PLURAL, NEW ART DIRECTOR OF MAS CONTEXT

© Plural

We are thrilled to announce that Plural, led by Jeremiah Chiu and Renata Graw, is the new art director of MAS Context. Having previously worked with them during MAS Context ANALOG, it is great to have the opportunity to establish an ongoing collaboration that addresses all the visual aspects of MAS Context.

Plural is a Chicago-based creative studio practice founded in 2008. With a focus on pursuing meaningful projects, Plural explores new approaches within the design process, experimenting in a wide range of media including print, web, video, sound, interactive and installation. They have received recognition by the Art Directors club, AIGA, The Type Directors Club, The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Communication Arts magazine, Print magazine, and How magazine among others.

The first change that you will see will be a new MAS Context website released early next month to coincide with our Spring issue, OWNERSHIP. Printed versions as well as other visual aspects of MAS Context will also be redefined throughout the year.

For more information about Plural and to see more of their work, check out their website.

MAS CONTEXT IN ARCHIZINES EXHIBITION IN MILAN

ARCHIZINES continues its world tour, this time to Milan, and MAS Context will be featured among an incredible set publications.

Following the critically-acclaimed launch in London, the ARCHIZINES exhibition opens tonight at Milan’s SpazioFMGperl’Architettura. The touring exhibition, initiated in collaboration with the Architectural Association School of Architecture celebrates the best new architecture fanzines, magazines and journals from around the world. Further details of the ARCHIZINES WORLD TOUR will be announced shortly.

At the finissage on 23rd February, SpazioFMGperl’Architettura and Domus Magazine are hosting ARCHIZINES LIVE – a lecture to explore the changing nature of architecture publishing in the digital age with Elias Redstone (curator of Archizines), Luca Molinari (critic and curator SpazioFMGperl’Architetura) and Joseph Grima (director of Domus magazine), along with other Italian and foreign guests, at 121 + LIBRARY EXTEMPORANEA, Via Savona 17/5.

For more information, please visit the official website.

Photographs by Mauro Consilvio / SpazioFMG

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | LEE BEY

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Photographer and architecture critic Lee Bey presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Lee Bey is interested in studying, covering and impacting architecture, urbanism, historic preservation and the role politics play in the creation of the built environment. He is executive director of the Chicago Central Area Committee, on-air architecture contributor for Fox News Chicago, writes an architectural blog called “Lee Bey’s Chicago” for public radio station WBEZ, and is an accomplished photographer.
www.leebey.com | @LEEBEY

LECTURE BY ARCHITECT LUIS URCULO

© Luis Urculo

We are excited to present the lecture by Madrid-based architect Luis Urculo in partnership with the Graham Foundation.

Luis Urculo’s work is characterized by an unusual portrayal of architecture in the form of illustrations, animations, installations, and interiors. He studied at the ETSAM Madrid, at the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago and at the Institute of Design and has collaborated with Alberto Campo Baeza, Mansilla-Tuñon and Izaskun Chinchilla. In 2006, he opened his own studio developing ephemeral architecture projects, stage designs and video-installations for Conde Nást, Philippe Starck and Sybilla, among others. His work has been exhibited at the XI Bienale di Architettura di Venezia, Montevideo Bienial, COAM Foundation and other locations. He also works as a teacher with Jaime Hayón for Master of European Design Labs at Instituto Europeo di Design, Madrid.

