Announcing the 2023 Docomomo US/NOCA Symposium Grant Recipient: Ted Barrow

The Northern California (NOCA) Chapter of Docomomo US is pleased to announce Ted Barrow as the recipient of the 2023 Docomomo US/NOCA Symposium Grant

Ted Barrow recently completed his Ph. D. in Art History from the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), with a graduation date of June 2, 2023. His dissertation addresses the art and development of Gilded Age Florida, focusing on issues of national identity, race, and the environment. Ted has studied architectural history under Paul Jaskot, Marta Gutman, and Kevin Murphy at the Graduate Center, and has worked as a walking tour guide, leading architectural tours of Manhattan for a decade before moving to California in 2020.

His current passion and research concerns the intersection of modern art, landscape architecture, and mid-century urban redevelopment of plazas that have attracted skateboarders in the last fifty years. From plazas such as Lawrence Halprin’s 1971 Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, Vincent Kling’s Municipal Building and plaza in Philadelphia, to other Late Modernist spaces, Ted is examining the unexpected intersections between architecture and skateboarding. Much of his research will be presented as an ongoing online video series. This research will also highlight new ways of historicizing Late Modernist architecture and spaces within an academic context.

Originally from Austin, Texas, Ted received his Bachelor of Arts from Occidental College in Los Angeles before moving to New York City, where he lived between 2002-2020. He has received a handful of travel and tuition funding fellowships in his time at The Graduate Center, and has contributed as a writer to The New York Times, PIN-Up Magazine, Artforum and Juxtapoz. He currently lives in San Francisco, California.

As the 2023 Docomomo US/NOCA Symposium Grant recipient, Ted will receive a $2,500 grant to participate in the Docomomo US 2023 National Symposium in New Haven, Connecticut. The grant will cover related expenses, including registration fees, travel, and lodging expenses during the Symposium. Be sure to say hi to Ted if you are also attending the symposium!