In a day that changes your life, get skills to change the world.
PUIC’s Urban Agent Boot Camps provide knowledge and techniques necessary for architects and urbanists of all stripes. The boot camp model is designed to create an intensive experience accessible to students and faculty in the School of Architecture and across the University.
**April 26th: Urban Exploration with Helene Koch
9:00am-4:20pm at School of Architecture, South Gallery**
The term “urban exploration” is often associated with the documentation of abandoned industrial buildings or city landmarks by means of trespassing or challenging encounters with scenarios normally closed to the public. This boot camp encourages students to engage the discipline of urban exploration with an approach that seeks to portray neglected locations of mundane, everyday life and leftover settings in an urban scenery as it plays out right in front of us. A telling photograph often drives from the ability to be observant. Staying observant and investing the necessary time to capture the essence of a given situation is one of the key elements of this boot camp.
Helene Koch works in installation and photography. She examines the surrounding space as a premise for her interventions, exploring the boundaries between architecture, art, and landscape. In 2017, her work “Canvas in Thames,” part of the series “Investigating Space / Occupying Place,” was selected for the Saatchi Screen Project from Saatchi Gallery in London.
Please bring a camera to use in this Boot Camp!
**March 8th: Storytelling for Influence with Second City
9:00am-4:20pm at Lewis Arts Complex CoLab, 120 Alexander Street**
Revered as The Harvard of Comedy, The Second City name is synonymous with the art of sketch comedy and improvisation. Performing sketch comedy for over 58 years, our unique brand and creative process has cultivated the talents of such comedy heavyweights and legends as Joan Rivers, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, John Candy, Bill Murray, Martin Short, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, just to name a few.
Second City Works is very excited to work with you during the upcoming session on March 8, 2019. Throughout the morning, we will explore a variety of interpersonal communication skills and get you thinking about how you can best interact with other people. During the afternoon, we will use those skills to focus on storytelling (how you shape and create your content) and presentation (how you deliver that content). Facilitators from Second City Works will guide participants through a series of exercises during which they’ll work in pairs, trios and small groups. Each exercise will be followed by a discussion of discoveries, challenges and real-world applications, as well as specific situations and behaviors. Plan for a day that is fun, fast-moving and highly interactive.
**March 1st: Radical Cartography with Philippe Rekacewicz
9:00am-4:20pm at School of Architecture, South Gallery**
There is no such thing as an innocent map. Cartography has long been torn between science and art, a dispute that has never been solved because of the complexity of what a map really is: it uses data that has to be handled scientifically while using norms, forms, colors, movements, and other artistic means. At the same time, the creation of maps is impacted by how cartographers see, understand, and interpret the world. In this respect, the map is fundamentally a political object. Workshop participants will be asked to draw a map that represents their personal “identity card/map,” or their perception of the world/urban environment. The objective is to enable participants to become familiar with the cartographic creation process by choosing not to map traditional socio-economic indicators (GDP per inhabitant and country, infant mortality, etc.) but more personal and emotional data.
Philippe Rekacewicz is a cartographer and information designer. A specialist in geopolitics and international relations, he addresses topics linked to migrations, refugees and populations’ forced displacements, as well as frontiers. Rekacewicz is the current editor of (link: https://visionscarto.net/ text: Visioncarto), a research blog on mapping and visualization.
Please direct questions about the Urban Agent Boot Camps to (email: PUIC@princeton.edu text: PUIC@princeton.edu).