Participating artists and architects

Kyong Park is an architect and the founder/director of the International Center for Urban Ecology, a nomadic laboratory for future cities, based in Detroit and New York. He is currently co-curator of Project Shrinking Cities, a project that examines the phenomena of depopulation in four developed cities around the world, mapping and critiquing the patterns of exodus, their socio-cultural impetus and impact, and the derelict land left behind.

Mel Chin originally began working in sculpture which addressed political and social issues. He became interested in environmental art as his ideas expanded to include a greater consideration for ecological systems and sustainability. Chin's interests include creating work that addresses issues of habitat devastation, restoration, and sustaining the planet's biodiversity.

PEANUTZ means to act upon space with a variety of nutz (meaning use in German). Through their design practice, Elke Knoess and Wolfgang Grillitsch deal with every kind of architecture and space. They have developed the strategy of TUNING which endows semantically exhausted places, un-usable objects or worn out structures with new content and possibilities of use. The aim is to make the use more multifaceted by strengthening existing potential or implanting new inventions and to create new spaces.

Frances Whitehead is an artist whose sculpture, installations, gardens and collaborative public works operate at the nexus of nature and culture. Her current work in Cleveland, superorg.net, was conceived in response to the Towpath Trail Extension Initiative. superorg.net is an experimental model for public planning processes that includes artists as key members, proposing possible futures for the larger region and the Cuyahoga River Valley, its economic, industrial, cultural and environmental vitality.

For related articles on Shrinking Cities click here.
*All events are free and open to the public