Citizen Architect
OXFORD, Miss. – In conjunction with its exhibition “House and Home,” the University of Mississippi Museum presents the documentary film “Citizen Architect, Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio.”
This film features the late architect Samuel Mockbee and his radical educational design-and-build program known as the Rural Studio. It explores Mockbee’s efforts to provide students with an experience that inspires them to consider how they can use their skills to better their communities.
The film will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 26) in the Speakers Gallery of University Museum. Admission is free and includes a tour of the “House and Home” exhibit. In lieu of an admission fee, donations to the Oxford-Lafayette Habitat for Humanity are encouraged and will be collected at the museum.
The film takes place in Hale County, Ala., home to some of the nation’s most impoverished communities, and home of Auburn University’s Rural Studio. The interviews of other architects infuse the film with discussion of the architect’s role in issues of poverty, class, race, education, social change and citizenship. This film explains what it means to be both a successful professional and a responsible member of society.
Carol Mockbee, daughter of Samuel Mockbee and a student of Rural Studio, will host the film and a post-screen discussion about her father’s work and career. She is the program director at the Mississippi Innocence Project and president of the board of “Thacker Mountain Radio.”
“Our current ‘House and Home’ exhibition considers the subject of American domestic architecture, and the film offers a fascinating corollary in its account of visionary architect Samuel Mockbee, whose Rural Studio at Auburn University transformed the national conversation about designing with residents themselves as the highest consideration,” said Robert Saarnio, museum director.
The University Museum is at the intersection of University Avenue and Fifth Street. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Special group rates exist for tour groups wishing to visit the museum. To book a tour, contact esdean@olemiss.edu. For more information, visit http://museum.olemiss.edu or call 662-915-7073.
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