The "Safe Space Zine" is a series of 6 fanzines addressing topics of representation and equity in architecture. It explores matters such as the lack of representation of minorities in the design field, housing discrimination, environmental injustice, and queer practices.
The zine series shares its curatorial structure with the 6 main episodes of the podcast. It is the last part of the "Safe Space" project, and aims at furthering the content of the podcast conversations with critical texts as well as artistic works from 33 different contributors related to each theme.
This is the fruit of a collaborative process, edited and designed by Safe Space Collective. The zines were printed as editions of 100 in September 2021 by oonda studio, using a risograph printer. They have been digitized and are now available as open-source publications hereunder.
Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you a local? How do you identify yourself? What do you relate to? What do you aspire to be? How do you think your upbringing and backgrounds shape the privilege and/or discrimination you have been experiencing?—All those questions may seem far too personal and uninteresting when it comes to assessing one’s professional proficiency. However, being a planner, architect, designer is not simply a routine job with immutable norms and mechanics. Creating and curating living environments for people, animals or plants are acts of engagement with these living matters. (...)
Text contributions:
• "From the Other Norwegians" by Tina Lam
• "Balance and Biases" by Hanna Dencik Petersson and Anna Aniksdal
• "A Letter to Designers, Architects and Creatives" by Tess Skadegård Thorsen
Artistic contributions:
• Linh Gling and Delphine Lam Lewandowski (Le Studio Jaune)
• Gabrielle Paré
and transcript excerpts from a conversation with Maisam Mahdi and Gary Bates, recorded on May 1, 2021.
What role does architecture and design education play in the installation and consolidation of dominating voices in the industry? How can we take an active role in addressing racial inequity and systemic biases in our education, pedagogy, curriculum and the recruitment processes of students and faculty? In this publication, the textual and graphic contributions present the backdrop of a much needed discussion around the topic of representation and equity in architecture and design education in Norway. (...)
Text contributions:
• "Against the Commons: An exploration into opening up education" by Josina Vink and Shivani Prakash
• "Of Public Interest" by Jonas Dahlberg
Artistic contributions:
• Leila Sliman
• Vilde Vera Viik Vesterlid
and transcript excerpts from a conversation with Tu-Uyen Phan-Nguyen, Mikael Oscar Johansen, Nebil Zaman, and Josina Vink, recorded on May 13, 2021.
Who are the architects, designers and urban planners designing for? How do architects assume their role in the public interest in Norway? How can they use their position to improve the lives of the “underserved”? This publication explores how we can design for a broader pūblicum, and how other ways of doing spaces are possible. (...)
Text contributions:
• "Farming as Design and Architecture" by Mads Pålsrud
• "Dugnad Days: Sletteløkka’s participatory community project" by Lucy Bullivant and Alexander Eriksson Furunes
Artistic contributions:
• Armelle Breuil
• Juliette Frasie
and transcript excerpts from a conversation with Else Abrahamsen, Jack Hughes, and Håkon Matre Aasarød, recorded on May 19, 2021.
Over the past decades, city administrations around the globe have relinquished governance over the housing market to the voracious forces of neoliberalism. Policies and politicians fail to address the problem of the increasing need for affordable living spaces and inclusive urban spaces. In the meantime, the architect’s role is being reduced to that of a consultant for developers; but rather than standing up and reclaiming our role in serving the general interest, we sit silently behind our computers while copy-pasting Revit blocks. This silence is complicit. Today, there is a window of opportunity; it is time we all rally and voice our opinions, use our knowledge and skills to support radical political and activist agendas. (...)
Text contributions:
• "- We are stronger together" by Ninthu Paramalingam and Alf Jørgen Schnell
• "The right to housing" by Clara Triviño Massó
Artistic contributions:
• Anders N. Kvammen
• Tale Hammerø Ellingvåg
and transcript excerpts from a conversation with Alf Jørgen Schnell, Hanna Asefaw, and Ole Pedersen, recorded on May 21, 2021.
How can architects involve themselves in environmental justice and be sure their project do not exacerbates inequalities? How can architects include indigenous rights in their projects? How to respect indigenous history and their relationship to their land? This publication explores the dilemma of architecture: as it is both a gesture of erasure and creation, we need to understand the context in which we build in order not to perpetuate environmental injustice. (...)
Text contributions:
• "Guarani and Kaiowá Collective Memories, Political Imagination, and Critiques" by Susanne Normann
• "Baajh vaeride årrodh! Let the Mountains Live!" by Eva Maria Fjellheim
Artistic contributions:
• Britta Marakatt-Labba
• Máret Ánne Sara
and transcript excerpts from a conversation with Astrid Fadnes and Joar Nango, recorded on May 26, 2021.
While the concept of queer space is connected to the spatial extents of the closet, the washroom, bars, nightclubs or dance floors, the notion of queer practice is rooted in the need for a diverse and meaningful form of architectural production. Queer architects most often find themselves growing up while undergoing heteronormative and dogmatic education with very few public figures who can instill divergent ways of being and thriving as architects. The etymological sense of the word queer as a shaming interpellation can depict here, in a vivid manner, the lack of belongingness, self-confidence and aspirations in many young non-conforming architects and students in architecture. (...)
Text contributions:
• "Queer(ing) Architecture: Architectural Thinking from the Margins" by Mahé Cordier-Jouanne
• "A Manifesto for Kind Architecture" by Sareh Saeidi and Matthew Anderson, with a response by Erik Eikehaug
• "Twelve Tableaux: Tales of a Queer Architecture" by Bui Quy Son and Paul-Antoine Lucas (Exutoire)
Artistic contributions:
• Bui Quy Son and Paul-Antoine Lucas (Exutoire)
• Adèle Labo
and transcript excerpts from a conversation with Alma Oftedal, Eirik Stokke, and Espen Heggertveit, recorded on June 2, 2021.
