Miller ICA
at Carnegie Mellon University
Purnell Center for the Arts
5000 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Gallery Hours
We are currently closed to the public
Free + Open to the Public
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Exhibition
Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture
Duration
September 15, 2012 -
February 24, 2013
Curator
Giovanna Borasi, Mirko Zardini
We observe — and suffer daily from — the unforeseen consequences of our actions on the environment. We are anxious about ground pollution, food safety, pollen allergies, smog, asthma, cancer, obesity, epidemics, and ultimately, aging. Now that everything is perceived as a possible source of disease, the health, defense and fortification of our own bodies have become obsessive pursuits. We have begun to think of all aspects of our lives in medical terms.
Architecture, urban design, and landscape design are addressing these fears, incorporating medical issues and related concerns in their projects. Their new ideas and solutions are based on the optimistic premise that design has the capacity to deliver individual and collective well-being. Projects propose allergy-free gardens, more trees, cleaner air, soil remediation, and new quarantine spaces to prevent epidemic outbreaks. On the other hand, in addressing health issues, design also introduces new levels of complexity in projects that test industrial methods for food production, stairs that re-educate the obese and infirm, and the segregation of communities by age.
Imperfect Health is not a comprehensive survey of the relationships between health, architecture, cities and the environment. On the contrary, these projects for buildings, interiors, and open spaces are meant to highlight uncertainties and contradictions present in the ideas of health that are emerging in Western countries today, particularly in Europe and North America.
We are exposed to a lot of solutions, but at what cost?
Is the future of architecture in its medicalization?
- Giovanna Borasi + Mirko Zardini
Speleotherapy: Breathing In, Solotvyno salt mine, Ukraine © Kirill Kuletski
Health is a focus of contemporary political debate in this moment of historically high anxiety. Are architects, urban designers and landscape architects seeking a new moral and political agenda within these concerns?
The Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University is proud to present the U.S. premiere of Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture. This exhibition has particular resonance in Pittsburgh, a city that has recovered from the collapse of its steel industry through its new health care, education and technology industries, and at Carnegie Mellon, a research institution focused on innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creating and implementing solutions for real problems. Despite decades of revitalization, Pittsburgh still ranks as one of the most polluted cities in the United States, with higher rates of cancer, asthma, and obesity than the national averages.*
Imperfect Health features a wide range of works, including photographs, sculpture, video, research and archival materials, design projects, and architectural models and drawings, that together examine the complex relationships between design and health. The exhibition includes works by an international group of architects, artists, designers, and institutions, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Berkeley Institute of Design and Intel Labs, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), Mel Chin, Todd Haynes, Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Steven Holl Architects, Gordon Matta-Clark, Niall McLaughlin, MIT AgeLab, Morphosis, MVRDV, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), Philippe Rahm, François Roche, SANAA, and Alison and Peter Smithson.
Accompanying the exhibition are a book extending the research (published by CCA with Lars Müller and available as an e-book and in print in the gallery), an online TV channel, and public programs including a lecture series, panel discussions, screenings and tours.
* According to the American Lung Association, 2008; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010; Pennsylvania Department of Health, 2011.
Support for Imperfect Health at Carnegie Mellon’s Miller Gallery is provided in part by The Heinz Endowments.
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Giovanna Borasi is an architect, curator and editor. As Curator of Contemporary Architecture at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) since 2005, Borasi has worked on several major exhibitions and their companion books, with a particular interest in how environmental and social issues are influencing urbanism and architecture today. Borasi was editor and writer for Lotus International (1998-2004) and Lotus Navigator (2000-2004), and recently joined the editorial board of Abitare as Deputy Editor in Chief.
Mirko Zardini, an architect, has been the Director and Chief Curator of the Canadian Centre for Architecture since 2005. His research engages the transformation of contemporary architecture by questioning and relooking at the assumptions on which architects operate today. Zardini has been editor for Casabella and Lotus International magazine and his writings have been widely published. He has taught design and theory at architecture schools in Europe and the United States, including Harvard University GSD, Princeton University SoA, Swiss Federal Polytechnic University (ETH) at Zurich, and the Federal Polytechnic at Lausanne (EPFL).
Based in Montréal, Canada, the CCA is an international research centre and museum founded in 1979 on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Based on its extensive Collection, the CCA is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society. www.cca.qc.ca
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Installation view of Imperfect Health exhibition at Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
PUBLIC EVENTS
All events are located at Carnegie Mellon University, free of charge, + open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.
Sept. 14, Fri.
4:30pm: Exhibition Tour with Curators Giovanna Borasi + Mirko Zardini
Co-presented by the Carnegie Mellon University Lecture Series
@ Miller Gallery. Meet on 1st floor.
6-8pm: Get Well Soon Reception. Light refreshments available.
Co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Association.
@ Miller Gallery.
RSVP:
Sept. 20, Thurs.
1-5pm: Flu Vaccine Clinic.
Provided by the University Health Services for the CMU community.
Free for CMU students on the student insurance plan, staff and faculty; $17 for spouses/partners and students on other plans (CMU ID required). Payment by check or student accounts only, no cash.
@ Miller Gallery, Purnell Center for the Arts, CMU
Sept. 21, Fri.
6:30-7:30pm: A Conversation with Photographer Iwan Baan.
Presented by the Heinz Architectural Center
@ Carnegie Museum of Art Theater 4400 Forbes Ave.
Baan's photographs are on view in both Miller Gallery's Imperfect Health exhibition and Carnegie Museum of Art Heinz Architectural Center's White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes. Followed by a reception, with HAC galleries open until 9pm.
Sept. 26, Wed.
4-6pm: Presentation: Air quality, regional pollution exposure, & the Marcellus Shale
by Albert Presto, Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies
Presented by Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research + University Health Services
@ Outside of Miller Gallery entrance, Purnell Center for the Arts
Oct. 8, Mon.
4:30pm: Lecture: Re-thinking water quality, policy, and health — an elemental approach by Kartik Chandran. (Director, Biomolecular Environmental Sciences and Wastewater Treatment and Climate Change Programs, Columbia University).
Co-presented by the Distinguished Lecture Series in Environmental Science, Technology, and Policy, and the University Lecture Series
@ Porter Hall #100, on Frew St.
The current paradigm for wastewater treatment is based on a net ‘oxidation’ of its main elemental constituents, carbon and nitrogen. In this presentation, concrete examples of new models for carbon and nitrogen cycling (or lack thereof) are presented as alternate vehicles for energy and resource neutral or positive sanitation.
Oct. 16, Tues.
4:30pm: Panel Discussion: Health, Habitat, and History with various experts
Presented by the Department of History
@ Rangos Room 2, University Center 2nd floor.
Participants:
Caroline Jean Acker, Associate Professor and Head, History Department, Carnegie
Mellon. “Networks and Neighborhoods: Syringe Exchange as Public Health
Outreach.”
Jay Aronson, Associate Professor of History, Carnegie Mellon. “Disaster Response
and Public Health in Urban Environments.”Zachary Falck, Adjunct Instructor, History Department, Carnegie
Mellon. “Agricultural Remedies.”Andrea R. Fox, Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Pittsburgh;
Chief Medical Officer, Squirrel Hill Health Center. “Thinking about Tomorrow: Aging
in Places.”Andrew Simpson, Doctoral Candidate, History Department, Carnegie Mellon. “The
Life and Death? of Urban Academic Medical Centers.”Joel A. Tarr, Professor of History, Carnegie Mellon. “Energy Transitions,
Environment, and Health.”Lisa Tetrault, Associate Professor of History, Carnegie Mellon: “What’s Gender Got
To Do with It?"Panel Q&A
Oct. 23-24, Tues. - Wed.
CMU Campus Sustainability and Food Day Celebration
@ various locations on Carnegie Mellon University campus
Events include a farmers market and a presentation by Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D. titled "F.A.R.M.: Food, Art, Revolution, Media: Changing the Way We Think to Change the Way We Eat. Exploring the power of images and stories to transform and support healthy food, farmers and communities."
Feb. 13, Wed.
12-5:40pm: Therapeutic Massage: Masseuse Kathryn Kane will be available for 5 to 20 minute chair massage sessions*
@ Miller Gallery. Co-presented by the CMU School of Drama.
$1-2 per min. sliding scale price. Cash or check preferred, but credit/debit cards also accepted on site.
Schedule an appointment by Feb. 12, 4pm to mc94@cmu.edu or call 412.268.4754
Kathryn Kane graduated from the D'Ancona School of Muscle Therapy and has been a independently practicing massage therapist in Pittsburgh since 1994. She is a licensed MT for the State of Pennsylvania. In addition to basic massage study she has studied Shiatsu, deep tissue, and Thai massage. She will tailor her work to what her clients need.
*Chair massage is not recommended for pregnant clients.
Feb. 21, Thurs.
9:30am: Lecture: We are what we eat… and what we build: Designing Healthy Communities by Richard J Jackson MD, MPH (Environmental Health Sciences, Urban Planning, Pediatrics, UCLA).
Presented by the University Lecture Series
@ Magee-Womens Hospital Auditorium, 300 Halket Street. Zero level.
Dr. Richard Jackson is a pediatrician who analyzes and addresses the impact of the environment on health, particularly children’s health. He has done extensive work on pesticides, and in epidemiology, infectious diseases and toxicology. Over the past decade much of his work has focused on sustainability and how the 'built environment', including architecture and urban planning, affects health. Dr. Jackson was for nine years the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control National Center for Environmental Health, and has recently hosted a related US Public Television series, www.DesigningHealthyCommunities.org.
Feb. 22, Fri.
12-6:30PM: Imperfect Health exhibition on view @ Miller Gallery, Purnell Center for the Arts
6:30-8:30pm: Film Screening: Danube Hospital (Donauspital). (Dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Germany, 2012)
Co-presented by the Carnegie Mellon Faces International Film Festival
$5 Seniors + Students, $8 Others. Ticket can be purchased online. Pretzels from Hofbrauhaus and other healthy refreshments will be provided prior to the screening.
@ McConomy Auditorium, University Center.
An experimental documentary on one of the largest and most modern hospitals in Europe. "Geyrhalter is providing a complete view that would be impossible for any one subject, from any perspective, to grasp. This is more than a total picture; it is an X-ray. We are shown various medical procedures such as MRIs, eye surgery, emergency room care, and the like. But we also see administrative meetings, the strategic planning of the chaplaincy, the mixing of large vats of food in the lower-level kitchen, a patient arriving on the rooftop helipad, and other such 'restricted' areas... Danube Hospital reflects an intervention into the international debate on so-called socialized medicine [and] might be understood as a kind of macro-metonym, for a system that is not at all perfect but that works much more than it doesn’t."
- M. Sicinski, "A Metonymic Cinema”, July 2012
April 8, Mon. (POSTPONED)
6:00pm: Alan H Rider Distinguished Lecture: "What's Next?" by Winy Maas (MVRDV; Imperfect Health exhibiting architect)
@ Carnegie Library Lecture Hall. Presented by the CMU School of Architecture Spring Lecture Series, cosponsored by the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art; and supported, in part, by public funds from the Netherlands Cultural Services.