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Bio
Alex Schweder La, based in Berlin, works with architecture and performance art to complicate the distinction between occupying subjects and occupied objects. These projects include Flatland at New York’s Sculpture Center, Its Form Follows Your Performance at Berlin’s Magnus Muller, A Sac of Rooms All Day Long at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Counterweight Roommate in Scope Basel, and Roomograph at the deCordova Museum. His projects have been funded by the Pollack Krasner and Graham Foundations. Schweder La is the author of Stalls Between Walls included in Ladies and Gents, the Gendering of Public Toilets and Performance Architecture included in Urban Interiors. He is a three-time artist in residence at the Kohler company and was in residence at the Chinati Foundation and American Academy in Rome. Schweder has been a guest professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Institute for Art and Architecture in Vienna.
Education
2005 – 6
1996 – 8
1988 – 93 |
American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, Fellow of Architecture
Princeton University, School of Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey, March
Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Brooklyn, New York, BArch |
Solo Exhibitions
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
|
Counterweight Roommate, SCOPE, Basel, Switzerland
This Apple Tastes Like Our Livingroom Used To Smell, Western Bridge, Seattle, WA
A Sac of Rooms All Day Long, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Architectural Performances in Geologic Time, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX
Evaporative Buildings, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX
Ours, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Its Form Will Follow Your Performance, Magnus Muller Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Stability, Lawrimore Project, Seattle, WA
Roiling Infill, The Warehouse Gallery, Syracuse, NY
Snowbound, Tacoma Art Museum, WA
A Sac of Rooms Three Times a Day, Suyama Space, Seattle, WA
Folded Murmur, Howard House, Seattle, WA
Sick Building Sequence, Howard House, Seattle, WA
Love Sick Room, Henry Urbach Architecture, New York, NY
Still Life of Beefsteak and Cheese, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Lovesick Buildings, Howard House, Seattle, WA |
Group Exhibitions
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2003
2002
|
Open House with Droog and Diller Scofidio Renfro, Levittown, NY
Paradesign, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
The More Things Change, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Temporary Structures, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Seitensprung: Raumproduktion, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Germany
Evaporative Building, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI
Murmurs, Cranbrook Museum, Detroit, MI
Concise History of Northwest Art, Tacoma Art Museum, WA
Homebase III, Harlem, New York City, NY
246 and Counting, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Traces and Accumulations, Wright Space, Seattle, WA
Happiness of Objects, Sculpture Center, New York, NY
Insubstantial Pageant Faded, Western Bridge, Seattle, WA
Dark Matters, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
New Media Survey, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Northwest Biennial, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Sparkle then Fade, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Neddy Awards, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Tryingtoland, Museo d’Arte Contemporane di Roma, Rome, Italy
Three Rooms, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
Ergonomicon, Consolidated Works, Casey Kessler Curator, Seattle, WA
Passing Water, Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada
Latent Space, Henry Urbach and Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam, Holland |
Selected Honors and Awards
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
1996
|
Graham Foundation Fellowship, Chicago, IL
Arts Victoria, Production Award, Melbourne Australia
International Artist Award, ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, MI
Emergency Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Chinati Foundation, Artist in Residence, Marfa, TX
Pollock-Krasner Award, New York, NY
John Michael Kohler Arts Centre, residency, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 2001, 2003.
City Artists Grant, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural affairs, 2004
Arts Special Projects Award, 4Culture
Genius Award, The Stranger
Neddy Award Finalist, Behnke Family Foundation
Artist Pension Trust, Los Angeles
Artist Trust Fellowship
City Artists Grant, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural affairs
Arts Special Projects Award, 4Culture
Rome Prize, 11 Month Fellowship, American Academy in Rome
Arts Special Projects Award, 4Culture
Public Arts Network Year in Review Selection
Grant for Artists Projects, Artist’s Trust
Full Tuition and Stipend Fellowship, Princeton University, 1996 |
Architectural Practice
2001 - 08
1998-00
1993-97
1991-93
1990
|
Reserve Consultants Ltd., Seattle, WA
Project Architect, Designed and Administered repairs for buildings with water intrusion problems with budgets between $50K and $2.5M
Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects, New York City, NY
Project Architect, Design and Construction Documents for domestic projects in New York City and Latin America ranging between $500K and 3.5M
