Erwin Olaf Lectures at IIT College of Architecture

Wed, Oct 21 - Wed, Oct 21  2015

IIT College of Architecture - Chicago Consulate Region

On Wednesday, October 21, at 6:00 PM, world famous Dutch photographer and filmmaker Erwin Olaf will lecture at the IIT College of Architecture in Chicago. 

Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf’s art implicitly visualizes the unspoken, the overlooked, that which typically resists easy documentation. Olaf’s trademark is to address social issues, taboos and bourgeois conventions within the framework of a highly stylized and cunning mode of imagery. With the aid of his razor-sharp aesthetic intuition, Olaf purposely conceals his themes so that the viewer unconsciously and initially accepts the concealment found in his photo series. Yet in the end, his unconventional style never fails to deliver dramatic visual and emotional impact. By providing scenic and striking design, along with the utmost perfect composition in his typical, immaculate ‘OWN’ style, combined with his passion for conceiving flawless scenarios, he vividly captures the essence of contemporary life. Erwin Olaf has won many international prices, exhibits in galleries and museums across the world, and has published many successful photography books. 

About IIT College of Architecture and the Dean’s Lecture Series

The discipline of architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology is as old as the school itself. The program produced generations of influential architects who rebuilt Chicago into a modern city after the Chicago fire. Among those who were involved with the school were Louis Millet, Daniel Burnham, John Root, and William Le Baron Jenney. In the fall of 2012, Wiel Arets was appointed Dean of IIT’s College of Architecture. His approach is NOWNESS: “There are no more boundaries, no eternal forms. We should not attempt to define architecture in an all- encompassing way but instead make possible an architecture of freedom. Now is the time for opportunities of innovation. Now is the time to conceive new strategies…IIT Architecture provides a platform for questioning architecture; for encouraging childlike curiosities to be explored; and for reshaping, rewriting, and rethinking our global metropolises.”

All Dean’s Lectures are free and open to the public and take place in Center Core at S. R. Crown Hall, the home of IIT College of Architecture located at 3360 South State Street in Chicago.