Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories with Adam Nathanial Furman and Joshua Mardell
Channel: Cooper Hewitt
Date: 2023-07-17

In celebration of Pride Month, join designer Adam Nathaniel Furman and architecture historian Joshua Mardell, editors of the recent publication Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories, to discuss why queer spaces are so important and how they compiled the diverse and international selection of spaces included in the book. For Queer Spaces, Furman and Mardell gathered together a community of contributors to share stories of spaces that range from the educational to the institutional to the re-appropriated, and more. With historic, contemporary, and speculative examples from around the world, Queer Spaces recognizes LGBTQIA+ life past and present as strong, vibrant, vigorous, and worthy of its own place in history. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what form these spaces may take in the future to continue uplifting queer lives.

Adam Nathaniel Furman
Furman is an artist and designer based in London who founded an atelier that creates projects of all scales from plates to skyscrapers, in various locations around the world from Tokyo to Milan.

 Dr. Joshua Mardell
Mardell is an architectural historian. He is a Research Tutor in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, and co-editor of the Journal of Architecture. He has published widely on 19th and 20th century architecture including in AA Files, Architectural History, The Journal of Architecture, and the Antiquaries Journal.

George Benson (Moderator), Assistant Educator, Learning & Engagement Department, The Museum of Modern Art
George Benson has worked at some of the largest museums in the world, advocating for greater representation of LGBTQIA+ people, history, and culture in each of them. At The British Museum, Benson advised on their first LGBTQIA+ exhibition, which overviewed 10,000 years of queer history from across the world. At The Museum of Modern Art, Benson co-wrote their first ever public queer tour, inviting participants to discuss what makes an artwork queer. Benson has also written for the NYC LGBT Historic Sites project, a nonprofit organization that documents sites of historical significance to the LGBTQIA+ community across NYC.

This event  is made possible with major support from PwC Charitable Foundation.