Spontaneous Interventions: design actions for the common good, the official U.S. representation at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2012), will travel to Chicago in May 2013, and is seeking new projects—urban interventions realized in U.S. cities in the past two years—with an emphasis on Chicago and Midwest projects. The exhibition will be on view through Summer 2013.

Architects, designers, planners, artists and citizens who have realized an intervention in a U.S. city—and in particular, in Chicago and the Midwest—in the past 2 years (2011 or 2012) are encouraged to submit PDFs of their projects by midnight (EST) Wednesday, March 6 to be considered for inclusion in the Chicago exhibition. The project criteria is as follows:

Initiated by the architect/artist/planner/landscape architect/hacker/activist/ citizen (in other words, no one asked for it), OR was initiated by an alternative client, for example, a non-profit or a community group

Publicly accessible and serves the common good

Improves a problematic condition (solves a problem by making a place more accessible, inclusive, sustainable, beautiful, etc.)

Located in an urban context or tackles urban issues

Participatory in nature, or open access, and serves an underserved or overlooked constituency

Realized, deployed, in action or use (not theoretical)

May be a physical intervention in an urban context, or an information, communication or digital project that improves people’s comprehension, navigation and access to a city.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Please submit a low-resolution PDF that includes the following:

Project name, location, year realized (if project is ongoing, please indicate this, and the year the project was started).

Brief designer/team bio (max 100 words), plus firm or individual URL (optional).

One sentence that describes the problem addressed by your intervention, and one sentence that describes the solution or improvement posed by your project.

Project description (maximum 500 words). We strongly suggest that you describe the context of the intervention, as well as your intention, strategy, and constituency served by your action.

Images (maximum 5).

Please note that submissions that do not adhere to these requirements will not be considered. Submit PDFs by midnight (EST) Wednesday, March 6 to info@spontaneousinterventions.org.