01 30 2025
Manthia DiawaraÉdouard Glissant: On Geomorphism and the Poetics of Trembling
Édouard Glissant: On Geomorphism and the Poetics of Trembling
For Glissant, the poetics of trembling connects us with an intuitive knowledge of things hidden from the naked eye, and buried deep underneath. Glissant argues that there is something embedded in both geomorphism and anthropomorphism that makes trembling possible; it is that which enables a planetary and ecological solidarity between the beings and non-beings. In addition to the poetics of trembling, Glissant adds other essential elements to our reconnection to the knowledge of geomorphism, like the search for traces of things lost or invisible, and the consent to the opacity of the self and the other. The poetics of opacity and trace help to keep the arts alive and preserve the "tout-monde" in its intuitive search for equilibrium and paths to geomorphic ways of knowing. For example, the maroons and other fugitive slaves knew how to read the geography and geology of the environment, in order to escape captivity and survive. We will explore the questions of identity, identification through this Glissantian poetics of geomorphism, trace, opacity and trembling.
Manthia Diawara is a University Professor of the humanities at NYU. His essays on art, cinema, and politics have appeared in The New Times Magazine, LA Times, Libération, Mediapart, and Artforum. He is the author of two acclaimed memoirs: In Search of Africa (Harvard University Press, 2000) and We Won’t Budge: An African in the World (Basic Books, 2008). He has published several books on African and African American cinema. Diawara’s notable films include An Opera of the World (2017), Negritude: A Dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor (2016), Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation (2010), Maison Tropicale (2008), Rouch In Reverse (1995), AI: African Intelligence (2023), and Angela Davis: A World of Wider Freedom (2024).
02 13 2025
Sean RaspetRecent Molecules
Recent Molecules
A discussion and in-person evaluation of selected, newly-created scent molecules.
Sean Raspet is an artist who has been working with scent and molecular structure for over 10 years. He was the first artist to design new olfactory molecules as an art form, starting with Siladroxyllal-014, a sila-substituted analog of hydroxycitronellal he designed in 2013. Since then he has created numerous new scent molecules as artworks and commercial products. He is the founder of Patina (patina.earth), a start up working on designing new scent molecules and on mapping the human olfactory system, to expand the realm of possible scents. His practice merges art with the realms of commercial products and new technologies. In addition to his olfactory works, other works have consisted of liquid chemical formulations, food, nutrition, human metabolism, and human cellular development via stem cells. More recently his work has involved plant genetics and the breeding of new varieties through randomly-induced mutation. His work has been exhibited at the Okayama Art Summit (directed by Pierre Huyghe), Tai Kwun Contemporary Art Centre in Hong Kong, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, de Young Museum, San Francisco, M Woods Museum, Bejing, the 9th Berlin Biennale, Bridget Donahue, New York, Société, Berlin, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, Empty Gallery, Hong Kong, Sculpture Center, New York, and The Kitchen, New York, among others.
03 13 2025
Christian Kōun Alborz OldhamAS SHE DRIFTS, SHE HUMS A LITTLE TUNE. WHAT IS THAT TUNE.
AS SHE DRIFTS, SHE HUMS A LITTLE TUNE. WHAT IS THAT TUNE.
Ikebana, a floral art form codified in Japan, often eschews being turned into an easy commodity. The economic model of its practitioners is based on teaching and the exchange of knowledge, emphasizing in-person presence such as lectures and demonstrations. General knowledge alone on the form is scant, and its different ideologies, likely numbering in the thousands, do not have a centralized channel for a unified understanding of the many directions the practice moves through. Meanwhile, a nearly pre-internet 1990s England sees a rapid development of dance music taking place in clubs with dizzying amounts of musical adaptations, sampling, and demographic shifts. Its distribution too is scattered across regional pirate radio stations, dancehalls, and bootleg recordings. Often, its relatable lyrical content runs counter to its aspirational dress codes of designer labels and champagne. This lecture explores the parallels of scattered continuity between educational lineages of ikebana and the more informal dissemination of musical forms focusing on the heyday of the 1990s dance-music genre UK Garage.
Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham is an artist, writer, researcher, and ikebana practitioner concerned with what surrounds production and the lives of things. Oldham continues Flower Planet, a studio founded by their teacher Kosen Ohtsubo, a pivotal figure in the avant-garde ikebana movement since the 1970s. The studio holds lectures and workshops and produces writings and exhibitions on various elements of ikebana from antiquity to the present. It was through Ohtsubo’s tutelage that Oldham became a certified freestyle sensei at the Ryusei Ikebana School, headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
03 27 2025
Karin ChienToward An Analysis of Power in Structures of Nonfiction Film Financing
Toward An Analysis of Power in Structures of Nonfiction Film Financing
What conditions are required for the democratic emergence of new ideas and new forms? This lecture examines current models for funding nonfiction film, the power dynamics they establish, and their effects on creative risk-taking and creator sustainability. Drawing from ongoing qualitative and quantitative research, these conditions are analyzed to explore pathways toward new systems of financial viability.
