DEPART-MENT

Context

Each semester, DEPART-MENT will tackle a different theme that speaks to one of the pressing issues of our time; in Spring 2020, water serves as the anchor. Activations will include Water Isn’t A Game, an initiative of the Water Collaborative led by Jessica Dandridge, Executive Director; Living with Hurricanes, a Tulane School of Architecture Seminar led by Aron Chang, Adjunct Lecturer and Urban Designer; and waterlogged, a photography and mixed media exhibition curated by Jose Cotto, Collaborative Design Project Manager at the Small Center. By weaving together these multiple threads, DEPART-MENT will cultivate space for a more diverse and holistic perspective of the built environment that can inform our collective work moving forward.

Water Isn’t A Game is a technology and art innovative laboratory that seeks to explore how people learn and engage with stormwater management using games, technology, design thinking, and art.

Living With Hurricanes is a seminar focused on the redesign of the LA State Museum’s Living With Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond exhibition at the Presbytere in Jackson Square. Students will be developing prototypes of museum exhibit elements and conducting user testing of those prototypes throughout the semester.

waterlogged: portraits of a past and future new orleans is a mix media exhibition produced by Jose Cotto and students in the Small Center’s Public Interest Design seminar that explores our relationships with water in New Orleans to better understand our collective lived experiences and leverage our past to better shape our future built environments.

Why the name DEPART-MENT?

The name is a nod to the history of the building at 1725 Baronne Street that the Small Center calls home — like most of the buildings on the block, it was once part of the Kaufman’s Department Store. Additionally when we break the name down to its two parts, we’re left with the verb “depart” (to leave or deviate from an accepted, prescribed, or traditional course of action) and the suffix “-ment” (which denotes an action or resulting state, a product, or means). We believe this captures the spirit of what DEPART-MENT represents — a place where actions, ideas, and processes that challenge conventional wisdom and propel us towards a more enriching, equitable, and connected world can soar.