RSVP Required. CLICK HERE TO RSVP

When: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 6 pm

Where: Graham Foundation (4 West Burton Place, Chicago)

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | DAVID SCHALLIOL

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Photographer David Schalliol presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

David Schalliol is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He is academically and artistically interested in issues of social stratification and meaning in the social and physical worlds. In addition to his sociological and photographic activities, David plays an active role on several websites, including his work as Founder and Editor of metroblossom and Managing Editor of Gapers Block.
www.davidschalliol.com | @metroblossom

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | JESSICA RODRIGUE

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Photographer Jessica Rodrigue presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Jessica Rodrigue received her MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago. She has exhibited at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and the Institute for Contemporary Art / Maine College of Art among other institutions. Her work is currently on display at the Hyde Park Art Center as part as the exhibition “No Place Like Home.”
www.jessicarodrigue.net

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | JOHN SZOT

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Architect John Szot presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

John Szot is an award-winning designer working in the New York metropolitan area. He runs John Szot Studio where he focuses mainly on researching the relationship between new technology and what makes the built environment meaningful.
www.johnszot.com | @johnszot

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | ANDREW MODDRELL & CHRISTOPHER MARCINKOSKI

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Architects Andrew Moddrell and Christopher Marcinkoski present at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Christopher Marcinkoski is a founding director of PORT A+U. Previously, he was a senior associate at James Corner Field Operations (JCFO) in New York City, where he led much of the office’s large-scale master planning and urban design work. Mr. Marcinkoski is currently an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
www.portarchitects.com

Andrew Moddrell is a founding director of PORT A+U. He recently represented PORT A+U in Washington D.C. as part of the advisory panel for the National Endowment for the Arts inaugural “Our Town” initiative. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor teaching graduate and undergraduate design studios related to contemporary issues of urbanism at the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Architecture.
www.portarchitects.com

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | SARAH DUNN

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Architect Sarah Dunn presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Sarah Dunn is the co-founder of UrbanLab, an architecture and urban design firm with a reputation as a professional practice known for its innovative solutions to, and long-range strategies for, the problems of both public and private communities. Their primary interest is in forward-looking projects that speculate on a more resilient and resourceful tomorrow.
www.urbanlab.com

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | STEWART HICKS & ALLISON NEWMEYER

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Architects Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer present at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Design With Company is the Illinois-based consortium founded by Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer in 2010. They teach at the UIUC and practice what they call “Slipstream Architecture,” which reveals latent conditions of reality through design narratives and fictions.
www.designwith.co | @designwithco

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | BRIAN STRAWN & KARLA SIERRALTA

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Architects Brian Strawn and Karla Sierralta present at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Strawn.Sierralta is a young, boutique architecture and design studio based in Chicago and run by Brian Strawn and Karla Sierralta. They are deeply committed to investigating the specific qualities of each project – its natural, cultural, social and political environments. Their goal is to find fresh solutions that are simple, bold, innovative and unexpected.
www.strawnsierralta.com

ABERRATION REVIEWED BY RICHARD PROUTY

© Antonio Rull

Richard Prouty, author of the blog One-Way street, reviews our ABERRATION issue. We are really happy to hear that our collaboration with John Szot for this issue has resulted in a great issue. Hear are a couple of quotes from his review:

“The 12th issue of the journal MAS Context appears to be its longest and, perhaps not coincidentally, among its strongest issues. The theme is aberration and, as co-editors Iker Gil and John Szot explain, the thirteen features all address the moments when architects and designers “abandon idealistic convention in pursuit of ideas that embrace the irreverence of material reality.”"

“There are lots of architectural websites and blogs. Most of them, however, are essentially PR outlets for developer projects. With this issue MAS Context has become one of the best showcases for innovative architectural work.”

To read the full review, please visit One-Way Street

Thanks so much Richard for taking the time to review the issue and give us your feedback, we really appreciate it!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS. MORE IN 2012!

2011 comes to a close and it has been an important year for MAS Context.

We released another four issues – NETWORK, CONFLICT, SPEED and ABERRATION – each one really well received. After three years of MAS Context during which we have released 12 issues, we have had more than 130 contributors that have shared their work and ideas through essays, interviews, photographs, diagrams and videos. To make all that content available, this summer we gave our website a face-lift to allow for easier navigation across platforms and to facilitate cross-referencing content.

In October we organized MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, a one-day event that included presentations of both emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol. The 12-hour event provided a platform for critical dialogue around design, a place to share ideas and approaches from different disciplines, and celebrated the immense talent of the design community in Chicago (well, except for John Szot who we imported from NY for the day).

