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In honor of Black History Month SCI-Arc has created a collection of videos featuring lectures from its Media Archive to highlight and amplify the critical work of influential Black and African American creators and thinkers within the architecture and design community.

Darell Wayne Fields, Ph.D. : Unraveling (November 17, 2021)

Darell Wayne Fields, Ph.D. : Unraveling (November 17, 2021)

49:53

Darell Wayne Fields discusses recent writings, exhibitions and built work.

Alison Saar : The thread that leads to the word (October 20, 2021)

Alison Saar : The thread that leads to the word (October 20, 2021)

42:40

Alison Saar discusses her sculptures, assemblages and other works in terms of the Africa-American experience, Greek mythology, and the places they were made.

V. Mitch McEwen : Uses of the normal: the normal as power (October 16, 2019)

V. Mitch McEwen : Uses of the normal: the normal as power (October 16, 2019)

50:44
No short description available
Victor Jones : In a strange house (November 10, 2021)

Victor Jones : In a strange house (November 10, 2021)

41:27

Victor Jones discusses five projects that rethink domesticity.

BLM Week of Action : 1. Restorative justice, loving engagement, and Black women (February 1, 2021)

BLM Week of Action : 1. Restorative justice, loving engagement, and Black women (February 1, 2021)

02:35:31
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BLM Week of Action : 2. Diversity, Globalism, and Collective Value (February 2, 2021)

BLM Week of Action : 2. Diversity, Globalism, and Collective Value (February 2, 2021)

01:56:51
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BLM Week of Action : 3. Trans-Affirming, Queer-Affirming, and Empathy (February 3, 2021)

BLM Week of Action : 3. Trans-Affirming, Queer-Affirming, and Empathy (February 3, 2021)

02:58:26
No short description available
BLM Week of Action : 5. Unapologetically Black (February 5, 2021, 1:00)

BLM Week of Action : 5. Unapologetically Black (February 5, 2021, 1:00)

01:25:07
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BLM Week of Action : 5. Unapologetically Black Fridays@Five (February 5, 2021, 5:00)

BLM Week of Action : 5. Unapologetically Black Fridays@Five (February 5, 2021, 5:00)

02:24:42
No short description available
BLM Week of Action : 4. Intergenerational, Black Families, and Black Villages (February 4, 2021)

BLM Week of Action : 4. Intergenerational, Black Families, and Black Villages (February 4, 2021)

03:05:10
No short description available
On Futures: Olalekan Jeyifous

On Futures: Olalekan Jeyifous

09:49

“On Futures” is a series highlighting how designers, artists, curators, and writers envision alternative cultural and architectural temporalities that map out an expansive range of possible futures. Brooklyn-based visual artist Olalekan Jeyifous creates work that critiques the present by looking at the past and the future. Trained in architecture at Cornell University, he blends techniques and skills from the field with speculation drawn from a range of science fiction imaginaries from Afrofuturism to Solarpunk—a genre that envisions possible ecological futures under climate crisis. Best-known for his digital illustrations in the series, Shantytown Megastructures, an imagined Lagos, Nigeria in which contemporary ad hoc construction practices are extrapolated into fantastical vertical settlements, his practice crosses between disciplines and mediums, taking shape as drawings, films, and installations. Jeyifous’ work has been shown at the Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Guggenheim Bilbao. His large-scale public artworks were shown at Coachella in 2017 and recently along the waterfront in Alexandria, Virginia. He is one of the participants in the 2020-21 cycle of Exhibit Columbus and the upcoming MoMA exhibition, Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America.

Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble : 2020 Commencement Address (September 13, 2020)

Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble : 2020 Commencement Address (September 13, 2020)

16:17

At SCI-Arc’s September 13, 2020 graduation ceremony, commencement speaker Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the graduating students, “to ask yourself what are the values and the models that you are developing as you organize your own work, when many of the models and the values in computing, in entertainment, in education, in politics, in healthcare are indeed failing us—they are just insufficient to meet the needs of the majority of people in our society.”

