Submitted by Berrin Chatzi Chousein
Blank Space Launches "Dear Architecture" Competition
Turkey Architecture News - May 14, 2015 - 15:02 6720 views
Blank Space is excited to launch “Dear Architecture”, a competition that explores one of the most important communication tools of all time - the simple letter.
Following the success of the Fairy Tales competition, which in the course of two years drew over 1,500 participants from 65 different countries, the New York based “office for thought provocation” is challenging architecture to communicate itself to the world in a new format, one that has influenced the life of mankind for centuries, and one that electronic means of communication have almost caused to go extinct as a social practice.
“Letter-writing is an exercise in exactitude, and a potentially disruptive activity. Historically, well worded open letters were responsible for revolutions and for the circulation of innovative, game changing ideas,” say Blank Space Founders Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani. “We are interested in applying this logic to architecture, and leverage the specific characteristics of letter-writing as a format to instigate passionate reflections on architecture's place in society, and start an open dialogue on its responsibility and mission.”
With $3,000 in prizes, “Dear Architecture” invites designers and design fans from around the world to address architecture, as a concept, as a social practice, and as a community, in no more than 500 words, and with an illustration as an auxiliary tool to convey the message.A large selection of the best entries will be published in Blank Space’s third publication, also called “Dear Architecture”, to be published in the Winter of 2015.
The entries will be reviewed by some of the most influential authorities in architecture, design, art, and storytelling. The jury includes Beatrice Galilee (Associate Curator of Architecture and Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Fernando Romero (Founder, FREE), Daniel Arsham & Alex Mustonen (Cofounders, Snarkitecture), Elena Manferdini (Principal, Atelier Manferdini), Natasha Jen (Partner, Pentagram), Hani Rashid (Founder, Asymptote Architecture), Alexander Walter (Editor in Chief, Bustler), David Basulto (Founder and Editor in Chief, Archdaily), Becky Quintal (Executive Editor, Archdaily), Kelsey Keith (Editor in Chief, Curbed), Diana Balmori (Founder, Balmori Associates Inc.), Adam Hostetler (Founder, Urban Nomad Architecture Lab), David Celento (Founder, DigifabLab), Rebecca Henn (Professor of Architecture, The Pennsylvania State University), Matthew Hoffman & Francesca Giuliani (Founders, Blank Space)
In addition to publication in the book, the winning entries will be brought to millions of design fans by the competition’s media partners, among which are some of the most influential design publications out there, including Archinect, Bustler and Archdaily.
“Let's take this opportunity to make demands of architecture, to keep it on its toes, to express wishes as to what its future should look like and what its concerns should be, to declare our love for it, our hate for it, our neutrality towards it. Let's use our words to congratulate architecture on its accomplishments, or criticize it for what it has become. Let's make our own commitments to it, and hold ourselves accountable to them in a public, written form.” says Francesca Giuliani.
“With "Dear Architecture," we wish to initiate a discussion on architecture that extends beyond the life of the competition, one that will grow larger and inclusive, revolving around universal questions such as "How do we shape our world through our actions?" and "How do our actions shape our world?” continues Matthew Hoffman.
Interested participants can register for a special $30 Early Bird Discount until Wednesday, May 27. Following that, Regular Registration ($40) will be open until June 24, and Late Registration ($50) until the Submission Deadline on July 24, 2015.
To register for “Dear Architecture” and for more detailed information, please visit: www.blankspaceproject.com
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