FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | DOWNLOAD HERE
NEW BOOK EXHIBITS ‘THEATER OF LIFE’ WITHIN TODAY’S URBAN OPEN SPACES
Design & Photography Artfully Converge in an Examination of Public Space in the American City.
BOSTON, MA, 11.10.2021 — Mise-en-Scène, a newly published photography and design book currently in preorder through ORO publications, is an immersive exploration of the social lives of urban landscapes—the actors and actions that compose the daily theater of urban life. Conceived as a unique collaboration between an urbanist, Chris Reed, and a photographer, Mike Belleme, the book combines photo essays, original maps and drawings, newly commissioned essays, excerpts from historical writings, and interviews with residents. The book is centered around seven visual case studies depicting life in seven American cities: Los Angeles, Galveston, St. Louis, Green Bay, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Boston.
The tome explores how the architects of urban landscape conceive space, exposing the consideration paid to the environmental, structural, social and cultural realities that influence the design process. Yet, beyond the analysis, the book reveals the visceral way people inhabit, share, explore, and celebrate in these unique and diverse spaces through exquisite black and white photographs by Mike Belleme.
And lastly, readers are treated to a diverse group of essayists including designer Sara Zewde, ecologist Nina-Marie Lister, social activist De Nichols, curator Mimi Zeiger and critic Julia Czerniak, who each provide remarkable cultural narratives that thread together the disciplines. The result is a rigorous and artful examination of the social, cultural, environmental, and economic challenges of life in today’s American city.
Author Chris Reed is founder and design director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism a design and strategic planning practice in Boston and Los Angeles, and Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is a leading voice on issues related to climate adaptation, racial and social equity, urban landscape, and the sociability of cities. Photographer, Mike Belleme, is a freelance photographer based in Asheville, North Carolina. His work ranges from long-form documentary projects to assignment-based editorial work, photojournalism, and portraiture. His practice involves photographing from a space of vulnerability, exploring themes involving connection and disconnection.
ABOUT STOSS
Stoss is a pioneering design firm focused on creating resilient social spaces that foster vitality, equality and community within the public realm. Founded in Boston in 2001, Stoss is a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award winner for urban planning and landscape projects that integrate urbanism, landscape, infrastructure, and sustainability. Collaborating with cities, public agencies, institutions, and private interests on multi-faceted and varied projects, the Stoss team is involved in conceiving, designing and managing construction for; parks and open spaces; urban and campus design; ecological and resiliency planning; municipal and regional strategies; multi-scale landscape infrastructures; development and remediation projects; furnishings and exhibitions.
For more information contact: Sophie Elias | se@stoss.net