Architect Jing Liu, artist Wafaa Bilal and art historians Natalia Brizuela and Megan A. Sullivan will discuss their work this fall for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Committed to innovative research and creative practice, the Sam Fox School unites WashU’s academic areas in art, architecture and design with its nationally acclaimed Kemper Art Museum. The fall Public Lecture Series will explore a range of societal issues and challenges, from housing, affordability and design innovation to the broader forces shaping contemporary life and culture.
Liu, a founding partner of SO-IL, will launch the series Aug. 31. The New York- and Amsterdam-based practice has won international recognition for its rigorous and detail-oriented approach to cultural, civic, residential, commercial and educational buildings. Major projects include the Kukje Gallery in Seoul, South Korea, the K11 Art and Culture Center in Hong Kong, Site Verrier de Meisenthal in France and the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation in Australia.
On Sept. 9, the Sam Fox School will welcome Julie Snow, founding principal of Snow Kreilich Architects. The Minneapolis-based firm has completed projects in a wide range of typologies and scales, from housing and transit to civic and commercial structures. In St. Louis, Snow Kreilich worked with HOK to design Energizer Park, home to St. Louis City SC soccer club. Current projects include the renovation and expansion of Forest Park’s iconic Steinberg Pavilion and Rink.
Also Sept. 9, Dana Ostrander, the Kemper Art Museum’s assistant curator of modern art, will host a panel discussion with Natalia Brizuela, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese and of film and media studies at the University of California, Berkeley; and Megan A. Sullivan, an associate professor of art history at the University of Chicago. An opening reception for the exhibition “Buenos Aires Modern, 1935-1950” will immediately follow.
Lawrence Blough, principal of Graftworks Design Research and a professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture, where he co-directs the Housing Futures Research Lab, will speak Sept. 23.
M. Christine Boyer, a professor of architecture and urbanism at Princeton University, who has published extensively on the history and development of the American city, will speak Oct. 12. Also speaking Oct. 12 will be Los Angeles-based visual artist Stas Orlovski, who will be in residence with the Sam Fox School’s Island Press. Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi-born artist known for online performative and interactive works that explore international and interpersonal politics, will speak Oct. 15.
Jai Kumaran, principal of West of West Architecture + Design, and the Sam Fox School’s Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture, will speak Oct. 26. Multiform conceptual artist Chloë Bass, the Sam Fox School’s 2026-27 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will discuss her work Nov. 3.
Ana María León, an associate professor of architecture at Harvard University, and Eric P. Mumford, the Sam Fox School’s Rebecca and John Voyles Professor of Architecture, will discuss the exhibition “Buenos Aires Modern” Nov. 5. On Nov. 11, Susanna Temkin, interim chief curator of New York’s El Museo del Barrio, will discuss the exhibition “Carolina Caycedo: Growing Deep Roots,” which will be on view at the Kemper Art Museum throughout the fall.
Rounding out the fall series will be Vincent Valdez, who blends the traditions of large-scale history painting with contemporary subject matter. A date for the lecture will be announced in coming weeks.
All talks are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-935-9300 or visit the Sam Fox School website.
Fall 2026 speakers
Aug. 31
Jing Liu
Founding partner, SO-IL
Anna Schewe and Caroline Schewe Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court, Weil Hall
Sept. 9
Julie Snow
Founding principal, Snow Kreilich Architects
Abend Family Visiting Critic Endowed Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Sept. 9
Panel discussion: Natalia Brizuela, Dana Ostrander and Megan A. Sullivan
In conjunction with “Buenos Aires Modern, 1935–1950”
5:30 p.m. Steinberg Hall Auditorium
Exhibition opening to immediately follow in the Kemper Art Museum
Sept. 23
Lawrence Blough
Professor, Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Principal, Graftworks Design Research
Eugene J. Mackey, Jr. Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Oct. 12
M. Christine Boyer
William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Princeton University
Coral Courts Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Oct. 12
Stas Orlovski
Visual artist
Arthur L. and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist Lecture
4:30 p.m. Steinberg Auditorium
Oct. 15
Wafaa Bilal
Artist
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visiting Artist Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Oct. 26
Jai Kumaran
Principal, West of West Architecture + Design
Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Nov. 3
Chloë Bass
Multiform conceptual artist
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Nov. 5
Conversation: Ana María León and Eric P. Mumford
“A Modern Buenos Aires: Architecture and Photomontage under Peronism”
In conjunction with “Buenos Aires Modern, 1935–1950”
5 p.m. Kemper Art Museum
Nov. 11
Susanna Temkin
Interim chief curator, El Museo del Barrio
“Roots and Rhizomes: Relational Networks in the Art of Carolina Caycedo”
In conjunction with “Carolina Caycedo: Growing Deep Roots”
5:30 p.m. Kemper Art Museum
TBD
Vincent Valdez
Artist
Bunny and Charles Burson Visiting Lecture
