In recognition of Earth Day, the Ambasz Institute hosts its annual keynote lecture to address the increasing challenges of living on a damaged planet and the momentous cultural shifts required by the climate crisis. We are honored to welcome Maya Lin as this year’s keynote speaker. The presentation is followed by a discussion moderated by Carson Chan.
Register in advance for the online stream here.
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Introduction
Carson Chan, Director, Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment
Keynote speaker
Maya Lin
Q&A
Moderated by Carson Chan
Maya Lin interprets the natural world through science, history, and culture, to create works that have had a profound impact on how we view our history and how we relate to the natural world.
Nature is the context and the source of inspiration for Lin’s unique interdisciplinary vision. Her art explores how we experience and relate to the natural world, setting up a systematic ordering of the land that is tied to history, memory, time, and language, presenting us with new ways of seeing the natural world.
Her work asks the viewer to reconsider nature and the environment at a time when it is crucial to do so. A committed environmentalist, she is at work on her final memorial, What Is Missing?, a cross-platform, global memorial to the planet, which calls attention to the crisis surrounding biodiversity and habitat loss and emphasizes how nature-based solutions to climate change can both significantly reduce emissions and help protect and restore biodiversity.
Lin is a member of the Bloomberg Foundation and the What Is Missing? Foundation, and is a National Geographic Explorer-at-Large. In 2009 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence, and in 2016 President Barack Obama awarded Lin the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, praising her for a celebrated career in both art and architecture, and for creating a sacred place of healing in our nation’s capital.
This program is supported by Allianz, MoMA's partner for design and innovation, and a proud supporter of the Museum's efforts toward a more sustainable future.
This event was made possible through a generous gift from Emilio Ambasz. The Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment is a platform for fostering dialogue, promoting conversation, and facilitating research about the relationship between the built and natural environment, with the aim of making the interaction between architecture and ecology visible and accessible to the wider public while highlighting the urgent need for an ecological recalibration.