SO-IL
Future Archaeology
September 9 - October 2, 2010
SO-IL
Future Archaeology
September 9 – October 2, 2010
Institute 193, Lexington
SO-IL bills itself as a “small office with a global reach.” Sound familiar? SO-IL was founded in 2007 as a “creative catalyst” designed to aid in any and all stages of the architectural process and “vehemently believes in realizing their ideas in the world.” Enterprises like SO-IL are not think-tanks or conceptual incubators, but action-oriented businesses focused on the physical manifestation of their ideas across the globe.
Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu, the founders of SO-IL, traveled periodically to Lexington in the fall of 2010 to run the Brown Forman Urban Design Studio. Institute 193 collaborated with the UK College of Design to present an exhibition that introduced the architects and their work to the Lexington community, providing an opportunity for interaction and discussion outside of the traditional classroom setting. SO-IL’s structure and ambitious project schedule represent a model that we find particularly compelling. SO-IL is living proof that a small space can have a global reach.
According to Michael Speaks, former dean of the UK College of Design, “SO-IL is analytical but not abstract, rigorous but not dogmatic, proactive but not ideological. Their work is subtle but not precious, beautiful but not glamorous, intellectual but not pretentious. And that is because their greatest ambition is to play a role, sometimes small, sometimes large, in shaping the real. In light of the new economic realities we must all now confront, such ambition seems almost heroic.”
This exhibition is sponsored by The University of Kentucky College of Design and Art Without Walls.