Building Tour: Amant by SO – IL

Amant is a non-profit arts organization in Brooklyn, New York founded in 2019. Amant is a non-collecting institution that fosters experimentation and dialogue through exhibitions, public programs, and artist residencies. The organization's aim is to slow down art-making processes so that residents and exhibiting artists can experiment with formats and reflect on the meaning and contexts of their work. Amant supports both established and mid-career international and local artists who work across diverse creative fields. Amant is dedicated to building cultural partnerships with like-minded organizations in the US and abroad, while activating new and ongoing conversations with our local communities.

Speakers:
Ruth Estévez, Director and Chief Curator, Amant
Florian Idenburg, Int'l Assoc. AIA, Co-Founding Architect, SO–IL
Jing Liu, Co-Founding Architect, SO–IL

About the Speakers: 

Ruth Estévez is a curator and stage designer. Her research work focuses on artistic practices that explore how the spoken and written language operates within the visual arts, contemporary culture, and politics. She was the co-curator of the 34th São Paulo Biennial (2021) and, from 2018 to 2020, she was senior curator-at-large at the Rose Art Museum in Waltham and curator of the performance program at MACBA in Barcelona. She was Redcat Gallery Director in Los Angeles and Chief Curator at the Carrillo Gil Museum in Mexico City.

Florian Idenburg is an internationally renowned architect with over two decades of professional experience. After learning the ropes in Amsterdam and Tokyo, he founded SO–IL in New York in 2008 together with Jing Liu. With a joyous demeanor, Idenburg pursues innovation through working together. His strength lies in generating imaginative ideas and transforming those into real-world spaces and objects. He has a particularly strong background in institutional spaces, leading the office on projects such as Kukje Gallery and the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis, as well as Amant in Brooklyn. A frequent speaker at institutions around the world, he has taught at Harvard, MIT, Columbia, and Princeton and is currently Professor of the Practice at Cornell University. He is currently working on a forthcoming publication, Human(s) Work (Taschen, 2022). In 2010, Idenburg received the Charlotte Köhler Prize from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund. He is a registered architect in the Netherlands and an International Associate of the American Institute of Architects.

Jing Liu has been practicing for more than 15 years, working on a wide range of projects both in the US and abroad. Through building practice and interdisciplinary research projects, Liu has led SO–IL in the engagement with the socio-political issues of contemporary cities in projects like the Artists Loft North Omaha and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Cleveland. Her projects range from collaborations with contemporary choreographers and visual artists to master plans and public realm designs in cities like Melbourne and Indianapolis. Liu brings an intellectually open, globally aware, and locally sensitive perspective to architecture. She leads all of her projects from concept to realization and considers carefully all aspects of design and construction—from the building’s presence in a community down to the fasteners in a window. She believes strongly that design should and can be accessible to all, and that architecture offers us an open platform to nurture new forms of interaction. To that end, Liu sees community engagement and collaboration across disciplines central to her role as design lead.

Amant strongly encourages the use of masks indoors and is no longer requiring proof of vaccination.