From September 20th to October 31st will be open "Letters to the Mayor" in the COAM, a touring exhibition in the form of letters written by architects to their respective mayors with the aim of transmitting innovative and different visions of city to those people who make the decisions on it. The project - which started in New York in 2014- arrived in Madrid on the occasion of the XIII Architecture Week 2016, joining the city to the Storefront for Art and Architecture initiative.

 
“As a civic figure, the architect has the privilege and responsibility to articulate and translate the collective aspirations of society, and specifically of those not able to sit at the decision-making tables. Throughout history, architects have engaged with this responsibility and the structures of economic, political and cultural power in different ways and with varying degrees of success. With the rise of globalization and the homogenization of the contemporary city, the role of the architect in the political arena has often been relegated to answering questions that others have asked. While designing the next economically driven cultural-iconic-touristic object, an increasing amount of both architects and with them, politicians, have forgotten the ethics that should be associated with architectural practice and the potential of design in the construction of public life...” 
 
“Letters to the Mayor” started in New York City in 2014 with a collection of letters from a series of international architects writing to their respective Mayors. Subsequent iterations, organized in partnership with local institutions and groups, bring relevant local and international voices to the desks of elected officials and into the public consciousness. Recent and upcoming editions include Panama City, Bogota, Taipei, Athens, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and São Paulo.

On the occasion of the XVIII Architcture Week celebrated at  the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM), the city of Madrid joins the initiative of Storefront for Art and Architecture. And it seems to be no better moment for it, since our mayor Manuela Carmena and her team are incorporating popular collaboration to their politics, including citizens in the decision making processes.

With the idea that architects have the responsibility to dream and aspire to a better city, the curators of the exhibition in Madrid, Enorme Estudio and Moneo Brock, alongside the COAM, have developed the list of participant architects and designed and built the exhibition.
 
Acebo x Alonso; Andrés Cánovas Alcaraz; Andrés Jaque; Ángel Borrego Cubero; Ángela García de Paredes; Anupama Kundoo; Belén Hermida Rodríguez; BOLLERÍA INDUSTRIAL; CanalsMoneo; Carlos Arroyo Zapatero; Carlos Espejo Escorial; Carlos Leganitos; CHIQUITECTOS; Edgar González; Elena Rivas Ruzafa; ELII; Fernando Landecho González-Soto; Fuensanta Nieto; Gabriel Ruíz Larrea; Gador Carvajal; Gonzalo del Val; HUSOS ; Ignacio; Vicente Sandoval; Irene Alberdi; Israel Alba Ramis; Jaime Ortiz Belda; Javier Alonso Madrid; Javier Sanjuan; Jesús San Vicente; José Antonio Granero Ramírez; José Ignacio Linazasoro; José Juan Barba / METALOCUS; José Manuel Santa Cruz Chao ; Juan Carlos Vaquerizo Jiménez; Juan Elvira y Clara Murado; Juan Herreros; Juan Mera González; LA GALERÍA DE LA MAGDALENA; Lina Toro Ocampo; Luis Jurado Téllez; Luis Rodriguez-Avial Llardent ; Luis Úrculo; Manuel Ocaña del Valle; Mara Sanchez Lorens; Marcos Corrales; María Antón Barco; María José Aranguren; Marisa Sáenz de Oiza; Matilde Peralta; MI5VR; Miguel Fernández Galiano; Mónica Alberola; Nerea Calvillo; Néstor Montenegro; NUNDO ; PAISAJE TRANSVERSAL; Paula García Masedo; Pedro Pitarch; Pepe Ballesteros; PYO ARQUITECTOS; Rafael Moneo; Ramón Francos Sánchez; Raquel Otero Ortiz de Cosca; Raquel Prendes; Ricardo Higueras de Cárdenas; Sandra Suárez Rionegro; Santiago Cifuentes; TALLER DE CASQUERÍA; Verónica Meléndez; VIC; ZULOARK

More information

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Curators
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Curator.- Eva Franch (Storefront for Art and Architecture)
Local curators and exhibition design.- Enorme Studio y Moneo Brock
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Collaborators
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Floorpaper design.- Gonzalo del Val
Table design.- Ana Arana / Enrique Ventosa
Associate curator Storefront.- Carlos Mínguez
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Dates
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Opening.- Friday, September 30 > until October 31, 2016
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Venue
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COAM c/ Hortaleza 63, Madrid
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Eva Franch i Gilabert, is an architect, curator, educator and lecturer of experimental forms of art and architectural practice, who specialises in the making of alternative architecture histories and futures.

Since 2010, Franch is the Chief Curator and Executive Director of Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York. In 2014, Franch, with the project OfficeUS, an experimental office for the production of history, ideas and work, was selected by the US State Department to represent the US at the XIV Venice Architecture Biennale. Franch is currently professor at The Cooper Union School of Architecture.

Franch has taught at Columbia University GSAPP, the IUAV University of Venice, SUNY Buffalo, and Rice University SOA. In 2004, she founded her solo practice OOAA (Office of Architectural Affairs). She has received numerous awards, and her work has been exhibited internationally including FAD Barcelona, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Shen-zen Architecture Biennale, among others. She has curated national and international projects including OUT, the 2014 Arquia Proxima biennial competition and Borders, the 2011 Think Space concept competition programme.

At Storefront, some of her recent projects include Architecture Conflicts, Letters to the Mayor, World Wide Storefront, the Competition of Competitions, Storefront TV, the Storefront International Series, and the publication series Manifesto. Exhibitions include Sharing Models; Measure; POP: Protocols, Obsessions, Positions Aesthetics-Anesthetics; Past Futures, Present, Futures; No Shame: Storefront for Sale; and Being. Her latest initiative, the New York Architecture Book Fair, will be presented in 2018.

Franch has lectured internationally on art, architecture, and the importance of alternative practices in the construction and understanding of public life at more than fifty educational and cultural institutions around the globe. Franch has been a member of international juries and nominating and advisory boards including the Hong Kong Design Trust, Ideas City, +Pool and the YAP PS1-MoMA in New York. Franch’s work has appeared in the form of articles or interviews in journals, newspapers and publications worldwide. Recent publications by Franch include Agenda (2014), Atlas (2015) and Manual (2017) published by Lars Muller as part of OfficeUS. Upcoming publications include. The Book of Architecture Books and Letters to the Mayor.
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