On November 30, Assistant Professor Adrian Blackwell will give a talk titled "Fractured Atlas/Virtual Architecture" at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Architecture. 

Blackwell's talk will mobilize architectural practice as a critique of Neoliberal political economy. In the first half, Fractured Atlas, Blackwell will describe the uneven topologies of neoliberal urbanism, through three case studies: the cities of Detroit and Shenzhen and Public Housing in the great lakes region. In the second half, Virtual Architecture, he will show a sequence of projects that intervene in this situation, and whose political potential lies in their uncertain actualizations.

Adrian Blackwell is an artist and urban designer whose work focuses on the relationship between physical spaces and the political economy. His work has been exhibited at artist-run-centers and public institutions across Canada and in international venues such as the Shenzhen Biennale, the Chengdu Biennale and London’s Architectural Association. In 2007, he collaborated with three other design practices to win the international competition to renovate Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, and, with Jane Hutton, he designed "Dymaxion Sleep" for the International Garden Festival at the Jardins de Metis. Blackwell has curated exhibitions, including "Detours: Tactical Approaches to Urbanization in China" and organized symposia, such as "Architecture and Spectacle in (Post) Socialist China." He has been a visiting professor at Chongqing University, Muschenheim Fellow at the University of Michigan, and is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. He is a co-founder and editor of the journal "Scapegoat: Architecture / Landscape / Political Economy."