Please help First Light welcome Igor Siddiqui to the shop to discuss his book OBLIQUE EXPERIMENTS, on the experimental and theoretical architecture of Claude Parent.

The event will begin with an author reception from 6–6:30 p.m., followed by a conversation with designer and curator Mark Owens. Tickets include a copy of the book and a reserved seat. Unreserved seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Free RSVPs are also encouraged.

About the book

With the radical proposition of life on inclined planes—a theory known as the oblique function—the French architect Claude Parent sought to free architecture of orthogonal form, renew its social relevance, and inspire people’s interest in the built environment.

OBLIQUE EXPERIMENTS explores the significance of a series of temporary interventions that he designed in an attempt to convert his theory into practice. Referred to as practicables, these installations incorporated oblique geometries, involved interdisciplinary collaboration, and made themselves at home in existing buildings, often inside of French cultural centers known as maisons de la culture. Using rarely published archival materials as well as new drawings produced by the book’s author, OBLIQUE EXPERIMENTS brings overdue attention to this series of architectural experiments with enduring intellectual and creative appeal. Moreover, the book prompts the reader to imagine the radical potential of obliqueness in a range of contemporary practices—beyond the literal prospect of life on sloped floors. As such, OBLIQUE EXPERIMENTS builds upon Parent’s work in order to imagine new forms of experimentation in architecture, design, and art.

About the authors

Igor Siddiqui is an architect and associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, where he has served on the faculty since 2009. His research, practice, and teaching explore the relationship between design experimentation and public engagement. Siddiqui is the editor of the journal Interiors: Design/Architecture/Culture.

He will be joined in conversation by Mark Owens, a designer, writer, and curator working between New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. He holds an MFA in graphic design from Yale University and an MA in English and literary theory from Duke University. For the past decade he has worked as an independent graphic designer, primarily for publishers and clients in the cultural realm. He is co-editor with Zak Kyes of the catalogue for the exhibition Forms of Inquiry at the Architectural Association, London, and his essays have appeared in Dot Dot Dot, Visible Language, Grafik, PIN-UP, Bricks from the Kiln, and Experimental Jetset’s recent monograph, Statement and Counter-Statement.