CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Robert Riley, a professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be recognized for his contributions to the department, the university and to the study of the cultural landscape during a colloquium Feb. 27.
The colloquium, “Experiencing the Landscape: Intersections Between the Cultural and the Personal,” will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Plym Auditorium, Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign. The colloquium is free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested. The public also is invited to attend a reception in Riley’s honor immediately following the colloquium, in the Temple Buell Hall atrium.
“The focus of the colloquium is the complexity of the landscape experience, and the breadth of disciplines and approaches involved in its study,” said organizer Carla Corbin, a professor of landscape architecture at Illinois.
“Throughout his illustrious career as a designer and a scholar, Bob Riley’s work has examined both the cultural and the individual landscape experience,” Corbin said. “He worked side-by-side with J.B. Jackson on the revolutionary journal Landscape, and later went on to serve as editor of Landscape Journal.”
Before coming to Illinois in 1970, where he served as head of the department of landscape architecture, Riley was on the faculty at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. At UNM, he also served as campus planner and founded its Center for Environmental Research and Development. He retired from full-time teaching in 1996.
At Illinois, Corbin said Riley is respected for his “tireless efforts to coordinate and establish the new joint doctoral program in landscape architecture and architecture – the first program of its kind in the nation.” Launched last year, the program already has eight doctoral students.
The colloquium’s keynote speaker is writer, activist, curator and art critic Lucy Lippard, who is known for her boundary-crossing work that embraces concepts of landscape and place; environment and art; tourism and the local, urban-rural relationships; gender and ethnicity; and community and culture.
The author of 20 books on art and cultural criticism, including one novel, Lippard also has written for Village Voice, In These Times and Z Magazine, and is a contributing editor at Art in America. Her most recent books include “The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society” and “On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art and Place.” She also is known for her street theater and other performances, and has curated some 50 exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Latin America.
Lippard’s talk is co-sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study/MillerComm lecture series.
Following her address, a panel will respond to Lippard’s remarks and discuss issues of cultural/individual experience in the landscape. Panelists include Achva Benzinberg Stein, head of the department of landscape architecture, North Carolina State University; Helaine Silverman, archaeologist and professor of anthropology at Illinois; Kenneth Helphand, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Oregon; and Rachel Liebowitz; a student in the first class of Illinois’ new joint doctoral program in landscape architecture and architecture.
For more information or to register, contact Corbin at 217-333-7731, or visit the event Web site.
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