Lauren Bon, granddaughter of Walter Annenberg and daughter of Wallis Annenberg, serves as a Director of the Annenberg Foundation. She is a graduate of Princeton University and MIT; and holds degrees in architecture and the history and theory of art. She lived in London for more than a decade and currently lives in Los Angeles where she is raising a son and a daughter.
Lauren's work as a trustee is most notable for her project-based philanthropy. In 2005 the Not a Cornfield initiative transformed a 32-acre brownfield into a green field during one agricultural cycle, and stimulated a conversation about public parks. The site is currently being designed as a permanent park. Farmlab, which built upon the Not a Cornfield community, then emerged as a project-based initiative to support living things in an often difficult-to-survive-in metropolis.
Lauren's philanthropic practice is operated out of a downtown warehouse called the Metabolic Studio. She defines the Studio as the intersection of art and philanthropy. There are three distinct arenas within the Metabolic Studio: Farmlab; Chora, which supports intangibles that precede creativity; and AMI - the Association of Marginal Institutions. The Metabolic Studio brings an element of fieldwork to the Annenberg Foundation. Many of the environmentally driven initiatives of the Foundation are conducted in this space, including feasibility work on Mayor Villaraigosa's One Million Tree Initiative, brownfield remediation through mushrooms, and the salvaging of hundreds of South Central Farm trees, which are now the center piece of a new urban farming program at the Huntington Library and Garden.
EDUCATION
1989 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOSTON, MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE 1985 ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION, LONDON
1984 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, PRINCETON, BACHELOR OF ARTS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 BEES AND MEAT, ACE GALLERY LOS ANGELES
2003 PROJECT ROOM: HAND HELD OBJECTS, SANTA MONICA MUSEUM OF ART, SANTA MONICA
2001 INVISIBLE AND FREE: CONJURING WORLDS IN THE MIND’S EYE, MILLER BLOCK GALLERY, BOSTON
2001 INVISIBLE AND FREE: CONJURING WORLDS IN THE MIND’S EYE, ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY, LOS ANGELES
1999 RELEASING FEAR PROJECT, MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, BELFAST
DIAGRAMS OF CHORA, MILLER BLOCK GALLERY, BOSTON
1998 SCULPTURE, HEREFORD SALON, LONDON
1997 FROM A DISTANCE, FREUD MUSEUM, LONDON
1996 BUILT ON SILENCE, DANIELLE ARNAUD CONTEMPORARY ART, LONDON
1996 THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE, MAIDESTONE LIBRARY GALLERY, KENT
1995 STUDIES FROM MY PREGNANCY, HEREFORD SALON, LONDON
1994 BECKETT PIECES, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, OXFORD
1993 TOTEMS, HEREFORD SALON, LONDON
1991 ARTIST IN RESIDENCY EXHIBITION, FOREST SCHOOL, BERKSHIRE
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 QUEEN BEES: ECO-ACTIONS AND COLLECTIVE ORGANIZING, IRENE CARLSON GALLERY, UNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE, LA VERNE
2007 INCOGNITO, SANTA MONICA MUSEUM OF ART, SANTA MONICA
2007 100 GOOD IDEAS TO CHANGE THE WORLD, HAYWARD GALLERY, LONDON
2005 THING: NEW SCULPTURES FROM LOS ANGELES, UCLA HAMMER ART MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES
2003 L.A. “UNPLUGGED”, L.A. INTERNATIONAL, CHINATOWN
2000 BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE, HEREFORD SALON, LONDON
1997 GALLERY ARTISTS’ DRAWINGS, DANIELLE ARNAUD CONTEMPORARY ART, LONDON
1997 SCULPTURE AND THE NOMADIC AESTHETIC IN CONTEMPORARY ART, HEREFORD SALON, LONDON
1996 THE GLASS BORDER, DANIELLE ARNAUD CONTEMPORARY ART, LONDON
1995 NEW SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND PAINTINGS, HEREFORD SALON, LONDON
1994 THE LANGUAGE OF MAKING, THE ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION, LONDON
1987 PRO-PEACE EXHIBITION, L.A. LOUVER, LOS ANGELES
COMMISSIONS
1998 A PIECE OF A MONOLOGUE, AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE, CAMBRIDGE
1997 HAZE SOLE CERTITUDE, THE OLD MUSEUM, BELFAST
1992 TOTEM, FOREST SCHOOL, BERKSHIRE
1989 WINNING ENTRY FOR BERKLEY FREEDOM OF SPEECH PUBLIC MONUMENT
1988 PASSAGES, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOSTON
URBAN AND PUBLIC PROJECTS
2007 FARMLAB, LOS ANGELES
2007 GARDEN OF BROKENNESS, LOS ANGELES
2007 SOUTH CENTRAL TREE MEMORIAL, LOS ANGELES
2005 NOT A CORNFIELD, LOS ANGELES
1999 RELEASING FEAR, BELFAST
1993 THAT MIGHTY SCULPTOR TIME, HONG KONG AND LOS ANGELES
1993 LANDMARK SITE, IN COLLABORATION WITH TAO HO ARCHITECTS, HONG KONG
1992 ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIVE BRIDGE, EDINBURGH
1991 ANATOMY, BELGRADE
1991 SIGNING, BELGRADE
1991 URBAN EXCAVATIONS, BELGRADE
1989 OFFERING, BOSTON
SYMPOSIA
2007 CEASEFIRE! BRIDGING THE POLITICAL DIVIDE: PROBLEM SOLVERS; PANELISTS: LAUREN BON, SHERRY LANSING, KEVIN WALL; MODERATOR: JUDY WOODRUFF, JUNE 19, 2007
1997 FIRST HEREFORD SALON SYMPOSIUM, ILLUSION OF FREEDOM; SPEAKERS: RANKO BON, GORAN DJORDJEVIC, JUDITH SCHONEVELD AND GUISEPPE MASTRUZZO; PARTICIPANTS: SELCUK AVCI, LUTZ BECKER, LAUREN AND MARKO BON, SUE MALVERN, GEORGE PERENDIA, GEOFFREY POWIS, GILES PRINCE, SIMON RAE-SCOTT, PAUL RHYS, AND HELEN WILKS, JUNE 27-28, 1997.
Photo Courtesy of Jim McHugh Photography
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
Click here to listen to Lauren Bon speak about the Not a Cornfield site.
Off-Ramp™ audio courtesy of 89.3 KPCC-FM (www.kpcc.org).
