People

The AAU Laboratory is one of the CNRS’ UMRs, associating the National Schools of Architecture of Grenoble and Nantes, Université Grenoble Alpes and Centrale Nantes. The Centre for research on sound space and urban environment (CRESSON) is the AAU Laboratory team in Grenoble for architectural and urban research. Originally focused on sound space, CRESSON has based its research culture on a sensitive, situated approach to inhabited spaces. This research is based on original multidisciplinary methods, at the crossroads of architecture, human and social sciences and engineering sciences. ” Radio Utopia, the ball of sonorities, or “News from the world”, is a site-specific installation by Cresson Laboratory for the Ball Theater Installation. It is made of mini sound speakers from all over the world, collected through a call for contributions. This sound laboratory offers an experimental platform to better grasp our times, learn to listen differently and make audible new voices from here and elsewhere.

Philip Ashton is Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. His research focuses on the restructuring of US banking systems, with a consistent interest in how financial logics changes the way we conceive and act on pressing urban problems, particularly those linked to legacies of racial exclusion or austerity. This has translated into research on the rise of the subprime mortgage market, the foreclosure crisis, and the role of investment banks in producing the growing market for urban infrastructure assets. 

Pugs Atomz is a true Hip Hop renaissance man. His art and music has been featured in TV Shows, movies, commercials, sporting events and video games. He has been able to see the world, painting and  performing. Currently you can find him designing clothing for his USUWE 93 label and various ready to wear brands. Since age 14, he has been immersed in the practice of Public Art. He continues this today with multiple projects with Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, The Chicago Public Art Group, and the Englewood Arts Collective (co-founder). Pugs believes artists are the storytellers of their communities. His art is more than just a personal diary of what he has seen and experienced. His entire practice is dedicated to bearing witness to and documenting the rich brilliance, creative spirit, and joy that thrives in his community.

In 2022, Catherine Baker founded Nowhere Collaborative, a full-service architecture firm that challenges the typical boundaries and limitations of architectural practice. The place-based architecture practice addresses sustainability, incremental development, and community-based design. Catherine received her Bachelor of Architecture from Ball State University and earned a Master of Arts in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. The importance of understanding neighborhood issues and connections can be seen in the projects that Catherine has managed.

Robii Bijou is a Chicago State University student with a strong passion for both Media Arts and African American Studies. During Chicago State’s annual 10-minute Play Festival, she took on multiple roles, including actress, director, and playwright, showcasing her multifaceted talents and commitment to the arts. Beyond her involvement in theater, Robii aspires to become a filmmaker. She is strongly committed to using her artistic talents for social change and cultural enrichment. With her dedication, passion, and diverse talents in the world of arts and culture, Robii is poised to make a meaningful contribution to both her university and her broader community.

Allison Bolden is a junior in the Communications, Media Arts and Theatre Department at Chicago State University. Allison is also a multi-talented individual who juggles the roles of student, actress, screenwriter, and songwriter. She wrote a screenplay titled Evergreen U that was shot by CSU Cinema, which will be screened on campus this April. She is currently completing a media production internship with N’Digo Magazine.

Jules Carrier, professeur agrégé d’histoire, currently teaches at the Lycée Français de Chicago, where he is also head of the Human sciences department. Previously, he has held similar positions in France, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Certified to teach in French, English and Italian, his teaching is project-based-learning oriented and seeks to promote multiculturalism and cross disciplinary activities for all of his students.

Oscar B. Castillo is an award-winning Venezuelan photojournalist who has documented a range of social and political issues in his home country for the past two decades. In 2022 Oscar released his first book, Esos Que Saben which was selected by TIME Magazine as one of 20 the best photography books of 2022, and shortlisted for the celebrated Aperture/PARIS Book Award. Oscar’s work has been published in Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and The New Yorker and has received multiple grants from Magnum Foundation, a Eugene Smith Fellowship, and World Press Photo.

