Visiting Artist Ania Jaworska to Speak on Dissolving the Boundaries Between Architecture, Design and Art

Monday, January 13, 2020

Architect Ania Jaworska will speak as part of the exhibition In the Mind of a Collector at the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art.

Focusing heavily on art and design, In the Mind of a Collector examines the concept that everyday objects can be appreciated as works of art through aesthetics and functionality. Jaworska’s presentation, “In Equal Parts: About Architecture, Spaces and Objects,” explores the crossover among architecture, art and design. She will speak at 5 p.m. Jan. 22 in the Donald W. Reynolds School of Architecture Building Lecture Hall; it is free and open to the public.

Using simple and bold forms from architecture and design, Jaworska communicates humor and cultural references through her work. She juxtaposes opposite concepts to work together, both paying homage to and undermining historical and traditional architectural concepts. The contradictory ideas within art and architecture provide a cynical commentary on mainstream design. Jaworska’s Entrance Installation, commissioned for the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, plays with the use of arches and columns, questioning their original purpose by rejecting the structural use and providing a visual complement to the information desk.

“We wanted to present the work and ideas of an individual who is actively engaged in shaping the future of art, architecture and design,” said Arlette Klaric, the museum’s associate chief curator. “In Ania Jaworska’s work, these areas intermingle and merge as equal partners in the visual arts. Our exhibition In the Mind of a Collector shares this vision of equality in showing the recent George R. Kravis II gift, which includes both art and design. We are very excited to explore the programming possibilities the addition that design brings to our collection.”

Jaworska grew up in Poland, earning a degree in architecture at Cracow University of Technology and a second degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. She is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Architecture. She was identified as an emerging designer by Azure magazine and has contributed to exhibitions such as the 13th Venice Biennale and the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial. In 2015, she had a solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and was a 2017 finalist for the Museum of Modern Art’s Young Architect Program in New York.

 

MEDIA CONTACT: Kristen Duncan | OSU Museum of Art | 405-744-2783 | kristen.duncan@okstate.edu