Leo Blackman Architecture, New York City, NY
Draftsman, Design and Administration for apartment renovations in New York City
Beckhard Richlan Architects, New York City, NY
Draftsman, Presentation drawings for the publication Houses Without Rules
Edward Larabee Barnes and Assosciates, New York City, NY
Architectural Intern, Construction Documents for Dallas Museum of Fine Arts |
Lectures and Teaching
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2003
2002
2001
|
Institute of Art and Architecture, Vienna, Lecturer
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, Lecture
Montserrat College of Art, Lincoln, MA, Lecture
Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, Visiting Lecturer
Cornell University, Lecture
Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Lecture
Emily Carr School of Art and Design
San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, Lecture
Cranbrook University, Lecture
Chinati Foundation, Lecture
Harvard University, Lecture
University of Greenwich, London, Lecture
Colgate University, Hartford, NY, Lecture
Portland Art Museum, Lecture
Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, Adjunct Professor
Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, Lecture
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, Lecture
Istituto Nazionale di Architettura, Rome, Italy, Lecture
University of Greenwich, London, England Lecture
Parsons School Of Design, NYC, NY, Lecture
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA Lecture
Lawrence College, Lawrence, WI, Lecture
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Lecture
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY September, Lecture
University of British Columbia, November 2001 |
Selected Publications
2011
2010
2009
2007
2006
2002
|
Performance Architecture”, in “Urban Interior”, Rochus Hinkel (ed.), Germany, Surbuchverlag, 2011
Exhibit Architecture, Log, Cynthia Davidson and Tina DiCarlo (ed.), Fall 2010
Space, Time, Performance, Creative Cowboy Films, Australia
“Stalls Between Walls, Segregated Sexed Spaces”, in Ladies and Gents: Gender and Public Toilets, Olga Gershenson and Barbara Penner (eds.), Philadelphia, Temple University Press
Stability, Yasmeen M. Siddiqui (ed.), exhibition cat., Seattle, Lawrimore Project
A Sac of Rooms Three Times A Day, Urbach, Henry (ed.), exh. cat., Seattle, Suyama Space
Transmaterial, Brownell, Blaine (ed.), New York, Princeton Architectural Press
Alex Schweder’s Peeple, Behavior Press, New York
Shanghai Reflections, by Mario Gandelsonas, Princeton Press, New York |
Selected Reviews
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
|
Roomograph, Domus, Blog Italy, October
Design Bureau, Forthcoming
Space, Time, Performance, inTROUBLE Magazine, Australia, March
Stability, by Javier Arbona, Frame Magazine, The Netherlands, January- February
Sensate, by Tania Ketenjian, Icon Magazine, November
Artology, Science and Art Collide, by Michael H. Hodges, The Detroit News, 18 November
Sensate: Bodies and Design, by Pilar Vilares, New York Times, 10 August
Ours, by Traci Vogel, San Francisco Weekly, 19 August
Interview with Jens Hinrichsen, Monopol Magazine, July
Mental Architecture, by Deike Diening, Tagesspiegel, 28 June
Living on a See - Saw Has Its Ups and Downs, by Robert Siegel, National Public Radio, 27 March
Introducing: Alex Schweder, by Jeff Byles, Modern Painters, July
Alex Schweder Amplifies Things That May Otherwise Be Overlooked, by Katherine Rushworth, Syracuse Post-Standard, 30 November
Artforum Pick, The Happiness of Objects, by Lori Cole, Artforum, May
Proof That Objects Are People too (Well, Almost), by Martha Schwendener, New York Times, 18 May
Alex Schweder at Suyama Space, by Frances DeVuono, Artweek, March
Organ Donor, by Jen Graves,The Stranger, 28 March
Body Doubles, by Nate Lippens, Filip Review Issue 5, Spring
Schweder’s Inflatable House Exposes the Vulnerability of Sanctuary, by Regina Hackett, Seattle-PI, 2 February
The Birds Arrive at Howard House in an Amazing Collaboration of Three Artists, by Nate Lippens, Seattle-PI, 3 November
Gods of Rome, Form Howard House to Bird House, by Jen Graves, The Stranger, 2 November
Terrific Storms, by Sue Peters, Seattle Weekly, 25 October
Once More With Feathers, by Peter Gaucys, The Stranger, 31 August
Relief at Last, by Joanna Merwood, Arcade Journal, Spring Conflicted Bodies, by Nate Lippens, The Stranger, 24 March
Lively 'Ergonomicon' plumbs environments awash in fantasy, by Regina Hackett, Seattle-PI, 25 February
Architecture and collage fill the senses at Howard House, by Regina Hackett, Seattle-PI, 3 December
Gut Symmetries, Alex Schweder Builds a Body, by Nate Lippens, The Stranger, December 2
A Bodily Function, Writ Large, by Michael Dault, The Canadian Globe and Mail, 23 August
Urine Deep, by Thomas Hirschmann, NOW Toronto, 17 July
Artist Makes Bold Body of Works Relating to Bodily Functions, by Jen Graves, The Tacoma Tribune, 16 March
Don’t Kill Yourself, by Emily Hall, The Stranger, 20 March
Interior Motives, by Ann Landi, ARTnews, January
Latent space, Rotterdam’s Dagblad , 20 July
Architects Become Sleuths of Space, by Sheri Olson, The Seattle PI, 23 August
Art and Design, Bringing Fresh Ideas to the Table, by Blake Gopnik, The Washington Post, 21 April
The Armory Show, With Wit in Store, by Blake Gopnik, The Washington Post, 3 March
Seattle's CoCA exhibit signals vibrancy, by Randy Gragg, The Oregonian, 11 August
Useful Objects, or are they?, by Emily Hall, The Stranger, 21 October
Pee and Sympathy, by Anna Fahey, Seattle Weekly, 4 October |
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