Parsons Paris Celebrates Opening of New Campus Center Fall Programming Includes Exhibition of Work by Award-Winning Artist and Parsons Alumnus Evan Roth and Showcase of the Top New Talent from Parsons’ Prestigious Fashion Program |
Evan Roth: New York to Paris De•main: A Parsons Emerging Fashion Showcase Parsons Paris PARIS AND NEW YORK, September 5, 2013 – This month, The New School celebrates the opening of Parsons Paris, the European hub of Parsons The New School for Design, with a series of exhibitions timed with Paris Design Week and Paris Fashion Week. “Parsons has a long history of engagement in Paris that goes back nearly a century to 1921, when it was the first American art and design school to establish a campus here,” said Susan Taylor-Leduc, Dean of Parsons Paris. “Today, Parsons Paris will introduce a new, global model of design education that focuses on the increasingly interdisciplinary role of design in the contemporary world, but within a uniquely French context. Our students will take advantage of the unparalleled resources to be found in Paris, and we will also open our doors to the French art and design community here in our new home in the 1st Arrondissement.” In its first year, Parsons Paris will welcome nearly 100 students studying across a number of disciplines, including Art, Media and Technology; Fashion; and Strategic Design and Management; both in its undergraduate programs as well as Study Abroad. The student population is truly global, with students representing more than 25 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The school expects to eventually grow to a population of roughly 300 to 500 students, and will introduce graduate programs in Strategic Design and Management, Decorative Arts and Design and Technology in Fall 2014. Parsons Paris will formally inaugurate its new home in the 1st Arrondissement with an exhibition of work by the award-winning, Paris-based contemporary artist and Parsons alumnus Evan Roth. Roth applies a hacker philosophy to an art practice that visualizes transient moments in public space, online and in popular culture, and his work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has received numerous awards, including the Prix Ars Electronica, one of the world’s most important media art awards, and also a National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, one of the top design awards in the United States. The exhibition, Evan Roth: New York to Paris explores Roth’s evolution as an artist from his time as a graduate student at Parsons, through his establishing a base in Paris. Included in the exhibition will be prints, video and sculptures that range from public space interventions to algorithmically generated sculptures.Evan Roth: New York to Parisalso provides a background to Roth's practice in advance of his first major solo exhibition in Paris in October at XPO Gallery. During Paris Fashion Week, Parsons Paris will also present De•main, an installation of collections from the top graduates of its world-renowned Fashion Design program. This includes the most recent Designer of the Year, a prestigious honor that was awarded to Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler and Marc Jacobs in their graduating years. The exhibition will also highlight the collections of designers who were finalists in an annual competition between Parsons and Kering (formerly PPR). In addition, during Paris Design Week, Parsons Paris will also participate in a roundtable discussion presented by ENSAAMA (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d'Art) and WantedDesign, which will provide an overview of a transatlantic design workshop that took place during New York Design Week in May 2013, in which students from Parsons, ENSAAMA, as well as Art Center College of Design, ENSCI les ateliers and CENTRO Mexico worked collaboratively to develop concepts for products and systems that address water usage. Background on Parsons Paris Parsons Paris will also take a strategic approach to amplifying its heritage in Paris by engaging with a range of art, design, business, government, and academic partners. An advisory council will be established, through the leadership of Renaud Dutreil, the former chairman of LVMH North America and a New School Trustee, who is the president of the French association for Parsons Paris. Parsons Paris’ international mix of students learns from a faculty of French and European art and design educators, and visiting professors from around the world. Students are a part of the larger community of The New School, a university that offers interdisciplinary study in liberal arts, social sciences, international affairs, management, public policy, media studies and the performing arts. Students will be able to study online or at its New York campus, supplementing their coursework with classes in other subjects. “Parsons Paris marks the beginning of our efforts to create a network of hubs in cities around the world, where students can fluidly engage both on site and online throughout the course of their studies, and prepare for careers in the creative industries in a global context,” said New School President David Van Zandt. Parsons Paris represents the first step in a new global initiative at The New School, which recognizes that the growing interaction among cultures, markets, and regions of the world has revolutionized the practice of art and design. Parsons Mumbai, a partnership with the new Indian School of Innovation and Design, also launched this fall, and Parsons is exploring activities in other regions of the world where the university has engaged in student and faculty research and cross-cultural exchange, including Shanghai. For more information about Parsons Paris, visit http://www.newschool.edu/parsonsparis. Parsons The New School for Design is one of the most prestigious schools of art and design in the world. Having established some of the first programs in the United States in fashion design, interior design, and graphic design, Parsons has a long legacy of art and design innovation. Among those educated at Parsons are the renowned artists Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein; fashion designers Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, and Tom Ford; photographer Steven Meisel; graphic designer Paul Rand; and a new generation of rising artists and designers including artist Ryan McGinley; fashion designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler and Alexander Wang; and art director Julia Restoin Roitfeld. Since 1970, Parsons has been part of The New School, a university founded in 1919 as a center of intellectual and artistic freedom. Among those who have taught and studied at The New School are such leading twentieth century figures as John Dewey, Martha Graham, Margaret Mead, Isamu Noguchi, Aaron Copland, Marlon Brando, and many others. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/parsons. # # # |
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