Since its founding, ChartierDalix has brought to life over twenty buildings, with a further dozen currently under construction. In 2017, the French Academy of Architecture presented the agency with the Le Soufaché Prize in recognition of all its work, which has also been acclaimed at a large number of international competitions. The agency was the winner in 2016 of a competition to renovate the Ternes district of Paris (entitled Réinventer Paris, Ternes). In 2017, it won another competition to restructure the Montparnasse Tower, working as part of the Nouvelle AOM collective, which also includes Hardel & Le Bihan Architectes, and Franklin Azzi Architecture. In 2019, Frédéric Chartier and Pascale Dalix were named as Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres (“Knights of the Order of Arts and Letters”).

The ChartierDalix Architecture Agency participated in Villa Albertine’s residency program in Chicago in the fall of 2023. Systems is the result of their work.

Earle Chisolm-El is a Chicago State alumnus and a lecturer in the Communications, Media Arts and Theatre Department. His previous performance credits include Becker in August Wilson’s Jitney, James and Calvin in Natalie Y. Moore’s Back Home, and voiceover work in an upcoming documentary on Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Earle is also a broadcast radio personality and a spoken word artist.

Teresa Córdova (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1986) is the Director of the Great Cities Institute (GCI) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also Professor of Urban Planning and Policy in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA).

Joe grew up in West Englewood, Chicago, and is an accomplished fine artist and graphic designer with exploits and achievements both locally and abroad. With a multi-disciplinary approach and unique vision, his works span various mediums—from large outdoor murals, wood sculptures, customized vinyl toys to painted canvases— anything’s game. The content of his pieces vary, but more often than not they intersect humor, human behavior, and city life. His primary intention is to “produce quality pieces, and hopefully make a meaningful impact in the process, with the people”. A frequent mentor to youth, Joe’s roots in Chicago run deep. Currently Joe is a lead designer for Chicago’s Transit Authority designing special city trains and buses throughout the year. One of the primary founding members of the EAC, he’s been a staple in Chicago for decades, constantly tapped to work with orgs and community leaders to move forward engaging collaborations with citizens of the city he loves.   

William Estrada invites people to explore art and art making to function as a mode to critically listen to the experiences of historically marginalized communities. Through art making we emphasize the generative process of collective knowledge, the importance of amplifying stories often underrepresented, and identifying networks of support that aim to organize coalitions of people to engage in imagining mutual liberation. The Mobile Street Art Cart Project is a platform to invite people in their neighborhoods to use art as a tool to complicate and celebrate the ideas they generate and in the process reclaim their creativity as a from of joy and resistance.

Sara, a Jordan-born food enthusiast, developed her passion for food at an early age in her grandmother’s kitchen. From working in restaurants to exploring Mexican cuisine while living there, her love for culinary delights grew. Now, alongside her partner Dario, she hosts a podcast uncovering the history and diverse foods of Chicago, having tasted dishes from around the globe right here in the 77 community areas!

Dario is a devoted Chicagoan with a profound dedication to his city’s exploration. Over the past couple of years, he has partnered with Sara to extensively explore all 77 community areas of Chicago. Leveraging his background in comedy, Dario skillfully intertwines history facts with entertainment on their podcast, creating a captivating and informative experience for their audience. With a seasoned eye for artistry, Dario has spent years honing his photography skills, capturing the essence of the city from all its angles.

Eleanor Gorski, AIA is the CEO & President of the Chicago Architecture Center, the leading organization devoted to celebrating Chicago as a center of architectural innovation and education. The CAC serves 700,000+ patrons annually, and has cemented Chicago as the “City of Architecture.” Gorski, a licensed architect, brings to this role more than 25 years in architecture, historic preservation and urban planning; a passion for equity through design; and a wealth of Chicago knowledge, including key city leadership roles under three mayoral administrations.

