Relevance of Place: Shannon Jackson in Conversation with Francis Kéré

Relevance of Place is an online series of site-specific dialogues that explore the meaning of place at Tippet Rise Art Center. Located in Fishtail, Montana, Tippet Rise is anchored in the belief that art, music, architecture, and nature are intrinsic to the human experience, each making the others more powerful.
Guided by Shannon Jackson, Chair of the History of Art Department at UC-Berkeley and a scholar of socially-engaged art, Relevance of Place invites artists, architects, designers, and creative thinkers to engage in conversation about the ethics, aesthetics, and relevance of place. These conversations explore “place” as a global, local, and personal concept as well as “place” as it refers specifically to Tippet Rise. In individual interviews and group dialogues, each guest offers stories and insights from their own practice. Together, they reflect on the historic past and sustainable future of Tippet Rise-as an environmental site, as a wide-ranging art center, and as a creative gathering space.
Here, Jackson interviews Pritzker Prize winning architect and artist Francis Kéré on how the community spaces in his village in Burkina Faso influence his award-winning international designs, including Xylem at Tippet Rise. In this episode, Kéré recalls key moments in the development of his career, including times when an artistic imagination upended some of the functional goals of architectural design. Watch as he describes the connection between content and form in his work, and how “the tree” inspires his perspectives on shelter, community gathering, sustainability, and what he calls “material opportunism.”
Filmed in October 2022.
Director, Editor, and Producer: Eric Felipe-Barkin
Director of Photography: Robert Rudis
Additional Camera Operator: Matthew Peccini
Set and Post Sound Mixer: Monte Nickles
Sound Editor: Jim Ruberto
Visit www.tippetrise.org/relevance-of-place