Mariana Mogilevich, Blair McClendon, and Dushko Petrovich Córdova in conversation with Lisa Borst and Mark Krotov

In an essay titled “Why Is Everything So Ugly?” published in n+1’s Winter 2023 issue, the magazine’s editors explored a wide range of unattractive, unseemly, and visually depressing phenomena across the contemporary built environment, with journeys into ugly architecture, ugly product design, ugly films, and ugly lighting. The purpose was not to be denunciatory, but rather to taxonomize, to interrogate, and above all to notice. The essay became one of n+1’s most-read pieces ever, and garnered numerous letters to the editor from defenders and critics of ugliness alike.

To deepen and continue the conversation, the essay’s authors—n+1 co-editors Lisa Borst and Mark Krotov—will join architectural historian and editor Mariana Mogilevich, film editor and writer Blair McClendon, and painter and critic Dushko Petrovich Córdova and endeavor to theorize contemporary ugliness in architecture and beyond. How can we think about ugliness without falling into reactionary moralism? How can we assess the built environment with humor and irony? How can we think about urbanism in ways that both allow for density and also resist totalizing, well, ugliness?

The event will be held at the Center for Architecture as part of its Archtober programming. Entry is free, and RSVPS are required. The Center for Architecture is wheelchair accessible.