SUAS looks forward to welcoming you back after the Easter vacation, and invites you to the next installment of our 2007/2008 lecture series. While preparing a dissertation on the subject of Comics and Architecture last year, one of your SUAS minions was introduced to the Dutch cartoonist and graphic designer Joost Swarte.
Swarte was born and raised in and around the town of Haarlem, just west of Amsterdam. He studied industrial design until his interest in drawing comics in the late sixties and early seventies lead to a career in comic books and graphic design. His distinctively colourful and subtly humourous illustrations have appeared in comics, books, prints, stamps, posters, cards, LP and CD covers and on magazine covers ever since. He’s also responsible for the foundation of Haarlem’s biannual Stripdagen Comics Festival (7 & 8 June this year).
In April 1995, Swarte was invited to design a new building for the Toneelschuur Theatre in Haarlem. He had worked as the designer of the Toneelschuur’s house style for more than a decade, creating programmes, brochures, tickets and a house typeface, but never before had he designed a building, nor had he ever received any formal architectural training. Swarte accepted the proposal, and developed a design for the theatre which, with the help of the architect Henk Döll (then with Mecanoo Architects), became a landmark theatre and cinema complex on an unusual inner-city site The building is, as far as we know, the only example of a major public building principally designed by a cartoonist. The success of the Toneelschuur has subsequently lead Swarte to other architectural work, including the adjacent Johannes Enchede Hof sheltered housing scheme.
You can find out more about Swarte and his work on his website at joostswarte.com. An extensive interview on the subject of comics and architecture was undertaken as part of the aforementioned dissertation research, and can be found in the appendices of the dissertation in the digital archive (pdf link).
After our formal interview, Joost was kind enough to record a walking tour through the streets of Haarlem to see his two built projects. Click here to listen to it in iTunes, or use the embedded player below.
The lecture starts at 18h00 on Thursday 10 April (the first Thursday after the end of the Easter vacation). Free entry to SUAS members, membership on sale at the door.
Your resident SUAS film-buff was thinking of letting this term’s films round off with a really really bad disaster movie. A really bad one. Worse than The Towering Inferno, or even The Big Bus. Instead, he’s been persuaded (it didn’t take much) to bring you an awesome recent release that paints a poignant yet terrifying picture of Britain twenty years from now.
In association with Studio 9 (a.k.a. the paranoid studio), [suas] film night presents:
CHILDREN OF MEN
dir. Alfonso Cuarón (2006)
“Simply the most extraordinary look of any movie around” – The Guardian
“One of the most astonishing scenes … I’ve ever seen on film” – New York Times
“Two of the most virtuoso single-shot chase sequences I’ve ever seen” – Slate Magazine
“Cuarón has a gift only the greatest filmmakers share: He makes you believe” – Rolling Stone
Basement Lecture Theatre 5
17H30, Thursday 20 December
SUAS Film Night is for SUAS members only, but if you’re not a member you can join on the door. Festive drinks in t’Interval afterwards.
Contrary to what might be on your ticket or what you will have read here on the website, the buses going to Bakewell on Tuesday night will be picking up from outside the Arts Tower, not Bar One. Some spare tickets may be available - come down to the buses ahead of time with your precious £6.50 in hand and we may be able to save your night …
WARNING: this is an old-school movie trailer that is basically a compressed version of the film, so don’t watch it if you want to avoid some spoilers!
Time for some serious cult science fiction from down under… Zac Hobson wakes up one morning to discover that he’s the only man left alive on earth.
THE QUIET EARTH
dir. Geoff Murphy (1985)
“Imaginative, strong, refreshing” – Variety
“Extraordinary” – reel.com
“Soft-spoken, fascinating and impressive” – DVD Talk
“A cult classic of the good variety” – filmcritic.com
Basement Lecture Theatre 5
17H30, Thursday 6 December
SUAS Film Night is free for all SUAS members, and if you’re not a member you can join on the door. You’ll need a drink after this one, and we’ll happily join you, most likely in the Interval.
SUAS Film Night is proud to take a risk this week, and show a controversial documentary that observes - at heart stopping proximity - the draw of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge as a destination for those seeking to end their lives. Be aware that this film contains scenes that you may find disturbing.