Earlier this month, MAS Context, Woodbury School of Architecture, and WUHO presented ABERRATION: LIVE, a one-night-only live publishing event. One part magazine, two parts launch party, ABERRATION: LIVE was part of Woodbury School of Architecture’s inaugural “Publish Or…” launch series, which celebrates and critiques the connections between architecture and publication, print and digital.

Also this year, MAS Context became a not for profit organization and applied for a 501c(3) status (result still pending). Taking this step will create the appropriate structure to raise funding and exposure to the issues we release and the events we organize.

Finally, we don’t have enough words to thank The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation for their continuous support to MAS Context. Also, big thanks to Evergreen Properties, Coalesse and Allsteel for supporting MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG.

All the issue releases and events were the result of the hard work of many people. Thank you to everyone who was a contributor in any of the issues, supported or attended any of our events, and shared the work presented in MAS Context. More in 2012!

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | JEREMIAH CHIU

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Designer Jeremiah Chiu presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Jeremiah Chiu is a designer and co-founder of Plural, a Chicago-based creative studio practice. With a focus on pursuing meaningful projects, Plural explores new approaches within the design process, experimenting in a wide range of media including print, web, video, sound, interactive and installation.
www.weareplural.com | @PluralDesign

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | KAREN SEMONE

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Designer Karen Semone presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Karen Semone is the Director of Content Strategy at VSA Partners, an experienced, high-performing branding firm for the modern age. VSA Partners blends world class strategic, creative and digital capabilities to help businesses drive results by inventing, reinventing and building brands positioned to thrive in today’s dynamic environment. For 30 years VSA has helped some of the world’s leading businesses including IBM, Nike, Harley-Davidson, P&G, GAP, Caterpillar and GE.
www.vsapartners.com

ABERRATION: LIVE IN LOS ANGELES

Iker Gil, Mimi Zeiger and John Szot

On Friday, December 16th, MAS Context, Woodbury School of Architecture, and WUHO presented ABERRATION: LIVE, a one-night-only live publishing event. One part magazine, two parts launch party, ABERRATION: LIVE was part of Woodbury School of Architecture’s inaugural Publish Or… launch series, which celebrates and critiques the connections between architecture and publication, print and digital. The event brings together editors, photographers, filmmakers, and architects for an evening of short presentations.

MAS Context ABERRATION editors Iker Gil and John Szot presented the work done during the first three years of the design journal and specifically in this issue respectively. Introductions were done by the always great Mimi Zeiger.

Sonic prologue and afterword by Los Angeles–based Health and Beauty.

Thanks so much to Mimi Zeiger, Woodbury University, Health and Beauty, and all of you who attended the event!

Photographs by Mimi Zeiger and Andreas E.G. Larsson.

MAS Context, a quarterly journal created by MAS Studio, addresses issues that affect the urban context. Each issue delivers a comprehensive view of a single topic through the active participation of people from different fields and different perspectives who, together, instigate the debate.
www.mascontext.com | @MASContext

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | JASON PICKLEMAN

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Designer Jason Pickleman presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Jason Pickleman runs JNL Graphic Design. Begun in 1992, the JNL specializes in the creation of graphic objects of unique cultural significance. Catalogues, site-specific artworks, dimensional signage, advertising, brand identities and related collateral are part and parcel of our daily work flow. They seek to do highly visible projects that sculpt the visual and cultural landscape we inhabit.
www.jnldesign.com

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | CHERYL TOWLER WEESE

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Designer Cheryl Towler Weese presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Cheryl Towler Weese founded Studio Blue in 1993. She acts as creative director and oversees the mentoring of the design team. Cheryl’s influence on the studio’s work shows in her contextual approach as well as her intrepid demand for craft and innovation. She has served on the national board of the AIGA, the professional association for design; taught and lectured on design at universities and conferences; and juried numerous design competitions, including AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers competition, which she has chaired and juried four times.
www.studioblueinc.com

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG | RICK VALICENTI

Video shot by Cleo Ngiam and Emily Baek. Edited by Cleo Ngiam.

