiteness and power in our learning and practice as designers.

In this period of collective stress and discomfort, there is the potential to see both emergence and transformation. Those who participate in the design and shaping of built environments must engage with the multiple means for addressing our collective difference.

The evening will prompt both engagement and empowerment by exploring how our collective and cooperative actions as designers can transform or reimagine our spaces, places, and practices.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES LECTURE SERIES

The talk is sponsored by the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism. It is part of a pan-Canadian lecture series presented in 2020-2021 by the 12 schools of architecture in Canada on the theme of diversity.

Titled Global Perspectives, the live-streamed lecture series is open to the public and accessible online.

Justin Garrett Moore

Justin Garrett Moore, AICP, NOMA, is a trans-disciplinary designer and urbanist with extensive experience in architecture, urban design, and planning.

He recently joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as the inaugural program officer for its new Humanities in Place program area.

In this role, Moore will lead the implementation of the foundation’s programmatic strategic plan in Humanities in Place, which seeks to bring a variety of histories and voices into public, media, museum, and memorial spaces, widening the range of complex public storytelling.

He will also partner with the foundation’s president to shape and lead the foundation’s Monuments Project—a five-year, $250 million commitment to reshape the commemorative landscape of the United States.

Previously, he served as the executive director of the New York City Public Design Commission since 2016. 

At the Public Design Commission, his work focused on prioritizing quality and excellence for the public realm and fostering accessibility, diversity, and inclusion in New York’s public buildings, landscapes, and art.

He was also a senior urban designer at the New York City Department of Planning.

In his 15-year career in public service, Moore led several complex planning and design projects, including the Greenpoint and Williamsburg Waterfront, Hunter’s Point South, and the Brooklyn Cultural District.

He is one of the founding board members of the Black urbanist collective BlackSpace.

He is also the co-founder of Urban Patch —a family-run social enterprise focused on sustainable design and development projects in the United States and Rwanda.

Moore holds a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida. He also has a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, where he is now an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture.

Instagram: @j.g.moore

Twitter: @jgmoore

Jennifer Low

Jenn Low is an integrative designer, educator, and landscape architect with over 13 years of experience as a landscape architect in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Now based in Washington, D.C., she is on the board of The Urban Studio. Low also serves as the deputy director at the 1882 Foundation, leading a series of place-keeping initiatives in D.C.’s Chinatown.

She currently works at the intersection of participatory design and public history, and her work seeks to redistribute power in design processes to advance the work toward spatial justice.

She holds an MDes in Integrative Design from the Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan and a BLA from the University of Washington. Low is also a core organizer with Dark Matter University (within the DAP Collective).

Instagram: @jennlow

Twitter: @jennwlow

Curry Hackett

Curry Hackett is a trans-disciplinary designer, public artist, and educator. His practice, Wayside Studio, based in Washington, DC, collaborates with communities and organizations to engage matters pertaining to culture, infrastructure, ecology, and the public realm.

Noteworthy work includes the Howard Theatre Walk of Fame, the DC High Water Mark system, the DC Clean Rivers Project, and his ongoing research project Drylongso, which explores the relationship between Blackness, food, plants, and land.

He has spoken at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Howard University, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Maryland College Institute of Art.

Currently, Hackett is an adjunct architecture professor at his alma mater, Howard University, and will be co-teaching courses at Yale and Carleton Universities in Spring 2021, in partnership with the anti-racist design justice school, Dark Matter University.

Instagram: @curryhackett

Twitter: @hackthecreator

Dark Matter University

Instagram: @darkmatter_u

Twitter: @darkmatter_u