Originally from Strasbourg in Alsace, Benjamin began his university studies in Paris. After a degree in literature, he explored the worlds of publishing, journalism, and humanitarian work; it is after this last experience that he decided to dedicate himself to teaching. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Modern Literature (teaching, education and training) from Paris VII Diderot and obtaining the CAPES, he worked for four years at the Academy of Versailles in the Val d’Oise before joining the EFAC. During these years he took advantage of his status as a TZR (titular replacement zone) to experience a variety of social backgrounds and school levels (middle, high school, technical).

Noah Hanna is a Chicago-based curator, writer, educator, and researcher.  Noah supports the development and community implementation of ART WORKS Projects’ exhibitions and programming as well as providing curatorial and research guidance for the Emerging Lens Fellowship program. In addition to his role at AWP, Noah is an instructor in art history and exhibition design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and independent curator and writer with a focus on geopolitical and research focused based practices. He holds a master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Curation, and Criticism from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Rachel Havrelock is a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where she directs the Freshwater Lab. The Freshwater Lab generates research and policy on transboundary water systems and climate change adaptation; trains a new generation of water leaders; and creates public-facing media like the Freshwater Stories and Backward River digital platforms.  Her current research focuses on water reuse and innovative pricing strategies in the Great Lakes basin. An active voice in the media, Rachel has published in Foreign Affairs, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Haaretz, The Chicago Reporter, Belt Magazine,  and the International Joint Commission newsletter, and has been a return guest on WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station, and WTTW Chicago Tonight.

Daniel Kay Hertz is a native of Chicago. Currently, he is employed by the Chicago Department of Housing, having previously held positions as a travel guidebook writer in the Yucatan, as a campaign staffer for a state representative in Peoria. He has held roles at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and City Observatory. He authored The Battle of Lincoln Park: Urban Renewal and Gentrification in Chicago, a comprehensive examination of the genesis of gentrification in Chicago, which saw publication in 2018.

Marc works is a researcher at the AAU- CRESSON laboratory (UMR Ambiances, Architectures, Urbanités) at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble, and a teacher at the Institut d’Urbanisme et Géographie Alpine. He works on questions of inhabiting place and relations with the environment; material culture, making and unmaking (waste); sensibility; atmospheres; and embodiment. His thesis, completed under the supervision of Tim Ingold and defended in 2017 at the University of Aberdeen, is entitled “Art-in-the-making: an anthropological study of how clay becomes a work of art.“

Bweza Itaagi is a steward of the Englewood Nature Trail through Grow Greater Englewood, and a co-owner of Sistas In The Village farm. Raised in Colorado’s Denver-Metro area, she moved to Chicago in 2015 to pursue a Master’s degree in Sustainable Urban Development at DePaul University. In both Denver and Chicago, she has worked with a range of organizations focused on urban agriculture, community empowerment, and Earth stewardship. She views farming as a spiritual practice that can heal communities and grow collective power.

Genn Jackson is a Chicago native and has been acting since she was 3 years old. Ms. Jackson made her professional acting debut in Chicago in 2007 as Mimi in eta Creative Arts Foundation‘s production Bedtime Story and continued on at eta as the female understudy for Living in the Wind and as Deara in the award-winning production of Stoops. Ms. Jackson was the recipient of the 2007 Black Theatre Alliance Award for Most Promising Actress. She also received a Black Alliance Award Nomination for Best Ensemble (Stoops) and Black Excellence Awards for Best Ensemble (Stoops) and Production of the Year (Stoops). 

Tonika Lewis Johnson, a visionary photographer and social justice artist deeply rooted in Chicago’s South Side Englewood, illuminates the shadows of injustice within real estate and land use practices, advocating for transformative change, especially in historic preservation. Tonika serves as a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Cultural Advisory Council member, and a lead co-founder of the Englewood Arts Collective and the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.). Tonika spearheads the Folded Map Project™ non-profit as its Creative Executive Officer, embodying the transformative power of art in advocacy and community leadership. 
 

