A HOUSE FOR OBAMA’S NANNY

It is hard not to be moved by the life story of Obama’s nanny, in Indonesia (please read here).

A man who believed he was a woman.

A gentle man, gentle enough to be hired by Obama’s mother to take care of her son.

Her son now is the President of the United States, while his former nanny lives in destitution, in a room not larger than a small size bathroom.

This is life… some would say…

The pauper and the Prince… only the Prince, of course, with a capital letter.

We ask you to reflect on the inequalities of life.

We ask you to envision a better house for this unfortunate man / woman who was good enough though to take care of the future President of the United States, when he was a child.

How would such a house look like…?

We do not expect to receive glamorous proposals.

We want you to be human: sensitive.

Of course, if we were the President of the United States we would take care of this person immediately, as a small gesture of affection towards that time when, as a child, we enjoyed the care of this person.

We do not know if this would happen…

But in our search for An Architecture of Situation (to quote the Dutch artist / architect Constant) we like to believe that reflecting on this “situation” we would realize the fragility of human existence and the ultimate truth of Shakespeare’s words: “a man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.”

In the roundness of life we are all one, ultimately.

So try to design, dear architect, A House for Obama’s Nanny.

A modest house, perhaps, but a house.

A home.

A home for someone who suffered.

A home for someone who struggled.

A home for someone less fortunate.

But a home for someone not necessarily less dignified, or dignifiable, than the President of the United States.

Design A House for Obama’s Nanny.

We could even publish a book with all the entries received and send it to the White House… as a collective reflection on the human condition.

We welcome ANY work, ANY size and ANY format. Please send your work digitally to works@icarch.us. The deadline is July 1^st, 2012. We intend to send the book mentioned above to President Obama as our present for his 51^st birthday, on August 4^th, 2012.

If you have any questions please contact us.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery