loud paper

department of building and power

Loud paper contributor Alexis Bhagat sends over a call for submissions for Anarchitecture / Building / Power, an issue of the Perspectives on Anarchist Theory journal. The issue is guest edited by Alexis Bhagat, Francesca Manning and Etienne Turpin:

The editors of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory are seeking essays, photo-essays, project documentation, interviews and book reviews for an issue of theoretical, practical and activist engagements with architecture and urbanism.

Theory & History: ANARCHITECTURE We are seeking anarchist reflections on the relationship between social change and the built environment, the peculiar relationship of modern construction to capitalism, and aphorisms that fumble towards an anarchist theory of the city.

Practice: BUILDING We are seeking documentation of alternative practices in the built environment, detailed discussions of alternative models of property or the architecture of anarchist communes, discussion of vernacular architectures and practical examples of autonomous construction.

Struggle: POWER Domination unfolds in space: How have people challenged domination in space? We are interested in everything here from professionals engaged in combating Eminent Domain / displacement and grassroots organizations challenging the spatial agenda of the War on Drugs/Terror to collective efforts to reimagine the city and private spatial experiments in freedom.

We welcome finished essays as well as proposals for new work. If you are interested in writing for this issue, but do not have a specific topic, please send us a statement of interest and we may provide you with a project to respond to. We also welcome suggestion of projects / actions that we should consider.

anarchitecture@nadalex.net

This issue will be published in Spring 2009. Statements of interest, suggestions and proposals for new essays should be submitted by July 15th, 2008. A statement of interest is not required for submissions of completed works: Completed works may be submitted before September 15th, 2008. (Please inform us if any submissions have been published previously.) Final drafts of all submissions will be due in December 2008.

Perspectives on Anarchist Theory is the publication of the Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS), a nonprofit foundation established in 1996 to support the development of anarchism. The aim of the IAS is to promote critical scholarship that explores social domination and reconstructive visions of a free society. Primarily, the IAS is a grant-giving body, supporting work by radical writers. To date, the IAS has funded almost sixty projects by authors from countries around the world, including Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, Lebanon, Chile, Ireland, Nigeria, Mexico, the Philippines, Germany, Uruguay, South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the United States. Additionally, the IAS annually organizes the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition (RAT) conference in Vermont and the Radical Theory Track at the National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR).

just add a paper umbrella

Concoct a Singapore Sling and sit down at the keyboard; the urbanism magazine, MONU, is looking for submissions for its Exotic Urbanism issue. They posit “exotic” as the alternative to “authentic” or “native.” (I might add “local.”)

MONU#9 investigates what the term exotic actually means for our cities and how exotic urban elements appear, what they look like, and how they may influence our cities. In any case, exotic urban features appear more and more as an inexhaustible source for progressive urban design ideas. When the exotic influenced the appearance of the “Art Nouveau” at the end of the 19th century, it might today have the power to create an “Urban Nouveau”.

“Daring concepts, mind-stretching speculations, and ground-breaking new strategies” are due June 2008.

dusted

It’s snowing in Brooklyn today. Apparently I missed the first snow of the season while I was in California. Hence the radio silence. I spent some of my time in Berkeley organizing the loud paper archives. Otherwise known as cleaning up boxes in my parent’s basement. The amazing thing about a print publication is all the stuff that goes along with it: layouts, proofs, back issues, postcards, t-shirts, letters, posters, etc. People, if any grad student wants to do Clip/Stamp/Fold-like research on loud paper, it is all there, tucked under a house located near the Hayward Fault.

Submissions for the Not Nice issue are trickling in, but I want a flood. Please, spill forth your bile. I should clarify that it will be published digitally, right here on the loud paper blog, which opens up what can be submitted. Visuals like video and color photographs are now all fair game.

call for submissions: not nice

via kill da archy

Abject seduction is pretty much par for the course in our post-ironic era. Chalk it up to myspace or recurrent 80s fashion trends. (God help me, neon is back.) But it’s the logical contrast to nice modernism, bright green washes and bamboo floors. So, without turning the snark volume up to eleven, how can we thoughtfully address things unpleasant, ugly, and downright mean? By the same token, is it useful to not play nice? Is ugly, however subjective, transformative? Is there a place in the discourse for brutal honesty and nasty asides?

I sure hope so. loud paper is looking for essays, interviews, and projects (art and architecture) along our “Not Nice” theme.

Wit, insight, and original material are encouraged. Please send in your concise intentions—about a paragraph or two for articles. I’ll be reviewing and posting submissions on rolling basis until the end of January, so get your chops going. If you are interested in writing a book or music review, or have any other questions, please drop a line.