Mabel O Wilson : Studio& : a Black study (March 3, 2021)

Mabel O Wilson : Studio& : a Black study (March 3, 2021)

01:23:17

Mabel O. Wilson discusses a career of studying “to see my own history in the built world” from a student design project to MOMA’s “Reconstructions : architecture and Blackness in America”.

Charles L. Davis II: American Architecture is a Settler Colonial Project (September 30, 2020)

Charles L. Davis II: American Architecture is a Settler Colonial Project (September 30, 2020)

01:02:19
No short description available
Elsie Owusu OBE : Architecture: From Empire to Independence (September 16, 2020)

Elsie Owusu OBE : Architecture: From Empire to Independence (September 16, 2020)

46:28

After being introduced by Hernán Díaz Alonso, Elsie Owusu discusses in depth a project for “A gallery for returning treasures” (GRT) in Kumasi Ghana. She describes the global movement for the restitution of cultural property and the significance of African artifacts lost through colonialism and theft, focusing on the material heritage of the Astante Empire. She describes how this project is linked to a Kumasi City Hall Complex, currently in development.

At 27:50. Owuso shares “Akrafokonmu / Soul Washer’s Badge”, an audio work incorporating sounds, music and text, inspired by the heroism of Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa (1840-1921) in the War of the Golden Stool, the Ashanti uprising against the British Empire in 1900.

At 32:30, Hernán Díaz Alonso and Owuso discuss the behavior of objects in terms of political relationships. Owuso stresses the magic contained in “that silent communication between architects, the public realm, and artifacts”.

Michaele Pride: Practice What You Preach (October 11, 1995)

Michaele Pride: Practice What You Preach (October 11, 1995)

52:53
No short description available
Charles L. Davis II: Workshop 1 (October 1, 2020)

Charles L. Davis II: Workshop 1 (October 1, 2020)

02:09:55
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Charles L. Davis II: Workshop 2 (October 2, 2020)

Charles L. Davis II: Workshop 2 (October 2, 2020)

03:08:01
No short description available
Stephen Slaughter: From Phat to Watts (March 26, 2010)

Stephen Slaughter: From Phat to Watts (March 26, 2010)

50:13
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Luyanda Mpahlwa: Thirty Years in Architecture: The Politics and The Architect (October 10, 2011)

Luyanda Mpahlwa: Thirty Years in Architecture: The Politics and The Architect (October 10, 2011)

01:13:45
No short description available
Minorities in Architecture panel (January 28, 1976)

Minorities in Architecture panel (January 28, 1976)

01:02:09
No short description available
The Next LA: Leimert Park and Pershing Square (February 11, 1994) Part 10 of 11

The Next LA: Leimert Park and Pershing Square (February 11, 1994) Part 10 of 11

33:45
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The Next LA: John Kaliski, Michaele Pride, et al. (February 10, 1994) Part 4 of 11

The Next LA: John Kaliski, Michaele Pride, et al. (February 10, 1994) Part 4 of 11

01:25:12
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Duel  and  Duet: Ellie Abrons and Mira Henry (September 23, 2016)

Duel + Duet: Ellie Abrons and Mira Henry (September 23, 2016)

01:22:13
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Cornel West (March 28, 1988) Part 1 of 2

Cornel West (March 28, 1988) Part 1 of 2

01:25:45
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Cornel West (March 28, 1988) Part 2 of 2

Cornel West (March 28, 1988) Part 2 of 2

29:28
No short description available
Fire in the Library: George Evans and John Otterbridge (November 16, 1995) Part 1 of 2

Fire in the Library: George Evans and John Otterbridge (November 16, 1995) Part 1 of 2

02:02:36
No short description available
Fire in the Library: George Evans and John Otterbridge (November 16, 1995) Part 2 of 2

Fire in the Library: George Evans and John Otterbridge (November 16, 1995) Part 2 of 2

43:24
No short description available