SCI-Arc Exhibition: Juan Azulay / Matter Management: Vivarium

Southern California Institute of Architecture
Lecture Series + Exhibitions Spring 2010

03.26.10 - 05.09.10 | SCI-Arc Gallery Juan Azulay / Matter Management: Vivarium

Opening Reception: Friday, April 2, 7-9pm in the SCI-Arc Gallery

Juan Azulay's experimental installation in the SCI-Arc Gallery explores the relationship between technology, media, and environmental preservation. It incisively speaks to the inherent connection between technology and the environment as a whole.

Working for the past number of years on hybrid designs that harness natural phenomena and connect them to new architectural ideas, Azulay's exhibition reflects a shift in the experience of "life" directly to an experience of a media-augmented environment, in which flows of energy regulate processes and generate culture.

Juan Azulay's project involves a monolithic sunken pyramid that contains a 'vivarium,' or collection of organisms that in this case are real, robotic and/or simulated. As a collective, they generate energy capable of transforming water into salt - made possible by the permeability control that the skin of the pyramid produces. Virtual (digital) organisms mimic the behavior of the both the living and robotic microorganisms.

Investigating the physical and metaphoric space between biology and architecture, the installation will fuse these organisms within the vivarium, creating a new hybrid ecology that will grow and self-stabilize throughout the exhibition period of three months.

Juan Azulay is the director of the 10-year old Los Angeles-based firm Matter Management. His award-winning practice ranges widely in discipline, methodology and media - spanning works in architecture, such as the Aquatic Terrarium for the New Barcelona Zoo (2001) and a winning entry to the MAK's Vertical Garden Competition (2006) to film - such as the feature-length The Blue of Noon (2010) and short film fest nominee short Yu Tsun (2008). Azulay received his B.Arch. from SCI-Arc and his Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design (MSAAD) from Columbia. He is currently on the Design and Visual Studies faculty at SCI-Arc, teaches design studio in the school's media program (MediaSCAPES), and serves on the Academic Council and the Admissions Committee. He also has taught design studios at Columbia University's GSAP and at the ETSAV in Barcelona.

Last Updated: January 6, 2010