Hip-Hop Architecture Cypher brings together nationally recognized architects/exhibitors Sara Zewde (New York), James Garrett, Jr. (Saint Paul), and Craig L. Wilkins (Detroit) along with local artists "King Carla" Aaron-Lopez, Jonell Logan (Vice President + Creative Director at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation), and Junious 'Jay' Ward (Charlotte’s first Poet Laureate) in a conversation moderated by UNC Charlotte urban design students Makayla Binter and Makenzie Elam. Together they will explore the role that Hip-Hop and Hip-Hop culture can play in the built environment in a freeform conversation in the round. The free event, which will take place in the courtyard behind The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City, is open to the public and encourages audience participation.
The Hip-Hop Architecture Cypher is a live event coinciding with the exhibition Close to The Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture at the Projective Eye Gallery. Curated by Sekou Cooke, Director of the Master of Urban Design program at UNC Charlotte, the exhibition explores the emerging architectural movement through work by students, academics, and practitioners over a 28-year period. First exhibited at the Center for Architecture in New York City in 2018 and later remixed for SpringBOX in Saint Paul in 2019, Close to the Edge now comes to Charlotte before being shown at the Museum of Design Atlanta this fall.
