• OASE 81
        • Constructing Criticism
        • 2010

        Abstract
        The apparent increase in popular demand for volumes presenting works of architecture as novelties has been curiously matched by the marked absence of a critical discussion of the objects that would explain and examine their role as cultural statements or as exponents of particular urban, social and political visions. The dearth of architecture criticism, not only in general newspapers or magazines, on television and radio, is a perennial phenomenon. There are many reasons for the disappearance of the culture of architecture criticism. The progressive acceptance of architecture as image production rather than as an agent of a larger social or political project and the demise of platforms for critical thought, however, are among the most alarming. If architecture is a rich and complex field of cultural production and know ledge that continuously redefines itself vis-à-vis spatial, societal and cultural challenges, then critically thinking and writing on this role of architecture both as a force of change and as a mode of reflection are most essential. This issue of OASE is aimed at examining the role of the architecture magazine within the current debate on architecture criticism. Resulting from the numerous talks, seminars and symposia organized in the framework of the 25th anniversary of OASE, this issue brings together important critical voices around one central question: ‘What critical role should the architecture journal play in an ever more a-critical landscape?’
    1. 21/11/2023
      call for conversations OASE 118

      Rationalism Revisited

      This Call is written by Justin Agyin, Bart Decroos, Christoph Grafe. The deadline is 17 December 2023.

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    2. 11/11/2023
      call for abstracts OASE 119
      1. Review of Jean-Louis de Cordemoy's Nouveau traité de toute l'architecture in Mémoires pour l'histoire des sciences & des beaux-arts, September 1706

      Book Reviews
      From Words to Buildings
      In this issue of OASE, the history of the architectural book review is outlined through case studies. This Call is written by Christophe Van Gerrewey and Hans Teerds. The deadline is 20 December 2023.

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    3. 06/03/2023
      BK Talks on 16 March 2023 about 'Design with Soil: Urbanizing the living surface'

      On 16 March 2023 the TU Delft will host a debate inspired by OASE 110.

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    4. 21/02/2023
      Call for Abstracts OASE 117. Village Variations

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    5. 31/01/2023
      Now available: OASE 113. Authorship

      What does the author’s ‘owning’ of a project mean? And does this sense of ownership still prevail in contemporary architecture culture? Other more open forms of cooperation and co-creation are emerging alongside the concept of individual singular authorship.

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    6. 02/12/2022
      Presentation OASE 112 on 8 December 2022 in Rotterdam, NL

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    7. 24/11/2022
      Call for Abstracts OASE 116
      1. Carmen Portinho in front of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (source: Wikimedia Commons)

      ‘The Architect as Public Instellectual’
      Deadline: 23-12-2022

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    8. 15/10/2022
      Now available: OASE 112. Ecology & Aesthetics

      Through a series of concrete projects, the contributions in this issue explore the field of tension between architectural aesthetics and issues of energy, technology and materiality. Ecological practices in architecture must not only be effective in providing solutions, but inevitably raise questions of beauty, affection and perception as well.

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    9. 23/05/2022
      Call for Abstracts OASE #115. Interferences: Migrating Practices in Europe

      Call for Abstracts OASE #115 about “Interferences: Migrating Practices in Europe”, written by Justin Agyin, Kornelia Dimitrova, Christoph Grafe and Bernard Colenbrander. Deadline is June 19, 2022. Read the full text of the OASE #115 Call for Abstracts in the PDF.

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    10. 20/05/2022
      Now available: OASE 111. Staging the Museum

      Museums stage public encounters between visitors, objects and stories. This is not limited to a tour through the exhibition spaces, it starts already with monumental or ‘tresholdless’ entrances.

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