Black Home as Public Art Symposium

Wednesday Sept. 11, 2024 , 4 to 6 p.m.
Thursday Sept. 12, 2024 , 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Complementing the Black Home as Public Art exhibition, this symposium brings together designers, historians, curators, and archivists for interdisciplinary discussions about several activist- and artist-led practices and the importance of pluralizing the architectural canon.
Exterior of a house in Louisiana with colorful triangles painted on the facade

Organized by Associate Professor Charles L. Davis II and the Center for American Architecture and Design, The Black Home as Public Art consists of an exhibition and symposium examining creative notions of the Black home in the United States during the postwar period. 


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

4 p.m. Exhibition Viewing and Reception, Mebane Gallery (GOL 2.105)

5 p.m. Keynote Address, Goldsmith Lecture Hall (3.120) 
Dell Upton, UC Berkeley and UCLA

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

All events take place in the Mebane Gallery (GOL 2.105)

9:30 a.m. Light Breakfast and Coffee 

10 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks 
Dean Heather Woofter and Charles L. Davis II

10:30–11:30 a.m. Komozi Woodard, Sarah Lawrence College  
Introduced by Charles L. Davis II

Presenting on Botelli, Ohland & Martins’ Kawaida Towers (commissioned by Amiri Baraka)

11:30–12:30 p.m. Scott L. Ruff, RuffWorks Studio and Pratt Institute   
Introduced by Bryan E. Norwood

Presenting on Rick Lowe’s Project Row Houses (Third Ward, Houston, Texas)

12:30–2 p.m. Break

2–3 p.m. Curry J. Hackett, Wayside Studio  
Introduced by Charles L. Davis II

Presenting on Amanda Williams’ Color(ed) Theory Houses (Chicago, Illinois)

3–4 p.m. Aisha Densmore-Bey, Designer  
Introduced by Tara A. Dudley

Presenting on Theaster Gates’s Dorchester Projects (Chicago, Illinois)

4–5 p.m. Closing Discussion 
With all presenters, moderated by Charles L. Davis II


This program is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, an Arnold W. Brunner Grant from The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and administered by The Center for Architecture, the Meyer Foundation Centennial Lectureship and the McDermott Excellence Fund.

The symposium free and open to the public, and there will be a live webcast available on the Texas Architecture YouTube channel. Seating provided on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration required. Parking information is available here.

If you need accommodations for this event, please contact bridget@austin.utexas.edu at least five business days in advance. 

Above: Carol M. Highsmith, “Art house” in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 10, 2021. Digital photograph. Courtesy the artist

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