Architectures of finance from the Great Depression to the Subprime Meltdown
An exhibition by Damon Rich and the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
Commissioned by the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS)
Hosted by the MIT Museum

MIT Museum Compton Gallery
Building 10-150
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA
Free and open daily 10 am–5 pm
Opening reception: September 9, 5:30–7:30 pm


"The American preference for traditional residential design masks a frightening reality: across the globe, individual buildings have been retrofitted to serve as interchangeable nodes in a vast abstract structure, held loosely together by legal and political restraints, made to allow the furious circulation of finance capital."

An installation of models, photographs, videos, and drawings, Red Lines, Death Vows, Foreclosures, Risk Structures immerses visitors in a landscape of pulsing capital and liquidated buildings, exploring the relation between finance and architecture. During a year-long residence at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, designer and CUP founder Damon Rich surveyed the darkening realm of real estate markets and produced an installation to share the findings. As the Subprime Meltdown continues to spread, pushing people out of homes, bankrupting institutions, and threatening global economic crisis, Red Lines aims to broaden and enrich the urgent conversation about how our society finances its living environments.

Damon Rich is an urban designer working at the intersection of design, policy, and the public. His exhibitions use video, sculpture, graphics, and photography to investigate the political economy of the built environment. His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Storefront for Art and Architecture and SculptureCenter (New York City), the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst (Liepzig), the Venice Architecture Biennale, and Netherlands Architecture Institute (Rotterdam). In 1997, he founded the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people understand and change the places they live.

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a New York City-based nonprofit organization that uses art and design to draw the connections between everyday life and the decision-making processes that give it form. CUP produces community and youth education projects, exhibitions, and events that reclaim the possibilities of social architecture. Visit http://www.anothercupdevelopment.org to learn more.

The Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) makes new artworks at MIT. The Center facilitates exchange between internationally known and emerging contemporary artists and MIT's faculty, students, and staff through public programs and residencies for artists and MIT students. Visit http://cavs.mit.edu/ to learn more.

CAVS Curator: Larissa Harris
Project Producer: Meg Rotzel
Project Producer, exhibition design: Jae Shin

Public Programs:
October 6, 5:30 pm at the Compton Gallery: Exhibition tour with Damon Rich
October 6, 7:00 pm at the MIT Museum: Damon Rich moderates a discussion with Phil Thompson (MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning), Margaret Crawford (Harvard Graduate School of Design), and Lynn Fisher (MIT Center for Real Estate).
December 11, 6:30 pm at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies: Martha Rosler and Damon Rich in conversation

This exhibition is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, the LEF Foundation, and the New York State Council for the Arts. Special thanks to the Loeb Fellowship of the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS)
MIT
77 Massachusetts Avenue N52-390
Cambridge MA 02139
617 253 4415 v
617 253 1660 f

For more information, contact Meg Rotzel, mrotzel@mit.edu