Newsletter #1 Open Call

Open: Newsletter
Het Nieuwe Instituut launches the online and interactive Post Box for the Open Society, an invitation to the international community of architects, designers, thinkers and researchers to submit ideas and designs for an open society. The Post Box is part of the Dutch entry to the Biennale di Architettura in Venice, entitled Open: A Bakema Celebration. It presents a critical reflection on the work and research of Jaap Bakema (1914-1981), in particular his ideas for the open society.
 
From the submissions a monthly newsletter will be compiled by Het Nieuwe Instituut. This is the first issue with the basic information, the Open Call for submissions and a link to the essay by the Belgian cultural philosopher, activist and writer Lieven de Cauter, the first essay in a series of reflections by different authors on the subject of the open society. The newsletter will also be on display at the Dutch pavilion in Venice.

Open: Society
Bakema's ambition was to build toward a democratic, egalitarian and inclusive society. He believed that architecture should accommodate the emancipation of the masses while allowing for the self-realization of the individual citizen. Bakema and his office Van den Broek en Bakema built under the conditions of the post-war welfare state. The roles of the state and the market, the architect and the individual citizen were very different then. And today, these are shifting once again. Therefore, Het Nieuwe Instituut wants to address the question of the open society anew:

What could be the relevance of Jaap Bakema’s lofty idealism for contemporary practice? And how do we envisage and imagine the open society today?

Bakema belonged to the core of the post-war avant-gardes in architecture: both CIAM and its successor Team 10. When the famous CIAM organisation of modern architects was dissolved in 1959, Bakema launched a Post Box — the Post Box for the Development of the Habitat — to promote the international exchange of information and to stimulate dialogue about the open society.

Bakema received contributions from all over the world, including letters from architects such as Kenzo Tange, Hans Hollein, Yona Friedman, Fumihiko Maki and Oskar Hansen. He published the material in a newsletter that appeared eighteen times between September 1959 and July 1971.

Open: Call
During the Venice Biennale, the Het Nieuwe Instituut moderates the Post Box for the Open Society along the lines of to the historical Post Box and in homage to Bakema.
 
The Post Box for the Open Society aims to set up a dialogue between architects, planners, designers, architectural historians, universities, academies and social designers. Everybody is invited to become a participant: to upload proposals, to discuss the various submissions, or simply to browse the live archive of the Post Box.

There are four basic categories for submissions: public space, housing, critique and inspiration. From today, participants can upload ideas and designs.

Now: ArchiNed
During the Biennale ArchiNed is taking the discussion about the open society out of the Dutch pavilion and into the world of today on the World Wide Web. In six articles designers and academics will critically reflect on the idea of the open society. Readers are expressly invited to take part in this debate.
 
The first contribution ‘The Open Society and its emergencies’. Theses on Urbanity in the Age of Disaster comes from the Belgian cultural philosopher, activist and writer Lieven de Cauter. Click here to read the text.

Open: Open
The Post Box for the Open Society and Open: A Bakema Celebration both originated as a collaboration between Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, TU Delft and their shared research initiative the Jaap Bakema Study Centre. Dutch website ArchiNed is project partner for the Post Box.
 

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter of the Post Box for the Open Society