ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 4
September 28-30, 2012
Asheville, North Carolina

Thematic Focus: Looking Forward at Buckminster Fuller's Legacy

Co-sponsored by The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, the Buckminster Fuller Institute and the University of North Carolina at Asheville

Keynote Speaker: Allegra Fuller Snyder, daughter of Buckminster Fuller; Director Emerita of the Buckminster Fuller Institute; Professor Emerita of Dance and Dance Ethnology, UCLA

Featured Speaker: David McConville, media artist; President of the Buckminster Fuller Institute

Featured Speaker: Joseph H. Clinton, President of Clinton International Design Consultants; Synergetics Collaborative; associate of Buckminster Fuller

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, along with the Buckminster Fuller Institute and the University of North Carolina at Asheville, will present a 3-day conference exploring Buckminster Fuller's Legacy, including his forward-thinking work during the two summers he was at Black Mountain College (1948 & 1949) as well as his innovative work in architecture, engineering and design science in the decades after BMC. In addition to panels and presentations, the conference will include an experiential Design Science Day held outdoors on the UNC Asheville campus on Saturday, September 29th.

Papers, performances, multi-media and panel proposals in all relevant disciplines are welcome. Abstracts of 400-600 words should be submitted to Brian Butler ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) or Alice Sebrell ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) by June 30, 2012. Notification will be made by July 15, 2012. The conference will take place in Asheville, NC Sept. 28-30, 2012.

Potential topics and presentations could include:

• Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science
• Synergetic Geometry
• Identifying Trimtabs & Leverage Points
• Making the Invisible Visible
• Doing More With Less: Real World Strategies
• Learning from Nature’s Principles (Design Science, Biomimicry, Permaculture, etc)
• Whole Systems Approaches & Livability Initiatives
• Papers on any aspect of the history and legacy of Black Mountain College will be considered.

In conjunction with the conference, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center will collaborate with the Buckminster Fuller Institute to present an exhibition that explores the new generation of Fuller-inspired thinkers, artists and problem-solvers via The Buckminster Fuller Challenge, an award given annually by BFI to a project that addresses a planetary problem with an elegant, whole systems-based solution. The exhibition will also include some of Fuller's own inventive designs for solutions to the many needs he saw on "Spaceship Earth."

ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 3
An International Conference

October 7-9, 2011
Thematic Focus: John Cage's Circle of Influence

Keynote Speaker:
Laura Kuhn, Director of The John Cage Trust

Click Here for more information.
BMC International Conference 2011 Schedule
Press Release

Co-sponsored by The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, the University of North Carolina at Asheville and The John Cage Trust.

An International Conference
October 8 -10, 2010

Keynote Speaker: Kenneth Snelson

Pictures (Set One)
Pictures (Set Two)

BMC International Conference 2010 Schedule

The legacy of Black Mountain College continues to influence contemporary culture in multiple realms. This conference aims to investigate its history as well as the multiple paths of influence, actual and possible, identifiable in the contemporary world and beyond.  Click Here for more info.

Co-hosted by the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and The University Of North Carolina Asheville.