The role of design and culture in the evolution of urban environments will be explored in the upcoming symposium "Virtual Unreality: The Theming of our Cities from Las Vegas to Disney World and Beyond."
The symposium, scheduled for Oct. 20-22, will bring together more than 20 speakers, theorists, academicians, design professionals, and community leaders to address issues ranging from the historic theming of Santa Fe, N.M., to the current rage of theming malls, suburbs, and whole cities.
Sponsored by the UNLV School of Architecture in association with the Nevada State Council on the Arts and several professional design groups, the symposium will be held at locations on the UNLV campus and at the Flamingo Library.
A design charette, to be held Jan. 16-18, will be held in conjunction with the symposium and will explore issues raised there.
Also, an exhibition of works by noted Los Angeles architect Martin Stern will be held during the event. According to symposium organizers, a tribute to be held for Stern - who designed many of the first high-rise modern casino structures in Las Vegas - will be an integral part of the event.
Among the symposium presenters are:
* Mark Gottdiener, chairman of the sociology department at the University of Buffalo, New York, and author of "Postmodern Semiotics;
* Alain Peskine, distinguished professor of architecture at the School of Architecture, Lille, France, and an award-winning practicing architect;
* Alan Hess, architect and author of "Viva Las Vegas: After-hours Architecture;
* Joel Bergman, an architect currently designing dozens of casino/resort projects around the world, including Bally's Paris project, and one of the designers of The Mirage and Treasure Island;
* Dave Hickey, UNLV art professor, author, and internationally known critic of postmodern art and culture;
* Sharon Zukin, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College and Columbia University, and author of "The Culture of Cities"; and
* Margaret Malamud, a history professor at New Mexico State University who has been studying and writing about Caesars Palace, the first themed Las Vegas resort.
Architecture critic and presenter Aaron Betsky will serve, along with UNLV architecture professors Eric Strain and Richard Beckman, as editor of a publication that will document the symposium and charette.
This event will expand on the topics explored in last year's symposium titled, "Urban Theatre: A New Paradigm Rising in Las Vegas." Betsky described last year's event as a symposium at which "a group of urban critics and designers looked seriously at the phenomenon of Las Vegas and began to develop critical language for what is usually dismissed as just an excess of popular culture place making."
Funding for the symposium has come from the Nevada State Council on the Arts and the Reno and Las Vegas chapters of the American Institute of Architects.
For more information, call Beckman or Strain at (702) 895-3031.
