Laboratory for Suburbia

Derek Hoeferlin, James McAnally, Gavin Kroeber, Patty Heyda, Ila Sheren

In the past five years, American suburbia has arguably emerged as the defining geography of the political moment. The 2014 Ferguson uprising, the 2016 presidential campaign, and the 2018 midterm elections have moved suburbia to the center of national power struggles, investing the urban periphery with an importance not seen in a generation. The fields of art and design, however, have largely failed to engage suburbia. Laboratory for Suburbia will begin to develop a platform for critical suburban practice in St. Louis, a fragmented region that presents a potent paradigm of contemporary suburbanization—where exurban dispersal proceeds apace amidst population decline and diminishing economic opportunities rather than dynamic growth and demographic change.

Laboratory for Suburbia will unfold through two community-engaged public cultural events in suburban St. Louis: 1) A launch event in Fall 2019, anchored by an architectural installation and featuring a dynamic program of performances, talks, and film screenings and 2) a series of artist-designed bus tours in Spring 2020. Animating unique locations in the region’s suburban fabric and bringing together constituents from multiple communities, emphasizing storytelling and organized through a careful series of invitations to varied stakeholders and audiences, these events will be intended to produce research, exchange, and propositions that publicly explore the complexities and contradictions of 21st-century suburbia. The events will also serve as catalysts for a larger project being developed by community partner The Luminary, establishing connections between community and institutional actors that can support future art and architecture projects in the St. Louis suburbs.

Visit the Laboratory for Suburbia site here.