Designer Rick Valicenti presents at MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG, an event organized by MAS Context on Saturday, October 15th 2011 in Chicago. The one-day event included presentations of emerging and established designers, a temporary bookstore by Golden Age and exhibitions by Plural and David Schalliol.

Rick Valicenti is the founder and design director of Thirst/Chicago, a communication design firm devoted to art, function and real human presence. Rick was recently awarded the 2011 National Design Award: Communication Design by The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. In 2006, Rick was awarded the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) Medal for his sustained contribution to design excellence and development of the profession. This medal is the highest honor in the graphic design profession.
www.3st.com | www.movingdesign.com | @3stDesign

THE POTENTIAL OF THE TERRITORY BEYOND. Issue statement by Iker Gil, editor in chief of MAS Context, and John Szot, guest editor of this issue.

© Luis Urculo

Aberration. That was the title chosen for this issue after much discussion between us. “Pathology” and “appropriation” were some of the other working titles that we bounced back and forth but we felt were too wide or too pointed, not capturing exactly what we were interested in exploring. Aberration was open enough to allow multiple interpretations but, at the same time, specific enough to target the qualities we sought: highly provocative projects and ideas that challenge orthodoxy in order to enhance our understanding of the built environment. We were not exactly sure how that would translate into the specific outcomes from the invited contributions or what we were expecting in the call for submissions. But that was really the position in which we wanted to be, precise about the idea but open to the result.

This conversation started over half a year ago, before the MAS Context team even started to work on the Speed issue. Initiated by the mutual interest in each other’s work, we decided to collaborate in an issue, not just by contributing specific projects or an essay but actually shaping the topic and content of the issue together. And that was a first time. Since the start of MAS Context almost three years ago, there has been a close collaboration with the authors (over 130 by now) in each one of the issues. In the last few months, MAS Context has incorporated another way of continuing that collaboration, inviting authors and readers to guest curate five posts from already published issues in the “In Context” section. It has provided a successful way of framing the work done under new topics, cross-referencing articles, issues and contributors. This has been the first time that a guest editor was brought in for an issue of MAS Context, and it has been an enriching experience.

The creative process is idealistic, and much of what we prize in the work of our designers and artists comes from the way in which their visions stand in stark contrast to our understanding of the world. However, there are moments in life where the ambitions of idealistic thinking block access to the profound reality lurking within the quotidian. The thirteen contributions featured in this issue each abandon idealistic convention in pursuit of ideas that embrace the irreverence of material reality. In the process, they often cross disciplines and blur platforms to bring clarity and precision to thoughts that are without precedent. Writer and architect Paul Shepheard begins the issue, introducing us to his vision for a moral standard that reconciles the opposition between idealism and corporeality. From there, we delve into a series of ruminations and proposals that bridge the fields of architecture, design, politics, and literature. Individually, they illustrate conditions of future cities, create icons from mundane elements, propose new relationships between space and material, and reconfigure the relationship between architecture and the society it keeps. Collectively, they brave new territory as they transcend the limitations of idealistic thinking and demonstrate that, when the conventions of a discipline are pushed aside and the imagination is not restricted by practical obligations, there is a rich path full of potential worth exploring. Or, as in the words of Spanish painter Goya mentioned by Emilio López-Galiacho in his contribution, “The sleep of reason produces monsters.”

Iker Gil is an architect, urban designer, and director of MAS Studio. In addition, he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at UIC. He is the recipient of the 2010 Emerging Visions Award from the Chicago Architectural Club.
www.mas-studio.com | @MASContext

John Szot is an award-winning designer working in the New York metropolitan area. He runs John Szot Studio where he focuses mainly on researching the relationship between new technology and what makes the built environment meaningful.
www.johnszot.com | @johnszot