THE BRIDGE
dir. Eric Steel (2006)
“A profoundly affecting work of art” – Roger Ebert
“Strangely unsatisfying” – BBC
“Powerful stuff” - Variety
“Thoroughly despicable” – The Guardian
Basement Lecture Theatre 5
17H30, Thursday 29 November
SUAS Film Night is free for all SUAS members, and if you’re not a member you can join on the door. You’ll need a drink after this one, and we’ll happily join you, most likely in the Interval.
“Visionary” - Village Voice
“One of a kind… a wondrous act of observation” – Roger Ebert
“A symphonic, cacophonic achievement” - San Francisco Chronical
Basement Lecture Theatre 5
17H30, Thursday 22 November
SUAS Film Night is free for all SUAS members, and if you’re not a member you can join on the door.
In association with M.Arch Studio One who will soon be quitting our damp little island for a winter sojourn in Vienna, SUAS Film Night is delighted to present a masterpiece of post-war cinema.
THE THIRD MAN
dir. Carol Reed (1949)
Winner: Best Cinematography, 1951 Oscars
Winner: Best British Film, 1951 BAFTAs
Winner: Grand Prix, 1949 Cannes Film Festival
“…an iconic work” – The Observer
Hicks Building Lecture Theatre 7 17H30, Thursday 15 November
SUAS Film Night is free for all SUAS members, and if you’re not a member you can join on the door. And whereas last time your host invited everyone to the pub after the film and then failed to show up, this time he promises to be there.
This Sunday the clocks go back, and suddenly our winter evenings become dark places. So we’re kicking off our winter season of film nights with a movie goes deep underground to meet the homeless people who’ve found shelter in some very dark places.
DARK DAYS
(2001) Directed by Marc Singer, Soundtrack by DJ Shadow
Dark Days is a documentary made by Marc Singer, a British filmmaker. The film follows a group of people living in an abandoned section of the New York City underground railway system. When he relocated from London to Manhattan, Marc Singer was struck by the number of homeless people he had seen throughout the city. Singer had befriended a good number of New York’s homeless and later, after hearing of people living underground in abandoned tunnel systems, he met and became close to a set of folks living in The Freedom Tunnel community stretching north from Penn Station past Harlem. After living with them for a number of months, he decided to create a documentary in order to help them financially. The film’s crew consisted of the subjects themselves, who rigged up makeshift lighting and steadicam dollies, and learned to use a 16mm camera with black & white Kodak film. Singer himself had never been a filmmaker before, and saw the production of Dark Days as a means of gaining better accommodation for the residents of the tunnel. The post-production process took years, as financial difficulties created delays, as did Singer’s insistence of creative control to protect the tunnel residents.
Winner: Audience Award, Sundance 2000 Film Festival
Winner: Freedom of Expression Award, Sundance 2000 Film Festival
Winner: Cinematography Award, Sundance 2000 Film Festival
Winner: Best Documentary Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Winner: Best Documentary Award, 2000 Indie Spirit
“Extraordinary – The Guardian
“A triumph of film making… 5 stars” – Total Film
“An exceptional film… 5 stars” - Uncut
Basement Lecture Theatre 5
17H30, Thursday 01 November
So come and join us for the first film night of the year. It’s free for all SUAS members, and if you’re not a member you can join on the door. We’ll be heading to the pub afterwards for a mild ale and a post-film chat.
With more than 250 members, SUAS is the social society of the University of Sheffield's architecture department. Run by students for students, we show films, host lectures, put on exhibitions and even have the odd social event.
Not a member?
You should be... SUAS members get discounted tickets to socials and events, free entry to lectures and exclusive entry to film nights.
SUAS membership costs £5 a year, and is on sale at lectures and film nights. Non-members are welcome to talks, but only SUAS and Landmark members may attend film nights.
NEXT SUAS LECTURE
Joost Swarte
18h00, Thursday 10 April
Floor 14 Meeting Room
NEXT SUAS EVENT
The Ball: 100 years in the past, 100 years in the future 19h-04h, Saturday 19 April
The Royal Victoria Holiday Inn
NEXT SUAS FILM
Sorry, SUAS film night is just for those long, cold winter nights. But don't forget that the Film Unit present films at the Union four nights a week from just £1.80 a pop (wow) and the Showroom Cinema has £3.00 student tickets all day Monday and Tuesday.
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