ARCHITECTURE AND LONELINESS

We just entered a new millennium. One thousand years of human life (and not only human, we hope) stand in front of us, unwritten..., as yet. How are we going to write them We think that the theme of loneliness is an important one. Even for a public art like architecture. And it might be that the more we contemplate the lonely horizons of loneliness, the more we might be able to start building bridges again. We want to explore the theme of loneliness and architecture. The dense urban agglomerations of today, despite a certain number of qualities, so energetically promoted by Rem Koolhaas and so intensely illustrated by New York City, do have their problems too. A sum of numberless individuals does not create, usually, that res publica we might want to live in. What to do Psychological disorders quite present at this time in our history testify about the effects of excessive optimism vis-a-vis human endeavors illuminated perhaps too much. Loneliness, as a consciously chosen theme, is quite present in many arts. But what about architecture Only occasionally, perhaps, architects address this problem willingly. Inspired by one of the projects sent to us for A House for Durer, we thought initially about launching another competition called A House for Ibsen. We particularly thought of Brandt and his almost unbearable solitude... And of course, a house for Ibsen, or Brandt, is still of interest. But perhaps the theme of loneliness could and should extend further... So we invite you to address this theme in all its complexity and all its relevance for us, pioneers of a new millennium... The psychological dimension of architecture might be of special interest in the near future, if God is dead and Zarathustra is far from yet being here... Know thyself is as imperative now as it has always been. And Kierkegaard, Camus, Cioran and other important existentialists do meet, significantly, with the Japanese lonely poetess, writing down in a few words, her solitude, at a window framing just a lonely bird and a tree... Please think seriously about this theme that might actually unite us more than any collectivist Utopia...After all, a monk is not a misanthrope, but quite the opposite, hopefully... So we invite you to a new event, hoping that this we will reach further into the mysterious recesses of our profession. We do so animated by the thought that, again said, architecture is and should be at the center of culture and not at its periphery... As with the previous two competitions (A House for Durer and A House for Andrei Tarkovski) we invite you to submit work in any form you consider appropriate. Yes, we do have a preference for the A4 format (sent here as a rolled sheet), but, again, we accept any work in any format. It would be appreciated if the work is also accompanied by an electronic version and or an 8.5 x 11 in. transparency. The deadline is the 1tst of December, 2003. It is our desire to organize also a symposium (in conjunction with the exhibition and the publication) and we are willing to receive suggestions in this field too. Even more than in the case of the previous two events, we invite this time participation from fields not commonly associated with architecture... We hope that together we could achieve a cultural significance in whose absence life would be sadly impoverished, if not simply unacceptable...