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When Tim Hossler, an assistant professor in KU’s Department of Design, approached Lawrence Modern last fall with the idea of collaborating with the School of Architecture on a series exploring modern architecture in film, we reached consensus almost instantly. The concept is appealing: examine the role that modern architecture has played in film—the modernist medium par excellence—appreciated through the eyes of KU School of Architecture faculty. The venue is ideal: the new Forum at Marvin Hall, a light-controlled glass box designed by students in Prof. Dan Rockhill’s Studio 804 class. How could we refuse? Indeed, we are very fortunate to have this connection with the university and delighted to have award-winning author and Professor of Architecture Stephen Grabow introduce the first two films of our modernism in cinema series.

On April 1^st, appropriately enough, we will screen Playtime, French director Jacques Tati’s 1967 film that, along with his earlier film Mon Oncle, is the basis of our “Can Architecture be Funny?” tagline. Tati stages architectural jokes in which people’s interaction with modern architecture, or modernity, is oftentimes quite amusing. “Playtime is a great start to this series because it illustrates the dysfunctionality of certain aspects of modern architecture,” Grabow says. “The contrast between organic and mechanical—with people being organic and modernism being mechanical—is brilliant and highly entertaining.”

Please join us at The Forum on April 1st. Prof. Grabow will introduce Playtime at 7 p.m. A discussion will follow the screening of the film. Please refer to the flyer for details about the next film in the series, Mon Oncle, which we will screen in May. (The flyer can be enlarged for high-resolution viewing by double-clicking.)

We wish to thank Prof. Hossler and the KU School of Architecture for collaborating with us on this exciting film series and generously providing use of The Forum. If you haven’t seen this striking new addition to Marvin Hall, it’s reason alone to attend this film!

All films are free and open to the public.

—Tom, Bill, Dennis & Tim