Mau will be the featured academic lecturer of Grand Valley State University's Fall Arts Celebration on Tuesday, October 18, at 7 p.m. in Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus, 401 W. Fulton, Grand Rapids. A prelude carillon concert featuring Grand Valley student carillonneurs, under the direction of professor Julianne Vanden Wyngaard, will begin at 6:20 p.m. at the Beckering Family Carillon.
Mau, founder and creative director of Bruce Mau Design, Inc. in Toronto, presents an intelligent, visually provocative exploration of our new design potential. His studio brings together thinkers from diverse disciplines in a unique collaborative process. He has gained international recognition for innovation in a wide range of areas, including identity and branding, research and conceptual programming, print design and production, environmental design, exhibition design and product development.
Mau has recently embarked on his most challenging project to date: The Massive Change exhibition. The show is about nothing less than "the design of the world." The project -- which encompasses a book, a traveling exhibition, a radio show, a Web site, and an upcoming feature film -- is just the latest in a long line of multi-disciplinary works that Mau has collaborated on.
In addition to the evening lecture, Mau will engage in a dialogue with students at 2 p.m. in the Cook-DeWitt Center, on the Allendale Campus. Drawing from the Massive Change project, Mau will give a short presentation titled, "Now That We Can Do Anything, What Will We Do?" It will be followed by an open discussion with four students from various disciplines: Joel Berry, art and design; Andrew Berke, chemistry; Stacey Booher, sociology; and Rachel Jaques, liberal studies. They will give four perspectives on Massive Change.
Grand Valley faculty are also making connections between Mau's work and their courses. As examples, Ed Wong-Ligda's Introduction to Illustration students are exploring Massive Change, studying how artists have historically worked to effect change, then applying the knowledge to student projects that focus on a significant social problem. Ander Monson's Intermediate and Advanced Fiction Workshops are using Mau's "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" as a touchstone in exploring the writer's roles as producer, designer, social creature and craftsman.
For more information, visit http://faculty.gvsu.edu/wittenbp/mau/mau2.html, or call (616) 331-2180.
