Open for miracles: The Blind Alley and The Kitchen Square

Abstract
Could everyday domestic skills and organization be revaluated and identified as vital strategies to handle uncertainty and ambiguity in a “a world in flux”? Why is it important to manifest domestic traces visible in a narrow street of Istanbul as a political action? And why making the connection to the need of identifying sustainable solutions to handle environmental challenges in our cities?

The Blind Alley and The Kitchen Square navigates on the borderline between art, architecture, social sustainability and urban planning. The center of attention of the seminar is a presentation / text as a base to discuss the site specific projects and their possible impact as alternative public spaces. One underlying goal is to share the experiences of the staged kitchens in combination with lessens learned through the discovery of a rural-urban matriarchy on a public domestic street in Istanbul and discuss the thesis made : "depicting an alternative public place as model to strengthen social and sustainable solutions handling environmental challenges in our cities".

For a copy of a draft text related to the presentation please contact Elin directly at elin.strandruin@arch.kth.se