ROM for kunst og arkitektur is pleased to be collaborating with Oslo-based Safe Space Collective, created by Bui Quy Son, Paul-Antoine Lucas and Armelle Breuil. They are a French-Vietnamese queer collective practicing at the intersection of art, architecture and activism. The project Safe Space is a conversation series that takes place from within their exhibition and residency at ROM between May 3 and June 6, 2021.

Safe Space is an investigation on the meaning of diversity and representation in architecture, as well as the potentials of inclusive architectural education and practice in Norway. In public roundtable events with invited speakers, Safe Space Collective hosts conversations that cover topics from representation of minorities in the field, to housing discrimination, environmental injustice, and queer architectural practices. These shared conversations will shape a discourse that will further be disseminated as a podcast and as published text.

Program

Prelude 1: Safe Space in the making
Gabrielle Paré - Artist, program coordinator (ROM for kunst og arkitektur)
Tina Lam - Student in urban planning (NMBU), communication assistant (ROM for kunst og arkitektur)
Recording: Saturday April 10, 2021 - 10:00

Prelude 2: The vocabulary of representation
Tess Skadegård Thorsen, PhD - Researcher, speaker, educator and consultant
Recording: Saturday May 8, 2021 - 13:00

Episode 1: Who gets to be an architect?
Maisam Mahdi - Interior architect and furniture designer (Arkitektskap)
Gary Bates - Architect (Spacegroup)
Recording: Saturday May 1, 2021 - 18:00

Episode 2: Diversity and representation in architecture and design education
Tu-Uyen Phan-Nguyen - Student in architecture (AHO)
Mikael Oscar Johansen - Student in landscape architecture (NMBU)
Nebil Zaman - Artist and designer (KHiO alumnus)
Josina Vink - Teacher and researcher in design (AHO), co-leading the “Opening Up AHO” initiative
Recording: Thursday May 13, 2021 - 18:00

Episode 3: Who are we designing for? - Engaged modes of practice
Else Abrahamsen - Interior architect & Jack Hughes - Architect (Makers’ Hub)
Håkon Matre Aasarød - Architect (Vardehaugen)
Recording: Wednesday May 19, 2021 - 18:00

Episode 4: The right to housing
Alf Jørgen Schnell - Human geographer, housing activist (Reduser Husleia)
Hanna Asefaw - Student in human geography (UiO), housing activist (Reduser Husleia)
Ole Pedersen - Social entrepreneur (Nedenfra)
Recording: Friday May 21, 2021 - 18:00

Episode 5: Environmental justice and the preservation of Sápmi territories
Astrid Fadnes - Architect and writer
Joar Nango - Artist and architect
Recording: Wednesday May 26, 2021 - 18:00

Episode 6: A queer practice of architecture
Espen Heggertveit & Eirik Stokke - Architects (SPEED Architects)
Alma Oftedal - Architect, critic and lecturer (AHO)
Recording: Wednesday June 2, 2021 - 18:00

Bui Quy Son: Born in Vietnam, Sơn studied in Paris before graduating in 2017 from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He worked as an architect at Ghilardi+Hellsten, and now practices landscape architecture at SLA. In parallel, he continues pursuing various art and design projects. Sơn also shares an architecture practice with Paul-Antoine, under the name Exutoire.

Paul-Antoine Lucas: Paul-Antoine studied architecture in Paris and Hong Kong before graduating from AHO in 2018. He is currently working at Spacegroup, Oslo Arkitektforening and on his own projects, including Exutoire. He also holds a position of Assistant Professor at the Institute of Urbanism and Landscape at AHO.

Armelle Breuil: Armelle is an engaged architect, feminist and environmental activist, she studied in Paris, Singapore and Madrid. In Oslo, she worked at Spacegroup and Architectopia before starting this year her own office, ACT - Architecture for Changing Times.

ROM has received support from Balansepotten and Fritt Ord, Safe Space Collective has received support from Kulturrådet, AHO and from crowdfunding.