In Conversation: Niall Hobhouse & Michael Prokopow

On the occasion of ‘On Collecting. Panza Collection Archives’, please join us for a conversation between art collector Niall Hobhouse and historian Michael Prokopow. The discussion will explore approaches to collecting, focusing on art and architecture. Speakers Niall Hobhouse collects drawings by architects. He curates exhibitions, and writes about buildings, landscape and museums. He established Drawing Matter Trust to explore the role of drawing in architecture, architectural education and exhibition. He is formerly a Governor of the London School of Economics (Chair of the Advisory Board, Cities Programme), Trustee of the Sir John Soane’s Museum and of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. Michael Prokopow is a historian and curator. His areas of expertise include material culture, design and architecture, cultural theory and curatorial practice. He has published widely on aesthetics, craft, and modernism. His curatorial work includes the 2009 'Leona Drive Project', an exhibition on the work of the architect and theorist George Baird, and the site specific 'Museum for the End of the World', at the 2012 Toronto Nuit Blanche. In 2016 he co-curated with Dr. Rachel Gotlieb the critically acclaimed, national traveling exhibition 'True Nordic: How Scandinavia influenced design in Canada'. In 2018 he published a monograph on the acclaimed 1966 West Vancouver, BC, house designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson for artists Gordon and Marion Smith. Currently he is working on two projects: a survey exhibition on artisans and craftspeople working in fashion in Canada between 1950 and 1980 and a study of the operations of middle class taste in North America after 1940. Prokopow is a faculty member at OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He sits on the boards of C Magazine: Contemporary Art and Criticism, and Studio Magazine: Craft and Design in Canada. He also serves on the board of the Arthur Erickson Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Image: The Shatwell Valley, looking northwards.