Who: -- Edwin Schlossberg, founder and principal designer of ESI Design -- Michael Ben-Eli, international consultant on management and organization -- Paola Antonelli (Moderator), curator of the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Architecture and Design and recent Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition What: Two-hour panel discussion of Buckminster Fuller's influence and relevance in today's worlds of design and sustainability. The discussion will be held at New York's Center for Architecture and is part of a summer-long and city-wide celebration of Buckminster Fuller, including gallery shows, panel sessions, and film screenings sponsored by The Buckminster Fuller Institute, Metropolis Magazine, The Center for Architecture and others. Fuller was one of the first to promote a systemic worldview and explored principles of energy and material efficiency in the fields of architecture, engineering and design. He was an early environmental pioneer and promoted the idea of "ephemeralization" or doing more with less. Best-known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller devoted much of his life to resolving the gap between the sciences and the humanities, leading a dialogue about how to best live on "Spaceship Earth." The panel features visionaries Edwin Schlossberg and Michael Ben-Eli, both students and close associates of Fuller. In 1969, Schlossberg helped organize the World Game, Fuller's innovative strategy to promote human cooperation by enabling players to solve global problems. This mass-scale interactive experience was a catalyst for Schlossberg's future mission at ESI Design -- to inspire social change through collaborative, participatory design. A recent example of ESI's work, the Action Center to End World Hunger, will bring people together in a similar fashion to tackle systemic issues relating to poverty and world hunger. Michael Ben-Eli collaborated with Fuller on projects involving research on advanced structural systems and exploration of issues related to the management of technology and world resources for the advantage of all. In recent years, he has been working on issues related to sustainability with a mission to inspire leaders in business, government, community, and youth to co-create a peaceful world embracing a sustainable future. When: Wednesday, June 25 from 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to the Center for Architecture at www.aiany.org Where: New York's Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York City For more information about Buckminster Fuller events, please visit www.bfi.org.
Contact Information: For more information about Ed Schlossberg and ESI Design, please contact: Joanne Lessner 212-537-5177