Activities for the Unemployed Designer or Not
Storefront for Art and Architecture is taking applications for a free evening studio titled, Landscapes of Quarantine that will run from September - December and culminate with an exhibition in 2010 at Storefront.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
LANDSCAPES OF QUARANTINE: A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY DESIGN STUDIO
Landscapes of Quarantine is an independent, multi-disciplinary design studio, based in New York City, consisting of eight evening workshops, from October 6 to December 5, 2009, in which up to 14 participants will gather to discuss the spatial implications of quarantine. The results of the workshop will be presented in an exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture in early 2010. Quarantine is an ancient spatial practice characterized by a state of enforced immobility, decontamination, and sequestration; yet it is increasingly relevant - and difficult to monitor - in an era of global trade, bio-engineering, and mass tourism.
Studio participants will explore a wide variety of spatial and historical examples, including airport quarantine facilities, Level 5 biohazard wards, invasive species, agricultural regulations, swine-flu infected tourists confined to their hotel rooms, lawsuits over citizens' rights to resist involuntary quarantine, horror films, World Health Organization plans for controlling the spread of pandemics, lunar soil samples, and more.
During the studio, participants will develop individual design projects in response to the problem of quarantine, with guidance and inspiration provided by readings, screenings, group discussions, and an evolving line-up of guest speakers and critics. These projects will then be eligible for inclusion in "Landscapes of Quarantine," an exhibition hosted by Storefront in early 2010.
By the end of the studio, each participant will have produced a complete design project. This could range from the speculative (plug-in biosecurity rooms for the American suburbs) to the documentary (recording the items and animals detained for quarantine on the U.S./Mexico border), and from the fantastical (plans for extra-planetary quarantine facilities) to the instructional (a field guide to invasive species control).
Landscapes of Quarantine is looking for applicants who are intrigued by the spatial possibilities and contingencies of quarantine, and who already possess the technical skills necessary to produce an exhibition-quality final design project or installation in their chosen medium. We hope to hear from interesting people at all stages of their careers and from a variety of design backgrounds.. We are particularly excited to announce that we have already confirmed a select group of talented participants from fields as diverse as architecture, illustration, gaming, photography, and sound design.
Go here for more info and as well as submission requirements
http://www.storefrontnews.org/event_dete.php?eventID=103
Landscapes of Quarantine is organized by Future Plural, a project-based, independent design lab launching in 2009 from a temporary base in New York City. Future Plural is Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG: bldgblog.blogspot.com) and Nicola Twilley (Edible Geography: ediblegeography.com).