Storytelling Series: Petra Bachmaier of Luftwerk with Mimi Zeiger

January 8, 2017 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Drawing Room

(Photo: Flow, Luftwerk 2015, courtesy of Peter Tsai)

Join us in the new year where we kick off the first installment of another season of the hotel’s beloved Storytelling Series.

This Sunday, we excitedly welcome in Petra Bachmaier to discuss her dynamic collaborative art practice which has captivated the eyes and minds of Chicago and beyond. And Mimi Zeiger, a Los Angeles-based Critic, Editor, and Curator to moderate this conversation.

Petra Bachmaier, Artist and Co-founder of Luftwerk. “For more than 10 years, Luftwerk have created art installations that merge elements of light and video with facets of architecture and design. Their 2010 commission to create a new media exhibit for the centennial celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House helped them discover a deeper resonance with architecture and pursue and a growing interest in how experiences of space and site are augmented through light and sound. With immersive works at sites such as Fallingwater, Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, Tampa’s Kiley Garden, Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Garfield Park Conservatory to name a few, their artwork blends history, architecture, and contemporary media to open new aesthetic conversations within public spaces. Projects to date have been featured in periodicals such as Architectural Record, Dwell, The Creators Project, design boom, and more. Recent awards include an Endorsement Award for Innovation from Surface Magazine, a Media Art Award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and featured projects honored by the American for the Arts Public Art Network (PAN). Petra Bachmaier, originally from Munich, works collaboratively with her partner Sean Gallero. The duo met during studies at SAIC and formed Luftwerk in 2007.” – David Zivan

Mimi Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based critic, editor, and curator. Her work is situated at the intersection architecture and media cultures. She has covered art, architecture, urbanism, and design for a number of publications including The New York Times, Domus, Architectural Review, and Architect, where she is a contributing editor. She is a regular opinion columnist for Dezeen and former West Coast Editor of The Architects Newspaper. Zeiger is the 2015 recipient of the Bradford Williams Medal for excellence in writing about landscape architecture. She teaches in the Media Design Practices MFA program at Art Center College of Design and is former co-president of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from SCI-Arc and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University.

About the Storytelling Series:
The Chicago Athletic Association hotel’s Storytelling Series shares compelling stories and interviews from interesting and inspiring movers, shakers and visitors. From artists to musicians, innovators, adventurers and visionaries with a great story to tell – the series gives an inside look into the experiences, moments and memories that have shaped the speakers, their work and their lives. The hotel is known for its rich history, and while the walls can’t talk, the Storytelling Series continues the tradition of welcoming the world’s finest talent into its halls to make lasting memories. Only now, we’ll record and share those moments so worth remembering.

The ongoing series takes place fireside in the Drawing Room and includes about one hour of storytelling, followed by a Q + A. Space is limited and seating is first come first serve.