Feda Wardak, a Paris-based artist and architect-builder known for his research on the effect of imperialism and war in the Afghan tribal areas, will be speaking at S. R. Crown Hall at noon on Wednesday, September 6.
Wardak uses art, from landscape paintings to film and performance, to artistically showcase his research. “Part of my research looks at the forms of abandonment caused by public policy and their consequences on their given territories,” Wardak says.
Wardak has partnered with associate professor and MLA+U program director Maria Villalobos to explore the future of the Englewood Nature Trail, which is an initiative to transform unused rail lines.
In addition to research in Afghanistan and in Chicago, Wardak has investigated the effects of social housing demolition in the suburbs of Paris and the worldwide effects of water management.
“I want to delve into the urban history of a hydraulic element—whether this be a watershed, a portion of a city or river, a climate event, a community-based or political movement, a particular urban fixture, a rumor—and turn it into a narrative,” Wardak says.