The Role of the Artist in Creating a More Adaptive, Responsive, and Resilient Contemporary City 

This presentation by Matthew Passmore of Rebar Art and Design Studio is presented in partnership with the Art Alliance Austin and Downtown Austin Alliance.

Founded in 2004, Rebar Art and Design Studio is an interdisciplinary studio working at the intersection of art, design and ecology. Their mission is to create objects, spaces and ideas that inspire people to re-imagine the environment and our place in it. They are best known as the inventors of PARK(ing) Day, an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks.

Matthew Passmore, Founding Principal of Rebar Art and Design Studio, will be in Austin launching Bubbleware at Art City Austin on April 14 and moving to multiple sites after that including activating Frost Plaza on Congress Avenue April 26-28 in partnership with Downtown Austin Alliance. He has lectured and exhibited at institutions around the globe on the capacity of art and design to improve the quality and character of urban public space. Upcoming projects include a 2012 Artist Fellowship at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco and the Urban Play exhibition in Køge, Denmark. Matthew holds degrees in philosophy, aesthetics and law from the University of California.