The University of Kentucky College of Design is partnering with New York-based nonprofit organization The World Around (TWA) to present TWA’s first exhibition, Life On Earth from Jan. 24 through March 14 on display in the Gray Design Building’s first-floor gallery. The Life On Earth exhibition explores human civilization from a planetary perspective, examining the architectural and design systems that have shaped the last 50 years while highlighting their environmental and social consequences. Through video dispatches by 18 global experts and stories from The World Around’s Young Climate Prize, the exhibition showcases design's role in addressing the climate crisis, featuring on-the-ground perspectives from diverse locations like Kenya's Great Rift Valley and Argentina's salt flats. Celebrating intergenerational collaboration, it emphasizes the urgent need for collective action and invites viewers to reflect on the transformative potential of architecture in the Anthropocene. TWA founder and executive director Beatrice Galilee and TWA Young Climate Prize cohort member McKenna Dunbar will speak at the exhibition opening at 4 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Forum of Gray Design Building. Galilee is the author of Radical Architecture of the Future and served as the first curator of contemporary architecture and design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2014 to 2019. Dunbar is a trained energy justice organizer focusing on the socially equitable electrification through rural green workforce development. The exhibition opening is free and open to the public. For a full list of the exhibition’s featured artists and experts, visit https://design.uky.edu/events/life-on-earth-gallery-exhibition-lecture. About The World Around Founded in 2020, The World Around is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the newest and boldest ideas in architecture and design accessible to all, with a focus on sustainability and social justice. Through collaborations with international institutions, The World Around curates and commissions international conferences, events, and climate initiatives, including its flagship Annual Summit, itinerant In Focus programs, and the Young Climate Prize, all aimed at fostering dialogue and action towards a more sustainable and equitable future.
