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 (Deltebre, 1978) is an architect, curator, professor, and international lecturer. She specialises in experimental art forms and architectural practice, as well as the development of histories and futures of alternative architecture. She began her higher education studies at the Barcelona School of Architecture in 1996, where she completed her Master of Architecture with honours in 2003. Between 2001 and 2002, she participated in an exchange program at the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands.

In 2004, after completing her studies, she founded her independent practice, OOAA (Office of Architectural Affairs), where she develops social and architectural projects related to housing and public space. Throughout her career, she has maintained a multifaceted, creative, and deeply investigative trajectory.

From 2010 to 2018, she was chief curator and executive director of Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, one of the world's most groundbreaking centers for architecture. Founded in 1982, Storefront is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the most innovative forms of architecture, art, and design. Through exhibitions, lectures, publications, and performances, it serves as a forum for critical dialogue and experimentation, funded by its members and private donations.

In 2014, with the OfficeUS project—an experimental office for the production of history, ideas, and work—Franch was selected by the U.S. Department of State to represent the country at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. During her tenure at Storefront, she spearheaded projects such as Architecture Conflicts, Letters to the Mayor, World Wide Storefront, Storefront TV, and Manifesto Series, among others. Exhibitions included Sharing Models, Measure, POP: Protocols, Obsessions, Aesthetic-Anaesthetic Positions, Past, Present, Future Futures, and Shameless: Showcase for Sale.

One of her most significant projects is Letters to the Mayor, which invites architects to write letters to the mayors of their cities to open a dialogue about the urban future. The project has had more than ten editions in cities such as New York, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Athens, Taipei, and Madrid.

In March 2018, she was elected director of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London (AA) by the school's members. However, in July 2020, she was removed after receiving a vote of no confidence from the AA community.

Franch has taught at the GSAPP at Columbia University, IUAV Venice, SUNY Buffalo, and Rice University, and is currently a professor at the Cooper Union School of Architecture. She has served as a juror, guest critic, and lecturer at over fifty academic and cultural institutions worldwide. She has also served on advisory and nominating committees, including the Hong Kong Design Trust, Ideas City, +Pool, and YAP PS1-MoMA.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the FAD in Barcelona, the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Vitra Design Museum, and the Shenzhen and Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture. Her publications include Agenda (2014), Atlas (2015), and Manual (2017), published by Lars Müller as part of OfficeUS. Upcoming publications include The Book of Architecture, Books and Letters to the Mayor.

She has been interviewed and published in media such as AD, Arquine, Bauwelt, Domus, Dwell, El País, the New York Times, Metropolis, MOUSE, UP, Rolling Stone, and Surface Magazine, consolidating her presence as one of the most critical and provocative voices in contemporary architecture.

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Published on: September 30, 2016
Cite:
metalocus, ELENA GALLEGO
""LETTERS TO THE MAYOR" by 74 architects of Madrid" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/letters-mayor-74-architects-madrid> ISSN 1139-6415
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