
Proofing: Resistant and Ready
2023 CAST Mellon Faculty Grant
Exploring the promises and pitfalls of plasticity
About
Assistant Professor Xavi Laida Aguirre’s project Proofing: Resistant and Ready features at the 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture in a pavilion curated around the theme of “Everlasting Plastics.” Incorporating a built environment and an immersive video experience, Proofing: Resistant and Ready explores the contradictory nature of plastics in architecture as they help us create more robust and durable environments while also being partially responsible for the climate disaster. The project offers a series of prototypes and building techniques to intervene subversively in the built environment with the intention of reintroducing the lost promises of plastic’s longevity through both material and digital tactics.
More at the project website: Proofing
More at the exhibition website: Everlasting Plastics
Schedule
Current & Upcoming Events
Proofing: Resistant and Ready
U.S. Pavilion Everlasting Plastics Exhibition opening
2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture
Venice, Italy
May 20 – November 26, 2023
Proofing: Resistant and Ready
U.S. Pavilion Everlasting Plastics Exhibition
Carnegie Museum of Art
Pittsburgh, PA
March 9 – August 11, 2024
Proofing: Resistant and Ready
U.S. Pavilion Everlasting Plastics Exhibition
Wrightwood 659
Chicago, IL
September 27, 2024 – February 1, 2025
Collaborators
Xavi Laida Aguirre is an Assistant Professor at the MIT School of Architecture and Urbanism. They are the Director of an architectural practice called stock-a-studio and the creator of the acclaimed project Someparts, a series of infinitely re-assembleable architectural kits.
Biography: MIT Architecture Department
Website: stockastudio.com and someparts.parts
Social: Instagram
Credits
Project collaborators:
Ash Fure, Sound
Deborah Garcia, Commentary
Boneless Pizza~ Studio, Video production
Ian Erickson, Video and Website production
Jayson Kim, Video production
Zachary Slonsky, Video and Website production
Zachary S. Schumacher, Project Assistant
Agnes Parker, Fabrication
Cheng Qin, Fabrication
Samantha Ratanarat, Fabrication
Supported by a Mellon Faculty Grant from the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and by the MIT.nano Immersion Lab.
In the Media
The New York Times: In Venice, Americans Explore Peace With Plastic
DesignBoom: designers highlight our dependency on ‘everlasting plastics’ at US pavilion in venice
Columbia Books: Sketches on Everlasting Plastics