Opening May 21 through September 26, 2010, the Hammer Museum will present a new sculptural work by Los Angeles-based architect Greg Lynn. A fantastical attraction for visitors of all ages, Fountain of Toys will be sited in the Museum’s outdoor courtyard. As the title suggests, the work is a functioning fountain made out of large plastic found children’s toys that have been cut and reassembled in multiple layers, with water spouting from its top and pooling at its base. Constructed with more than fifty-seven prefabricated plastic whale and shark teeter totters welded together and unified by the application of a white automotive paint, Fountain will be a gathering place for the warm summer months.
Greg Lynn’s Fountain is the first architecture and design project guest-curated by architectural historian Sylvia Lavin. As part of Hammer Projects, Laving will organize a new project approximately once a year over the next three years that will present new works by architecs and designers. These projects will be sited in different locations around the Museum.
Organized by Sylvia Lavin, Director of Critical Studies and MA/PhD Programs UCLArchitecture.
Greg Lynn was born in 1964 in Ohio. He graduated from Miami University of Ohio with degrees in both architecture (Bachelor of Environmental Design) and philosophy (Bachelor of Philosophy) and later from Princeton University where he received a graduate degree in architecture (Master of Architecture). He received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the Academy of Fine Arts & Design in Bratislava.Lynn’s innovative use of computer-aided design and robots to create complex forms has placed him at the cutting edge of architecture and design. In 2001 Time magazine named him one of its one hundred most innovative people in the world for the twenty-first century, and in 2005 Forbes magazine named him one of the ten most influential living architects. The buildings, projects, publications, teachings, and writings associated with his practice, Greg Lynn FORM, have been influential in the acceptance and use of advanced technology for design and fabrication. Lynn has received awards from the AIA and Progressive Architecture, was the 2008 Venice Biennale Golden Lion recipient, and was given the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award in 2003. He is the author of seven books and monographs and has taught throughout the United States and Europe, holding the position of studio professor at UCLA. He is currently Davenport Visiting Professor at Yale University.
http://hammer.ucla.edu
