ARTCITY & PEEPSHOW INT’L presents: “THAT’S IT”

Architecture, 2008 Call for Submissions.  Jurors include; Sami Rintala (Oslo architect) & Thomas Mical (Author, “Surrealism & Architecture).  Competition Deadline June 9th, 2008.  Open to anyone.  This year’s competition is asking entrants to investigate the hypothetical interstitial forms between objects of a city.  What if the ‘edge spaces’ of the city (i.e. Building next to sidewalk) were to undergo an apostrophic condition of connection rather than simply physical.  What would this form look and feel like?  Please visit our website for the full competition details at www.art-city.ca.  3 winners will receive $1000 CDN and a free trip to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to enact their investigations at 1:1 scale during September 11th & 12th.  ArtCity festival dates: September 5th – 14th, Downtown Calgary.

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APOSTROPHE    
   

A city is the sum of its parts.  A building, being one of those parts, can be defined by what

it is not, i.e.; a street, alleyway, another building, etc.  These defined “edge spaces” between

what a building is and what a building is not thus must each contain elements &/or information

about the other, locked within, simply by this act of negation.  If we metaphorically

connect this building/street edge space condition to another medium, such as a comic

strip, children’s book or film strip, time is revealed.  Within the cell of a comic strip a

random narrative “moment” (chosen by the artist) is represented in some fashion.  When

these moments are collected they are read in narrative by the eye (act of reading, Time).

Again like the city, each cell has an edge space which is in most cases represented by a black

border (no time, no space).  This is similar to the movie strip.  With the children’s book, rather

than a black border, it relies on the act of page turning and is contained in space by paper

thickness.  In prose, an apostrophe contains the elements of both Time and space.  It’s

function is to collapse the edge space of two previous adjoining words to form one word.  The

apostrophe must therefore be aware of Time, but not necessarily abound by it, as it predicts

the word following it.  Thus, as the apostrophe has this knowledge of the future, it must

be attributed by the revealing of such information by (from, out of) the primary word.  If

an apostrophe can represent all space, all time (informed by a catalyst in a Time sequence

between objects/signifiers/moments), then what is the true form of an apostrophe?

COMPETITION

Choose an “edge condition” of your liking from anywhere or select one from our website and

investigate the occurrence of an apostrophe between the objects (...etc.).  In other words, if a

‘structure’ were to exist between particular objects (ex. building & street) what would it look

like and what emotional characteristic would it possess?  We are looking for interesting methods

of representation; graphic novel, video, collage, .etc. that incorporates the form of the apostrophe

as well as what it may appear like travelling through it (in narrative).  The experiential quality

of the apostrophe with the relevance of what is being ‘apostrophe-ed’ will be what is judged.

PRIZE

There will be 3 winners.  All 3 winners will be flown to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to enact their

apostrophic forms onto sites at 1:1 scale for the Art-City festival.  It will be a collaborative affair

with the other winners, volunteers and public to take place September 10, 11, 12, 13, with the

opening Sept. 12th at Olympic plaza.  Winners will receive free flight and accommodations

and $1000 CDN ($2000 local).  The winning submissions/constructions will be published.

JURORS

Sami Rintala (Oslo architect, artist, professor)

Thomas Mical (Professor, Author)

Sharif Khan (studioexit.ca), Others…