JENNIFER NEWSOM
Dream The Combine
SAY IT LOUD - Minnesota Exhibitor
Minnesota Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
I am inspired by people who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to step out and assert their own voice. Architecture is a long, hard game and we need people who are courageous, advocate for others, and are willing to take risks.
JENNIFER NEWSOM
Bio:
The Great designer, Jennifer Newsom is an architect, artist, educator, and co-founder (with Tom Carruthers) of Dream The Combine, based in Minneapolis, MN. She is Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture. Their work consists of public art installations exploring metaphor, perception, and boundaries between real and illusory space. Dream The Combine are winners of the 2018 Young Architects Program at MoMA PS1 and the 2020-2021 J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
I first learned about architecture from my mother, who has impeccable taste in interior design. She showed me how design could have an effect on people. I loved math and art, and my 8-year-old self thought architecture was a good melding of the two.
What do you do?
I am an artist, architect, educator, and firm principal at Dream The Combine. We make large-scale architectural installations throughout North America for varied audiences in public space.
What excites you in the work you do?
I am excited that our work reaches all sorts of audiences. We hope to challenge people’s automatic movements and perceptions, opening up space for new forms of knowledge.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
I am inspired by people who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to step out and assert their own voice. Architecture is a long, hard game and we need people who are courageous, advocate for others, and are willing to take risks.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
I am proud of Hide & Seek, our installation at MoMA PS1. Walking through it felt like walking through my mind palace. . . The work touched on a number of themes we are interested in exploring and did so at a high level of articulation and craft.
Featured Project Name:
Lure
Featured Project Location:
MadArt Studio, Seattle, WA
Featured Project Completion Date:
October 2019
Role in Featured Project:
Design principal with Tom Carruthers and Clayton Binkley
Featured Project Description:
We use languages of film and theatrical scenography to engage with complexities of narrative, image, space, and direct experience. The installation’s facade is a widescreen image proportion, and its vibrant blue references chromakey composting where one space gets mapped onto another. Movement across the threshold takes you into the space of the image, where intersecting passages form both the object and environment, a lure and trap, that challenges our automatic ways of moving in the world.
