MAK UFI
April 04, 2008 - September 30, 2009

MAK Urban Future Initiative
The MAK Center for Art and Architecture Los Angeles, at the Schindler House, is pleased to announce the launching of a fellowship program, the MAK Urban Future Initiative, focused on contemporary urban issues.

About UFI
Funded by a major grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the MAK Urban Future Initiative (UFI) is a fellowship program in which cultural researchers from diverse nations will come to Los Angeles for two months, live in the exemplary L.A. modern Fitzpatrick-Leland House (R. M. Schindler, 1936) and pursue a research topic related to urban phenomena. Fellows will come from nations that are under-represented in the Los Angeles discourse; the MAK Center will work closely with them to create a meaningful cross-cultural exchange. The goal is to generate concepts for the urban future by stimulating dialogue and mining both Los Angeles and international resources.

The objectives of the program are to:

• Welcome international urban-focused researchers to Los Angeles, and connect them to the city through its architecture and its creative/intellectual community.

• Record, log, and publish their cross-cultural exchange online and in print.

• Enliven a work of architecture by R.M. Schindler by inviting guests from far and near to share the space while pursuing creative and intellectual interests.

Fellows
The MAK Center is pleased to welcome its first fellow, Marco Kusumawijaya. Based in Jakarta, Indonesia, he is an architect by training who has been active in the fields of architecture, the environment, cultural heritage, urban planning and development for 20 years. He has worked with the private sector, international agencies, governments and NGOs, and also writes and lectures, with a special interest in sustainable urbanization and social changes that promote sustainability. In 2001, he started Green Map in Indonesia, as part of an international effort to map the natural, cultural and green resources of communities throughout the world. Kusumawijaya plans to study the relationship between the last 100 years of urban history in Los Angeles and the levels of material and energy used in the production and operation of its built spaces. This will contribute to his long-term study of means to promote sustainability in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities.

The other UFI fellows hail from across the globe, including Venezuela, South Africa, Peru, Iran, and Egypt. Among the professions represented by this group are art, architecture, poetry, urban planning and more. Topics to be addressed include Latino urbanisms, “spatial justice,” the phenomenon of the urban desert, and the impact of satellite TV on translating cultural experience.

Location
The MAK UFI will be housed in the Fitzpatrick-Leland House (R.M. Schindler, 1936), an exemplary modern residence located at the crest of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive. The L-shaped building is located at cliff’s edge, with its main living spaces facing the view of the canyon below and the garage and sleeping area in a two-story side wing. The large lot allows the building to spread out and engage the landscape with a dramatic catwalk. Schindler’s only “spec” house, it was commissioned by the developer of the subdivision to attract buyers to the area.

UFI Jury
The MAK UFI fellows submitted proposals and were selected by an international panel of leaders in the arts, architecture and planning. The panel included: Sam Assefa, Architect, Director of Policy for the Department of Planning, City of Chicago; Victoria Beard, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, UC Irvine; Sylvia Lavin, Author, Professor of Architecture, UCLA; Qingyun Ma, Architect, Dean of USC School of Architecture; Kimberli Meyer, MAK Center Director; Peter Noever, CEO and Artistic Director, MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art; and Aradhana Seth, Filmmaker, Designer, Bombay/New Delhi.

Organization:
Alaine Azcona, UFI programs manager
aazcona@makcenter.org
Kimberli Meyer, Director MAK Center, Los Angeles
Peter Noever, CEO and Artistic Director, MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art