Public Lecture and Reception | Stephen Burks: Spirit Houses

Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, S.R. Crown Hall

Exhibition Hours Illinois Institute of Technology Campus, Cunningham and Kacek Hall

By appointment only, please contact jreesejulien@dirkdenisonarchitects.com for scheduling a time to visit during the following hours:
Week of August 19th:  Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 12-4pm
Week of August 26th: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 12-4pm
Week of September 3rd: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 12-4pm

Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture is pleased to present Stephen Burks: Spirit Houses, a public lecture and exhibition by internationally celebrated industrial design studio Stephen Burks Man Made.

In the wake of several converging global crises, how can design respond to loss, grief, and the need for self care? As more people turn to a range of veneration practices across the globe, the necessity of creating furniture and products to meet the particular needs of modern day spiritual practitioners has emerged as a new design imperative.

Stephen Burks: Spirit Houses reflects on design’s response to, the failures of rapid globalization, environmental degradation, structural racism, and inequity while offering deeper thinking into the religio-spiritual cosmologies of West Africa and Southeast Asia.

These multifaceted forms allow us to engage the sacred in personal ways that are both reflective of traditional altar use and expansive in their exploration of new typologies imbued with spiritual sentience at the will of the user.

Accompanying the designed objects are photographs by Malika Leiper that extend the exhibition boundaries into exterior spaces. These images taken in Kampot, Cambodia depict a range of subjects from readymade to classical altars, as well as naturally-occurring sacred forms like a termite mound and a lotus flower.

Following the public lecture on August 28th, guests are invited to a reception in Kacek Hall for a guided tour of the exhibition by Stephen and Malika.

Stephen Burks
Chicago-native Stephen Burks is one of the most recognized American industrial designers of his generation, whose innovative approach to design synthesizes craft, community, and industry. His studio Stephen Burks Man Made have been commissioned by many of the world’s leading design-driven brands to develop collections that engage hand production as a strategy for innovation including Cappellini, Dedon, MASS Design Group, Missoni, & Roche Bobois. Their recent mid-career traveling exhibition, Stephen Burks: Shelter In Place (High Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art) presented over fifty works from the last ten years of commercial practice alongside craft collaborations with Berea College and a commissioned series of speculative design prototypes.

Malika Leiper
Malika Leiper is the cultural director of Stephen Burks Man Made. As a writer with a background in urban planning, she also contributes regularly to design and architecture publications including the Architect’s Newspaper, Disegno Journal and Domus.

Stephen Burks: Spirit Houses is presented with the generous support of Dirk Denison Architects, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Volume Gallery in parallel with the College of Architecture seminar “Form Follows Meaning.”

Image: Stephen Burks, Cozy, 2023, hand-coiled cotton rope wrapped in wax thread, steel