Kamesha Khan is an award-winning stage director and dramaturg. She is also a professor in the Communications, Media Arts and Theatre Department at Chicago State University where she serves as the director of CSU Theatre. Khan’s recent dramaturgical credits include Natalie Y. Moore’s The Billboard and her new play, Back Home. Khan is the Book Review Editor for tBTR (The Black Theatre Review). She is also a former Education Director for Penumbra Theatre Company and former Resident Dramaturg for ETA Creative Arts Foundation (ETA).

Ben Kinsinger is a Chicago musician and composer. He improvises musical compositions at the organ and piano for performers at the 10 theater, The Annoyance, and for magicians at the Chicago Magic Lounge. Ben performs in several projects, including Lawrence Tome and Groppler Zorn. He has produced several DIY shows on the Chicago River for which he received the Awesome on the Water grant in August 2023, and he is nominated for Chicago Reader’s Best Songwriter 2024.  

Reed Kroloff is Dean of Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has also been editor-in-chief of Architecture, which under his direction became the nation’s leading architectural magazine; dean of the Tulane University School of Architecture, which he led through Hurricane Katrina and the following recovery; and director of the famed Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum. Reed is a national commentator on architecture and design and a partner of jones|kroloff. 

Natalie Y. Moore is an award-winning journalist based in Chicago, whose reporting tackles race, housing, economic development, food injustice, and violence. Natalie’s acclaimed book The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation received the 2016 Chicago Review of Books award for nonfiction and was Buzzfeed’s best nonfiction book of 2016. Natalie’s work has helped shift the way Chicagoans today think about segregation in the region. She is a sought-after speaker for high school assemblies, colleges, foundations, churches, festivals, and community groups.    

Muoto is an architectural practice founded in Paris in 2003 by Gilles Delalex and Yves Moreau. Its activities cover the fields of architecture, urban planning, design, teaching, and scientific research. Muoto’s work features minimal structures that can combine different activities, evolve in time, and merge economical and aesthetic issues. The practice is identified as a representative of a new French architectural scene described as “new realism.” In light of Chicago’s 2024 Night of Ideas, Muoto‘s visionary installation “The Ball Theater” will travel from The Venice Architecture Biennale to the Chicago Architecture Center.

Georgi Stanishev was co-curator, with Studio Muoto, of the French Pavilion – Ball Theater Installation at the 18^th Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. Georgi Stanishev is an architect and scenographer. His practice focuses on explorations of aesthetic languages at the crossroads of architecture, installation, and decoration. The work of his studio covers the fields of exhibition design, event design, set design, and experimentation in public space. He holds a doctorate in architecture from Université Paris-Est, UACEG, Sofia, and ENSA Paris-Malaquais, where he has taught architectural design and theory since 2011. His research and publications focus on the evolution of Soviet communism through its various moments of ideological and cultural rupture. His work examines the role of discourse on the arts and architecture in the production of political propaganda.

Executive director, graphic designer and creative project manager, Janell Nelson is a visual communications consultant and much more. A creative force who devotes her talent, skill, and heart toward enacting equitable change, her mission statement literally is “design for good”. Her award-winning graphic design firm—JNJ Creative— has been the not-so-secret sauce behind many non-profits, citywide initiatives, and equity-focused organizations and artists nationwide. Her intentional reimagining of educational design for the Folded Map Project curriculum has won a national Saapi Ideas That Matter award. Her accolades, like her portfolio, run long. From her winning proposals in citywide competitions to her spotlight as Chicago’s “Hidden Philanthropist” honoree for the nationally touring Soul of Philanthropy Exhibit, at the Chicago Cultural Center, Janell is an artist who understands that designing with and not just for community—and recognizing that ‘community’ is intersectional— is essential for equitable engagement. 

Isabelle Olivier is a versatile jazz harpist and composer with a thirty-year career. She has skillfully bridged interdisciplinary gaps and explored diverse musical styles. Her unique artistic and worldwide journey encompasses eleven albums and collaborations with luminaries like Agnès Varda and Peter Erskine. As the first composer to win the Villa Le Nôtre – Versailles Prize, she continues to push boundaries in her artistic responses to exhibitions, such as “Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist” at The Art Institute in Chicago. In November 2021, during the lockdown, she wrote and performed the live soundtrack to a silent film screening about pioneering women in the world of cinema.  In 2023, granted by Villa Albertine in DC, she researched new silent black and white movies, interviewed outstanding people there, and performed at the French Embassy and at the DC Jazz Festival.

