the national trust for historic preservation

geometry of light farnsworth house revamped for the chicago architecture biennial 2019.

Sep 1, 2019

above > farnsworth house / courtesy of © chris bellezza

farnsworth house, the national trust for historic preservation, and mas context presents geometry of light, an art intervention by luftwerk in collaboration with iker gil.

geometry of light is a three-night light and sound art installation in the iconic farnsworth house, designed by mies van der rohe and lilly reich, and on the surrounding land, in plano, illinois. completed in 1951 and opened to the public in 2004,

the art installation will coincide with the third edition of the chicago architecture biennial. both vip and general entry tickets are already available for purchase. geometry of light will run each evening from 7 pm until 10 pm. presented in concert with a sound-piece developed in direct response to the site by oriol tarragó, this intervention will reveal underlying geometries that relate the house to its river floodplain site, topography, and natural landscape.

[ tickets ]
friday, 11 october 2019 (vip)
7:00 pm | $75 | virtue cider, hors d’oeuvres, & shuttle service to/from aurora metra station included in ticket price. event also features a conversation between zoë ryan, john h. bryan chair and curator of architecture and design at the art institute of chicago, artists petra bachmaier and sean gallero, and architect iker gil.
saturday, 12 october 2019
7:00 pm | $35 | shuttle service to/from aurora metra station available for additional fee
sunday, 13 october 2019
7:00 pm | $35 | shuttle service to/from aurora metra station available for additional fee

the farnsworth house was the weekend home of chicago research physician dr. edith farnsworth. this outdoor intervention will uncover the forgotten history of the site and remnants of earlier landscape by revealing the underlying geometries that relate the world-renowned house to its river floodplain, site topography, and key trees that no longer exist.

geometry of light premiered this past february at the german pavilion in barcelona designed by mies van der rohe and lilly reich. the installation was presented as part of the fundació mies van der rohe’s ongoing program of artistic interventions also corresponding with the llum bcn festival and the santa eulàlia festival.

geometry of light is part of the year of german-american friendship 2018|19 initiated by the german federal foreign office, the goethe-institut, and is supported by the federation of german industries (bdi). this project is generously supported by the graham foundation for advanced studies in the fine arts and bosch power tools – north america. additional support provided by chuck thurow, virtue cider, and many individual donors.