Karin Chien is an award-winning independent producer and distributor whose work focuses on financing innovations, equitable production structures, and radically different distribution solutions. For her producing work, Karin has been recognized with top honors in her field, including the Independent Spirit Producers Award, the Humanitas Prize, the Sundance Audience Award, the inaugural Cinereach Producers Award, and the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Producers Keynote speaker. Karin is also the co-founder & president of the distribution company dGenerate Films, which works in partnership with Icarus Films to distribute over 70 fiction and nonfiction titles of independent Chinese cinema. dGenerate Films was awarded a Special Recognition for Distribution from the New York Film Critics Circle in 2023. Karin is also the co-founder of the collective Distribution Advocates, which launched a new distribution innovations fund in Sept 2024. Other recent roles include partner at Louverture Films, strategic advisor to Color Congress, and Film Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center.
04 10 2025
Bradley CantrellAdaptive Epistemologies: Autonomy and Wildness
Adaptive Epistemologies: Autonomy and Wildness
Our contemporary environmental condition is one of ecological hybridity, an evolving state where constructed megaliths exist within noisy gradients of the pseudo natural. These landscapes, hybridized territories, are the product of the exertion of civil engineering, environmental management, and the pressures of urbanization. Where does the discipline of landscape architecture stake its footing in the ecologically complex and technologically abstract realm of contemporary society? To confront the intractable issues of our time it is necessary to develop a more nuanced relationship that allows humanity to co-create infrastructures that support autonomy and wildness.
Bradley Cantrell is a landscape architect and scholar known for his contributions to the integration of computation, responsive technologies, and ecological infrastructures in the design of the territory. He has held academic appointments at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, The Rhode Island School of Design, and the Louisiana State University Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. As a professor and the current Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia, he has pushed the boundaries of how landscapes are designed, understood, and experienced. Cantrell’s work bridges the gap between traditional landscape practices and nascent technologies that are transforming the field. His research explores how computation can create responsive, adaptive, and resilient landscapes that address complex environmental challenges. His decade of experience and research in Southern Louisiana points to a series of methodologies that develop modes of modeling, simulation, and embedded computation that express and engage the complexity of overlapping physical, cultural, and economic systems. His approach to landscape architecture is not just theoretical; it is deeply rooted in practical applications that have redefined the capabilities of the discipline. He is the author of the publication, “Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture,” a seminal text that has become a cornerstone in the education of landscape architects. The book, co-authored with Wes Michaels, provides a comprehensive guide to digital tools and techniques, making it an essential resource for both students and practitioners. Another significant work, “Responsive Landscapes,” co-authored with Justine Holzman, delves into the potentials of interactive systems and adaptive design, offering a forward-thinking perspective on how constructed landscapes can respond to and shape ecological processes.
04 24 2025
Miho MazereeuwThe Climate Project
The Climate Project
Miho Mazereeuw is the MIT Climate Mission Director for Empowering Frontline Communities. Trained as an architect and landscape architect, she is an associate professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT and is the associate head of Strategy and Equity in the department. Mazereeuw taught at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and the University of Toronto. She worked in the offices of Shigeru Ban and Dan Kiley as well as the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam prior to joining the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mazereeuw also leads the Urban Risk Lab, which focuses on designing resilient cities that are prepared for climate risks such as flooding, cyclones, and heat stress. The multi-disciplinary team engages in action research through extensive field work and community workshops both locally and abroad to meet the needs of diverse cultures and contexts. The Urban Risk Lab aspires to change the course of current global development trends through a radical shift in education and action with the goal of increasing resilience and proactively embedding preparedness in this rapidly urbanizing world.
05 08 2025
Rabea EghbariahToward Nakba as a Legal Concept
Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept
Meaning “Catastrophe” in Arabic, the term “al-Nakba” (النكبة) is often used to refer to the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages between 1947 to 1949. But the Nakba has undergone a metamorphosis; it has evolved from a historical calamity into a brutally sophisticated structure of oppression. This lecture examines Nakba not only as a pivotal historical event but as a comprehensive framework for understanding the Palestinian condition, one that warrants legal recognition.
Rabea Eghbariah is a lawyer and legal scholar currently completing a doctorate in Juridical Science at Harvard Law School. Eghbariah had worked as an appellate public defender before joining the Haifa-based Adalah Legal Center, where he argued landmark Palestinian rights cases.
7-9 PM
Free and open to the public
Live on radio.cooper.edu
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Frederick P. Rose Auditorium
41 Cooper Sq, New York NY 10003
The auditorium is wheelchair accessible.
New Public Forum is a student-led series of lectures and demonstrations aimed at instituting public dialogue between various fields as they evolve and adapt to a changing world. With actions and words, we attempt to rattle or dismount the stability of entrenched systems and constructs, speculating on evolving approaches to creative and technical disciplines. The series will highlight critical practices that synthesize historical and current developments with an emphasis on speculation over retrospective preoccupation. The program constitutes a public forum for exchange, towards new critical approaches across fields and geographies.
Program: Zaid Arshad and Dylan Clark
Identity: Dylan Clark and Alya Miratti
Broadcast: Cooper Radio Collective (Camille Levy, Julia Kim, Tre Brown, Abe Marx)
Event support: Agatha Carlson, Mika Pinhasi, and Nina Amal Diwan
Thanks to Adriana Farmiga, Fia Backström, Cristóbal Lehyt, Victor Peterson II, William Germano, Raffaele Bedarida, Lucas Zeeberg, Tiffany Sia, Jess Kuronen, Affan Ardianto, and innumerable others.
Supported by The Cooper Union Grant Program and The Cooper Union School of Art.