Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen feat. Reiser+Umemoto/RUR Architecture

Join us for a live recording at the National Academy of Design of Person Place Thing, featuring host Randy Cohen in conversation with architects Jesse Reiser NA and Nanako Umemoto NA, principals of Reiser+Umemoto/RUR Architecture. Musical performance by guest guitarist and singer Karl Schwarz.

Work by Reiser+Umemoto/RUR Architecture, inducted into the 2024 class of National Academicians, is currently on view in Kinetic Traces.

Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen is an interview show based on the idea that people are particularly engaging when they speak not directly about themselves, but about something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing with particular meaning to them. The result: surprising stories from great talkers. Past guests have included Claire Weisz NA; Sara Caples NA and Everardo Jefferson NA; Marion Weiss NA and Michael Manfredi NA; Tod Williams NA and Billie Tsien NA; Laurie Anderson NA; Mierle Laderman Ukeles; Anna Deveare Smith; Alice Aycock NA; David Gonzalez; and Yeohlee Teng.

RESERVATIONS: Admission is free but reservations are required.

ACCESSIBILITY: This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. To request free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service, email your request at least three weeks in advance of the event to aW5mbyB8IG5hdGlvbmFsYWNhZGVteSAhIG9yZw==.

About the Speakers

Jesse Reiser NA, AIA, FAAR is a registered architect in New York and a principal of RUR Architecture DPC. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Cooper Union in New York, and completed his Masters of Architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He was a fellow of the American Academy in Rome in 1985, and he trained in the offices of John Hejduk and Aldo Rossi prior to forming Reiser + Umemoto with Nanako Umemoto. Jesse is a Professor of Architecture at Princeton University and has previously taught at various schools in the US and Asia, including Columbia University, Yale University, Ohio State University, Hong Kong University, and has lectured widely at various educational and cultural institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He is also an honorary fellow at the University of Tokyo’s School of Engineering.

Nanako Umemoto NA is a principal of RUR Architecture DPC. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Cooper Union in New York in 1983, following studies at the School of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at the Osaka University of Art. Nanako has taught at various schools in the US, Europe and Asia, including Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, EPFL in Lausanne Switzerland, Hong Kong University, Kyoto University, and the Cooper Union, and she has lectured widely at various educational and cultural institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. She is a Professor of Practice at Washington University in St. Louis.

Randy Cohen’s first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Young Love Comics). His first television work was writing for "Late Night With David Letterman" for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on Michael Moore’s "TV Nation." He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept it. For twelve years he wrote "The Ethicist," a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine. He is currently the creator and host of Person Place Thing, a public radio program. | personplacething.org

Karl Schwarz, founder of New Moon Acoustic Blues, is a New York CIty based guitarist and singer. On stage, he performs and shares stories through Delta, Piedmont, Hillcountry, and Texas style Blues. Karl performs music typified by artists such as the Reverend Gary Davis, Robert Johnson and RL Burnside. His emotive and energetic performances offer a lens into the foundation of modern music and historical truths. You can learn more about Karl at www.newmoonacousticblues.com.

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