Ameya Pawar is the former alderman of Chicago’s 47th Ward and the first (and only) Asian and Indian American elected to the Chicago City Council. After leaving office, Ameya joined the Economic Security Project as a senior fellow and is working on narrative change efforts around guaranteed income and public options, including public banks. In 2020, Ameya was named a Leadership in Government Fellow with the Open Society Foundations (OSF). His OSF work has focused on public banking and public options with leading figures and organizations across the country and world.

Poems While You Wait, founded by Dave Landsberger, Kathleen Rooney, and Eric Plattner, is a collective of poets and their manual typewriters whose mission is to appear around the city in public places – street festivals, museums, libraries, theaters and other events – to provide their patrons with a magical, unexpected, unpretentious, and decontextualized encounter with poetry. 

Anjulie Rao is a journalist and critic covering the built environment. Based in Chicago, much of her work reckons with the complexities of post-industrial cities, explores connections to place and land; and exposes intersections between architecture, landscapes, and cultural change. She is the founder and editor of Weathered, a publication focused on cities and landscapes in the wintertime. Anjulie is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Architecture/Interior Architecture and Visual and Critical Studies departments, and has been an Adjunct faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois Chicago. Her bylines can be found in The Architect’s Newspaper, Dwell, The Architectural Review, The New York Review of Architecture, among others.

Baudouin Saintyves is a French multimedia artist, physicist, and engineer at the University of Chicago. In his work, he explores the use of patterns and self-organization processes from nature in creative technologies and immersive audiovisual narratives using real-time projections of physics experiments and robotics. He has a PhD in physics and did post-doctoral research at MIT and Harvard. He was awarded a CAMIT grant at MIT and had residencies at MANA Contemporary’s High Concept Labs in Chicago, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, PSL University in Paris, and the Chateau Ephemere in Carrières-sous-Poissy (France). He was an artist laureate at ISEA 2023 in Paris and has shown his artwork in several international festivals and conferences, including the 5th Chicago architecture Biennial, the International Symposium on Electronic Art, and the American Geophysical Union meeting. 

For two decades Wil has focused his gaze on growing “fractures” in the status quo. Contemplating the changing ecosystems of class, race, politics, and resistance, Wil’s work searches for complexity as a bulwark against reductionist analysis. In 2020 while photographing protests outside the White House following George Floyd’s murder, Wil was shot in the face with a less lethal munition. The impact left him partially blind, forever changing his approach to his craft.

Wil’s work has been published in international publications including The Washington Post, Harper’s Magazine, WIRED Magazine, Mother Jones, and the Times of London among others. His ongoing reporting on less lethal weapons is supported by the Pulitzer Center.  Wil’s coverage on Ukraine and continued work on migration including Border Cruzadas has been commissioned and supported by ART WORKS Projects.

Alex Santilli is a drummer, percussionist, and music traveler from Chicago, with a particular interest for experimental jazz, latin music, and experimental performance. Beside touring the world with prominent artists, he plays in several local bands, including The Adventure of Anacleto, Late Nite Laundry, and Groppler Zorn. 

Connie Spreen co-founded The Experimental Station, a non-profit cultural incubator, in 2002. She holds a doctorate in French Literature and Languages from the University of Chicago. As Executive Director of Experimental Station since 2008, she has built its various programs, including the Blackstone Bicycle Works youth education program, the 61st Street Farmers Market, food education program serving Chicago’s South Side, and Link Up Illinois, which doubles the value of SNAP purchases at farmers markets throughout Illinois. 

Since September 2021, Yannick Tagand has been the Consul General of France in Chicago. Yannick Tagand is a graduate of the University of Paris I where he notably obtained a Master’s in International Relations. He also holds a degree in Literal Arabic from the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations.

