Counterforce Lab

Counterforce Lab is pleased to announce we will be part of the 2025 Night of Ideas at the Wende Museum in Culver City this Saturday, April 5, 2025. Join Counterforce's @rebecamendezstudio and @yoganmuller for their presentation of the Biophilia Treehouse this Saturday at 6:30 pm and until 10:30 pm at the Wende's tiny house. Yogan Muller will also be part of a panel discussion called 'Restoring Balance' at 7:30 pm. We are grateful to @villa.albertine and @franceinla for inviting us to be part of this exciting event! Titled 'Common Ground,' the 2025 Night of Ideas brings together artists, scientists, and cultural organizations to examine what unites us—our histories, our skies, and our artistic expressions. For us, "common ground" is a perfect opportunity to introduce how the Biophilia Treehouse holds space for interspecies friendship. #counterforcelab #biophiliatreehouse #nightofideas #villaalbertine #franceinla

Counterforce Lab's Biophilia Treehouse in the exhibition COACTION: Collaborations in Art, Science, Design, Games, and Technology Dates: Thursday, October 17 – Thursday, October 24, 2024 Time / Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Location: UCLA, Broad Art Center, New Wight Gallery. 240 Charles E. Young Drive North, Los Angeles CA 90095. Exhibition Opening: Thursday, October 17, 5:00 – 8:00 pm Free and open to the public.

Biophilia Treehouse in the exhibition COACTION: Collaborations in Art, Science, Design, Games, and Technology Dates: Thursday, October 17 – Thursday, October 24, 2024 Time / Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Location: UCLA, Broad Art Center, New Wight Gallery. 240 Charles E. Young Drive North, Los Angeles CA 90095. Exhibition Opening: Thursday, October 17, 5:00 – 8:00 pm Free and open to the public.

We are excited to invite you to the exhibition COACTION: Collaborations in Art, Science, Design, Games, and Technology presented by UCLA, Design Media Arts at UCLA’s New Wight Gallery from October 17–24. The exhibition will show works created by UCLA Research Center, Labs, and Studios founded by DMA Faculty: Victoria Vesna, Eddo Stern, Jenna Caravello, Chandler McWilliams, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Casey Reas, and myself. Counterforce Lab will share the story of the Biophilia Treehouse and the installation of the first Biophilia Treehouse at the Sisters of Social Service campus in Encino.

Save the date! We are excited to invite you to the exhibition COACTION: Collaborations in Art, Science, Design, Games, and Technology presented by UCLA, Design Media Arts at UCLA’s New Wight Gallery from October 17–24. Opening reception: Thursday, October 17, 2024, 5-8pm. The exhibition will show works created by UCLA Research Center, Labs, and Studios founded and led by @ucla_dma Faculty: Victoria Vesna, Eddo Stern, Jenna Caravello, Chandler McWilliams, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Casey Reas, and myself, Rebeca Méndez. Counterforce Lab will share the story of the Biophilia Treehouse and the installation of the first Biophilia Treehouse at the Sisters of Social Service (@sistersofsocialservicela ) campus in Encino. #counterforcelab #sistersofsocialservice

The #biophiliatreehouse exhibition sought to honor the stories of both human and non-human communities in relation to their local environments. One of the main features of our exhibition is a 2x4-foot painting of the LA River created by Yongjia Tang, an @ucla_dma undergraduate student in the Counterforce Lab. Yongjia used Sumi-e painting and calligraphy techniques to represent the story of the original caretakers of the river basin. Visitors view the treehouse as a bird might when flying over the river landscape. Further, this map represents the efforts of Counterforce to honor place and indigeneity in their construction of Biophilia Treehouses. Indeed, it reflects on long-standing Indigenous knowledge related to the co-creation of space with other species and caring for our shared environments. The non-traditional map also features 3D-printed models of the Biophilia Treehouse and the names of Indigenous villages along the southern portion of the LA River, where Counterforce intends to foster reciprocal partnerships with underserved communities to install new Biophilia Treehouses. Keep birding with us! #counterforce #biophiliatreehouse

Here’s another bird’s-eye-view of the #biophiliatreehouse Exhibition brought to life by Counterforce! It took place from April 27th to May 18th at the @ucla_dma Broad Art Center. Inside the exhibition space you could find display tables adorned with fieldnotes, maps, prose, and more, showcasing the many different iterations of the Biophilia Treehouse and communities that helped us/it take flight. The documents were carefully layered on the tables to represent the intricate story behind the treehouse’s layered design and construction. Collectively, these aspects of the exhibition told the story of Counterforce’s efforts to foster interspecies friendship and the co-creation of a space where birds and humans thrive. Thank you to our partners in helping to make the Biophilia Treehouse a soaring success!

