Open/Closed: dialogues on the post-global

Globalisation has long been a subject of investigation and critique among artists, designers and architects. But as the realities and nature of global change, what are the implications for how these practitioners think about, approach and undertake their work? In this series of 30-minute exchanges, exhibition participants will reflect on the show's premise of an evolving "post-global condition" as a context for their own practices and areas of research. Matched in pairs, they will explore how one might engage in sub-themes – such as illicit spaces, the circulation of objects and capital, and the relationship between fact and fiction – through a post-global lens.

Three online/onsite dialogues, moderated by Martina Muzi and Aric Chen:

Dialogue 1: On the circulation of objects and capital  
BARD Studio – Rupali Gupte and Prasad Shetty (online) 
Moderator: Martina Muzi (onsite) and Aric Chen (online)

Dialogue 2: On illicit spaces  
Rael San Fratello – Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello (on site) 
Bricklab – Abdulrahman Hisham Gazzaz and Turki Hisham Gazzaz (online) 
Moderator: Martina Muzi (onsite) and Aric Chen (online)

Dialogue 3: On the relationship between fact and fiction  
Jing He (on site) 
Liam Young (online) 
Moderator: Martina Muzi (onsite) and Aric Chen (online)

BARD Studio
Rupali Gupte and Prasad Shetty are urbanists based in Mumbai, where they are co-founders of the School of Environment and Architecture and jointly run BARD Studio (f. 2016, India). Through writings, drawings, installations, mixed-media works, curation, storytelling, teaching, walks and spatial interventions, their research examines Indian urbanism with a focus on architecture, urban culture, urban economy, property, housing, urban form and entrepreneurial and tactical practices.

Rael San Fratello
Rael San Fratello (f. 2002, USA) is an Oakland, California-based design studio established by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello in 2002. Grounded in architecture, their work folds together indigenous and traditional craft and material practices, contemporary design technologies and storytelling as strategies to unravel the complexities of contemporary society. They are professors at the University of California, Berkeley and San Jose State University.

Jing He
Based in the Netherlands, Jing He (b. 1984, China) investigates culture, politics and the histories of daily objects to create imaginative visual representations across materials and mediums. Originally from China, she has a master’s degree from Design Academy Eindhoven and bachelor’s degrees from Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing.

Bricklab
Based in Jeddah, Bricklab (f. 2015, Saudi Arabia) was founded by brothers Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz in 2015. The multidisciplinary architecture studio examines design as a vehicle that intersects with the social, political, economic and cultural networks that implicitly form our built environment. It represented Saudi Arabia in the country’s first-ever national pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018.

Liam Young
Liam Young (b. 1979, Australia) is a speculative architect and director who operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. He is co-founder of Tomorrows Thoughts Today, an urban futures think tank, and Unknown Fields, a nomadic research studio. As a worldbuilder and production designer, he visualises the cities, spaces and props of our imaginary futures for the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. He has also held guest professorships at Princeton, MIT, Cambridge and SCI Arc, where he now runs the Masters in Fiction and Entertainment.