Pecha Kucha: At Pecha Kucha Wednesday night, presentor Jessie Zarazaga showed slides of her work on the “Open City”  in Chile. This project is sounds more complex than the round-up can handle: architects using a very organic approach including observation, sketching, poetry and engagement, to determine how it would ultimately look.  I thought of her presentation seeing this NYT reports on a MOMA show that examines new social engagement of architecture.

“If only there were more of this,” writes reviewer Nicolai Oussouff. “Besides the 11 projects in the show, the curators found about a dozen others that might have been worthy of inclusion, they said, during two years of research. In the whole world. That’s a meager number given the scale of the problems we’re talking about, mostly because philanthropic groups and governments still tend to be wary of this kind of investment.”

Some very nice  Pecha Kucha wrap-ups from Pegasus news and from Front Row.

Back in Time: Fort Worth artist Christopher Blay has created a time machine. If you bring a photo representing a specific time and place to Conduit Gallery on Saturday, he may hook you up and let you travel (your photo will be returned.) FW Weekly has more details.

Budding architects: Some Rowlett kids are working with a non-profit to give ideas for designing a playground. Will be fun to see how their ideas are incorporated. A “dunking” trampoline next to a basketball hoop has been peer-censored as too dangerous. But sounds like fun to me. Rowlett neighbors will vote on three designs the company comes up with.

Sew right: Art This Week has a video interview with Hadar Soblol, whose exhibition Kairos,  closed at Valley House. Her description of using a digital embroidery machine and how it’s brought freedom to her work  is worth watching.