The Biophilia Treehouse Exhibition spread its wings from April 27th to May 18th at the UCLA Broad Arts Center Untitled Exhibition Space. Thank you to everyone who supported @counterforcelab in realizing our vision for the Biophilia Treehouse. This exhibition served as the culmination of three years of design, construction, and storytelling for everyone involved with Counterforce. We are so grateful for the opportunity to share our work with the UCLA community and beyond. The exhibition combines research, photographs, construction objects, and timelapses all of which highlight the multi-layered story of Counterforce and its founder Dr. Rebeca Méndez in the creation of the treehouse. Our goal with this exhibition was to honor the communities and birds who informed its design and construction. We would like to give a special thank you to our partners @sistersofscoialservice at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino California. We hope this exhibition inspires visitors to think about ways in which we can support multi-species in our shared environments. Thank you again to everyone who supported us in this amazing journey. Thank you to our partners @sistersofsocialservicela @pandopopulus @ucla @ucla_dma @uclasustainability @sustainucla @ucla.sustainla @uclathinkgrand @uclaarts @uclaioes @uclaaud #counterforcelab #weareacounterforce #biophiliatreehouse #BT #cfbiophiliatreehouse #biophiliatreehouse #biophilia

Save the dates! This weekend, We are celebrating three years of hard work, community engagement and student contributions with: 🟡 Thursday, April 27: The opening of the Biophilia Treehouse exhibition at @uclaarts Broad Art Center’s Untitled Gallery from 5 to 7pm. Gallery hours: 9am–5pm. Free and open to the public. On view until May 18. 🟡 Saturday, April 29 at 2:30 pm: The inauguration of Biophilia Treehouse, located on the pastoral campus of the Sisters of Social Service in Encino, a ten-minute drive from UCLA. RSVP required if you’ll be going there on your own on another date.  Join us to celebrate the completion of our first Biophilia Treehouse. Hope to see you at the exhibition opening (4/27) and at the inauguration (4/29). Share! And, thank you so much for your invaluable support. Biophilia Treehouse would have not been possible without you! Access: • Untitled Gallery, Board Art Center, UCLA, 240 Charles E. Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095. • Sisters of Social Service Holy Spirit Retreat Center, Encino. 4316 Lanai Rd, Encino, CA 91436, Phone: (818) 285-3355, phone: (818)%20285-3355 #counterforcelab #weareacounterforce #biophiliatreehouse #cfbiophiliatreehouse #biophilia #lasustainability #ecology #architecture #nativeplants #nativeplantsofcalifornia #birds #birder #encino #art #publicart #sustainablearchitecture #baubotanik #ucla #ucladma #treehouse #environment #ecofriendly #greenarchitecture #urbangreenspace #greenspace #baubotanik #sustainability #environmentalconsciousness #environmentalstewardship

Green Thumbs Up! #environmentaleducation #holyspiritretreatcenter After many hours mulching, digging, and cultivating, we are one step closer to completing the Biophilia Treehouse! Many thanks to UCLA’s Dr. Allison Lipman and her students in helping to plant the native landscape @thesistersofsocialservice Holy Spirit Retreat Center. The native plants are key in realizing the Biophilia Treehouse as a living sculpture which creates space for “co-becoming” with humans and birds. It is our hope that the native landscape will be enjoyed by both human and avian visitors to the treehouse for a long time to come. If you would like to learn more about the Biophilia Treehouse and the Counterforce Lab, check out our website @/biophilia-treehouse-birds-and-plants Thank you to our partners @sistersofsocialservicela @pandopopulus @ucla @ucla_dma @uclasustainability @sustainucla @ucla.sustainla @uclathinkgrand @uclaarts @uclaioes @uclaaud #weareacounterforce #biophiliatreehouse #BT #cfbiophiliatreehouse #biophiliatreehouse #lasustainability #ecology #architecture #nativeplants #nativeplantsofcalifornia #birds #birder #encino #art #publicart #sustainablearchitecture #baubotanik #ucla #ucladma #treehouse #environment #ecofriendly #greenarchitecture #urbangreenspace #greenspace #baubotanik #sustainability #environmentalconsciousness #environmentalstewardship

Join us on Monday, February 27 at noon for the fourth iteration of the Counterforce Lab Salon Series "Eyes in the sky." Professors Rebeca Méndez (UCLA DMA) and Dr. Elizabeth DeLoughrey (UCLA English and IoES) will enter into a conversation about the ocean in the Anthropocene, engaging in reciprocity and connection with the animated ocean, and the process of connecting across arts, humanities, science, and Indigenous cultures in response to rampant extractivism, exploitation, and colonialism. Free lunch / The salon will be broadcasted live on UCLA DMA's Youtube channel.

Eyes in the Sky, Birds in the Heart and Mind Salon Series, ep. 3 Join us on Monday, February 6, 2023. 12 noon / UCLA, Broad Art Center, EDA Room #1250. Dr. Ursula K. Heise, the Chair of the Department of English and professor at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, in conversation with Ellie Diamant, PhD Candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Associate Director of the Counterforce Lab. Free Lunch. Livestream and recording available via UCLA DMA YouTube channel.