By Michael Paglia
March 10 2008

Two shows open this week at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, with public receptions to be held Friday, March 14 from 6 to 10 pm.

Split between The Whole Room on the lower level and The Promenade on the second floor, is Making Public Buildings featuring recent work by David Adjaye, architect of MCA DENVER’s stunning new building (pictured). The traveling show includes materials related to the MCA DENVER, the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, and the Idea Store in Whitechapel, England, for which he was nominated for the Stirling prize.

In the Paper Works Gallery on the second floor is Jasper de Beijer, a Dutch artist who builds scale models and then photographs them. The constriction and artifice of the models allows de Beijer to comment on the nature of photography since the medium’s typical role is as a recorder of external -- and objective -- reality.

A few days before the twin openings, Adjaye and de Beijer will discuss their ideas in an installment of the Logan Conversations, a series of talks at MCA DENVER that have been dubbed “a platform for contemporary thought as dialog.” The series is named for major donors Vicki and Kent Logan and meant to introduce the community to the people showcased at the MCA DENVER. Cocktails and previews of the exhibitions begin on Tuesday, March 11 at 5:30 p.m. with the talks to start at 6:30 pm. Adjaye will be interviewed by Taisto Mäkelä, who is on the faculty of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado at Denver; de Beijer will field questions from MCA DENVER director Cydney Payton.

Above: MCA DENVER, exterior. Photo by Grant Leighton.