Architexx is a non-profit organisation for gender equity in architecture transforming the profession by bridging the academy and practice. They are a cross-generational group of academics and practitioners, and their organisation is dedicated to the advancement of all women-identified and allied individuals encouraging and promoting the leadership and retention of women in the discipline redefining what contemporary success is, how value is understood and compensated.
Among their projects, Sub_teXXt is their affiliated journal. Just as ArchiteXX addresses a gap, so must the publication in the existing professional / academic discourse. It is a forum for discussion within the group and a means of engaging an audience who may be dispersed geographically which content aims to change the dialog within and about architecture. Writing is used to promote the voices of the underrepresented, look critically at ways of harmonising and negotiating the distance between academy and practice, and challenge the status quo which has marginalised women and minorities. When the civil rights, women’s, and LGBTQ movements have impacted every facet of US society, including architecture and design.
‘Now What?! Advocacy, Activism & Alliances in American Architecture since 1968’ is the first on-going travelling exhibition linking the US design community to larger social and political movements of the late 20th century, placing design practice in the foreground and engaging viewers in critical conversations of history, progress, and the built environment. The exhibition acknowledges a wide coalition of organisations and professionals’ national and grassroots efforts to change the face of architecture and design in the US.
In recent years, there has been a new wave of initiatives and advocacy emerging in the US that draw attention to these critical issues. This exhibition writes the overlooked histories of activist architects and organisations who were—and still are—at the forefront of the profession’s participation in larger social and political movements over the last fifty years, and suggests ways forward. This intersectional and interdisciplinary look at the design professions draws historical connections and serves as the only comprehensive narrative of activism in US architecture and design that spans these generations and disparate causes. Now What?! examines diversity and activism in the design professions since 1968 while crafting a space for public debate and dialogue that looks back to project forward.
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