Director of Critical Studies and MA/PhD programs in UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design, Sylvia Lavin engages artists, architects, and curators in a series of lively discussions on how cities are increasingly molded by images rather than buildings; on whether art and architecture are converging to form an integrated type of cultural consumption; and if the concept of the masterpiece has finally been destroyed by the sheer quantity of global design production. In this conversation Lavin speaks with art critic Hou Hanru and architect Qingyun Ma. An art critic and international curator, Hou Hanru is also the director of exhibitions and public programs at the San Francisco Art Institute. Curatorial projects include the 10th Istanbul Biennial and Trans(ient) City, 2007. Qingyun Ma is principal of the Shanghai-based design firm s.p.a.m., established in 1996. Since 2007 Ma has also served as dean of the USC School of Architecture, where he has enhanced the program by developing a number of global initiatives.

In conjunction with the exhibition Urban China: Informal Cities.