Elephant at the Mart? Must be NEOCON, which hosts Disaster SOS: Haiti today

The sculpture is named Nomkhubulwane, it's made of galvanized steel and recycled truck tires, and it was created for the Human Elephant Foundation "to catalyze conversation about how to creatively address issues caused by the expanding human ecological footprint." Nomkhubulwane has been on a world tour. Last weekend, Nomkhubulwane was at Crown Hall at IIT. It will be a the Mart through the 16th, afterwhich it will move to northeast Terrace of the Field Museum through July 30th.

South Africa sculptor Andries Botha will also be in Chicago this week. Today, June 15, 7 to 8:30 p.m., he will join Theaster Gates of the to U of C to discuss Public Intellectuals Shaping Public Space at the Franke Conference room, JRL S-102, 1100 East 57th. On Friday the 18th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Botha will be at the Field Museum to lecture on Can We Live Without the Elephant? Register via email by the end of today.

More information on the events here.


DISASTER SOS: HAITI
Also at NEOCON today, June 15th, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., architect Kerl LaJeune of Atelier Azara, Vocalo architecture critic Lee Bey, Renee Kemp-Rotan, urban designer and co-founder, Black Design News Network; Atim Annette Oton, architectural designer and co-founder, Black Design News Network; and Bryan Hudson, Architect, principal at SOMA Design Consultants Inc. will appear at Disaster SOS: Haiti, a forum on Haiti where "experts from the fields of design, planning, international development and cultural anthropology. The forum will involve critical thinking about shelter and disaster with a focus on planning, cause and effect, and risk management after a disaster. . . . This session will be followed by an interactive discussion and networking hour for potential collaborations and partnerships from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m."

The event is sponsored by IIDA, FocusOnDesign, Designers for the 21st Century (D421), Project Osmosis, and The Black Design News Network. It's at the IIDA Learning Center at the Mart, $15.00 at the door, CEU: 0.2, registration via email or at the door.