Jennifer Tamas is Professor of French Literature (specializing in theater and gender theory) at Rutgers University. She is interested in how classical culture shapes our representations. In Au NON des femmes (Seuil, 2023), she examines the question of consent in the light of women’s refusals, and proposes a reinterpretation of certain major texts. She has also just devoted a short essay to 17th and 18th century fairy tales, which offer an unexpected approach to current issues (Faut-il en finir avec les contes de fées? – Should we be done with fairytales?). 

Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, a Chicago Emmy winning self-taught historian, passionately delves into Chicago’s history, architecture, and culture.  Recognized as the City of Chicago’s Tourism Ambassador of the Year, he breathes life into the city through compelling storytelling.  Honored by Public Narrative as the 2022 Studs Circle Uplifting Voice recipient and awarded the 21st-Century Award by the Chicago Public Library, Dilla has dedicated over two decades to independently studying Chicago’s history.  His videos and presentations authentically reflect the rich tapestry of the city’s past, and why “Everything Dope About America Comes from Chicago.”

Starla is a proud enrolled citizen of the Forest County Potawatomi Nation and a member of the Otter Clan. She carries the spirit name “Waben Gizhek Kwe” (First Light That Breaks the Night Woman). As an educator, scholar, curator, artist, and mother, Starla weaves her ancestral narrative into each aspect of her life. Her scholarship is a dedicated exploration of the hidden histories and contributions of Indigenous women. In advocacy, she leads with indigenous-led policy solutions, particularly addressing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) epidemic.

Through her art and curation, Starla strives to illuminate the unique journey of being a Bodéwadmikwe (Potawatomi woman). Her work seeks to bring visibility, understanding, and appreciation to the richness and depth of this identity.

Nicolas Tixier is an architect and Professor of Theory and Design at The National School of Architecture of Grenoble and the Annecy Alpes School of Fine Art. He is co-creator, with Carlotta Darò , of the Radio Utopia program and will present the Ball Theater installation alongside Marc Higgin.  Since 2018, he is Director and researcher at the CRESSON Laboratory, and adjunct director of the “Ambiance, Architecture, Urbanism” (CNRS laboratory) He is also a member of the International Ambiances Network and founding member of the BazarUrbain collective, and has won a teaching and research medal awarded by the French Academy of Architecture in 2022. 

Jaime Torres Carmona, AIA, is Principal and Founder of Canopy, a leading social impact architecture practice in Chicago. A product of two cities, Mexico City and Chicago, Jaime is inspired by the people and places that shape the built environment. His firm’s work includes notable projects and publications, such as Oso Apartments in Albany Park, Enlace Community Center in Little Village,  Encuentro Square in Humboldt Park, and Between the Leaves: Book on Housing. Jaime has served on design juries and given lectures with design associations, such as the American Institute of Architects, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and others. 

Bernard Turner is executive director of the Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area focused on preserving the history and culture of Bronzeville. Author of several books about Chicago and African American History, including A New View of Bronzeville and Tate and His Historic Dream, Turner conducts neighborhood tours and is a volunteer at the Chicago History Museum. Bernard Turner also serves on the boards of the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation and the Bronzeville Trail Task Force. 

Bora is a nonprofit leader equipped with /two decades of experience working across the arts and culture, higher education, NGO, and policy sectors. Under her leadership, AWP celebrated an important 15-year anniversary milestone and executed on a strategic sustainability and growth campaign including securing foundation status in the EU and securing foundational support to scale their signature program, the Emerging Lens Fellowship. As a culturally competent strategic consultant, Bora has advised and worked with a range of global clients on strategic alignment and advancement initiatives leveraging her personal and professional passion for authentic storytelling.  Bora is based in Chicago, Illinois, and earned an MA in Creative Writing from The Graduate School at Northwestern University, and a BA in English at Wellesley College. She also has a certificate in Behavioral Science from the Booth School of Business, Executive Education Program.