Joanne K. Cheung is an artist, designer, and organizer. She cares about architecture and democracy.
I’m currently designing a new program for civic participation with the City of San José and writing an essay titled “Designing Democratic Architecture” for an upcoming Harvard Berkman Klein Center essay collection.
“City of San José, Design Firms Host Pop-Up to Solicit Feedback About Self-Driving Vehicles,” San José Inside.
“Putting People at the Heart of Smart Cities: Community Engagement and Emerging Mobility in San José,” City of San José Mayor’s Office of Tech & Innovation.
Project partners: City of San José Mayor’s Office of Tech & Innovation, Department of Transportation, and Gehl. Community partners: Local Color and CreaTV.
The project is a part of a Knight Foundation initative and my current work as the Collaborative Cities Portfolio Co-Lead at IDEO CoLab.
A New Town Hall
A re-imagined historic building type that supports democracy in the 21st century.
This project investigates democracy in the age of social media through the lens of the rural New Hampshire town hall. As a place of assembly, the architecture of the town hall has not evolved beyond its colonial meeting house origins to support the scale and speed at which people communicate today. What should the contemporary town hall—and the practice of everyday politics both online and offline—look like in a networked society?
Collaborators: Aimilios Davlantis Lo (model fabrication), Hanna Kim (poster illustration), Mindy Seu (graphic design)
Horizon
Photographs of the ocean collaged into a book of poems.
“Shifting the ‘Horizon’,” The Harvard Gazette.
Exhibited at Harvard Global Health Institute’s Sustainability Showcase. Production support from the Harvard Visualization Lab and a Sustainability Grant from the Harvard Office for Sustainability.
Beach
An art installation that turned the post-climate change waterfront into a beach party.
“Coastal Cambridge,” Harvard Political Review.
“‘Postcards from the future’: Joanne K. Cheung envisions what design can reveal about our planet,” Harvard GSD News.
Full List of Collaborators
Exhibited at fortyK Gallery in Cambridge, MA and the 2016 Hacking Arts Festival at MIT Media Lab.
Unbuilt
A pavilion materializing 200 crowdsourced designs that have never been built.
“Class Act,” Wallpaper.
“This Year’s Design Miami Pavilion Has Odd Looks—and Unexpected Creators,” Wired.
“The Most Interesting Projects From a Newly Inclusive Design Miami,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine.
“A Pavilion of Tiny Pink Buildings,” Azure.
Collaborators: Douglas Harsevoort, Steven Meyer, Jenny Shen, Yiliu Shen-Burke.
Commissioned by Design Miami. Named Finalist in Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Award.
Filmballad of Mamadada
A feature-length biopic of a Dada artist made by playing a game of exquisite corpse with 50 people.
“Body Politic,” Artforum.
Trailer and Full List of Collaborators
Produced and directed Lily Benson and Cassandra Guan. Screenings include Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Lisbon International Independent Film Festival, and Athens Avant Garde Film Festival.
Talks
Users v. Muses
Honoring All Expertise: Social Responsibility and Ethics in Tech, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University
Body, Building, Block
Role/Play: Collaborative Creativity, National Academy of Sciences.
“Creativity and Collaboration: Revisiting Cybernetic Serendipity”, Studio International.
Exhibitions
Machine Experiences II, Rainbow Unicorn, Berlin.
Lines, Lights, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Dartmouth College.
J AT JOANNEKCHEUNG DOT COM