roomservices bio
roomservices is an interventionist research institute for practice-based and experimental design projects, transgressing the borders between DIY urbanity, social re-organization, design co-location, artistic research, applied sociogeography, social and entrepreneurial enablement and art practice. roomservices is collaborative work of Evren Uzer and Otto von Busch since 2004.
Evren Uzer is an urban planner & designer working on civic engagement and critical heritage, disaster risk mitigation, participatory housing and interventions in the public space. She holds a PhD on Cultural Heritage at Risk from Istanbul Technical University and researches and teaches at Pratt Institute in New York and HDK Gothenburg. Otto von Busch is a designer working on participatory cultures and fashion and he holds a PhD on socially engaged fashion design.
The projects of roomservices reflects a wide inquisitiveness for experimenting tools and techniques for providing a different viewpoint or just celebrating the differences in everyday life by revealing their varied shades under new light.
(contact: roomservices /at/ gmail.com)
Selected Exhibitions/ Talks
> "Culinary Cartographies" at Bastard festival, Theatre Avant Garden, Trondheim, Sept 2013
>
"UNBRD" workshop, Moda, Istanbul July 2013
> "Chalk Planning" at Sidewalk at Model festival, Art in Odd Places, New York, May 2012
> Presentations on Social Assets at Curating as Social Practice, Tbilisi & Batumi, Georgia, March 2012
> "The Hanging Gardens" exhibited at "Vertical Gardens" exhibition, AIA San Francisco, Jan-April 2010
> "Adventures in Acoustic Ecologies" audiotour at C.U.M.A, parallel event to 11th Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, September 2009
> "The Hanging Gardens" exhibited at "Vertical Gardens" exhibition, Exit Art, New York City, March 28 - May 23 2009
> "The Hanging Gardens "exhibited at "The Gatherers: Greening our Urban Spheres" exhibition, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Oct 31, 2008 - Jan 11, 2009,
> "EU flag" exhibited at "No! Against racism, exploitation and colonization!" exhibition,Pavelhaus, Vienna, Austria, July-September 2008
> Invited speakers at TEMASkonferans 2 at Bahcesehir University-Istanbul, title "You can't find a new land with an old map", 20 October 2008
> "NoReV" exhibited at "Substance. Diverse Practices from the Periphery" exhibition, Center for Visual Art in Denver, Colorado, September 6-November 9, 2007,
> Invited lecturers at Architectural Design Master Program at Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture in Sept 2007, May 2008, Sept 2008.
> Invited speakers at "Art and Social Change" Symposium, Sept 2007, organized by Citizens without Boundaries in Diyarbakir Art Center Turkey,
> "VROOM" exhibition, Sept-Nov 2005, Outcome of roomservices workshop is exhibited, at ITU Faculty of Architecture Exhibition Hall 102
> "NoRev" exhibited at "Transformations" exhibition, Goteborg City Museum, April 2005.
> Uzer, E. & von Busch, O., (2005) In tools we trust: implementing a local currency in Oranssi participatory housing system, Alternative Futures and Popular Protest Conference April 2005, Manchester.
> Uzer, E. & von Busch, O., (2005) Nomadic restoration vehicle for a participatory housing system NoRev, ENHR Housing Conference 2005, Reykjavik, Island.
Selected Grants/ Residencies/ Awards
> Artist in Residency, Sept-Dec 2009, Headlands Center for Arts, San Francisco
> Artist in Residence, Jan-July 2009, CoLab, AUT, Auckland
> Nomination for "Design and Politics Awards", IFG Ulm, 2006, with "Atlas of Local Knowledge Production"
> Research Residency at Nordic Artists' Center in Dale, Norway, 2005 Nov-Dec
> Artist ih Residency at Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen, 2005 Sept-Oct ("Atlas of Local Knowledge Production" project also received a UNESCO grant for the residency period), Innsbruck, Austria
> Research Residency Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, NIFCA, 2005 Feb-March at Suomenlinna, Helsinki Finland.
Selected Publications
> "Monopoly/Community", reprogrammed Monopoly game for community building, printed in OEI art magazine, January 2010
> "roomservices" in Junkjet No.2 THE SPECULATIVE ARCHITECTURE ISSUE, Nov. 2008, Stuttgart. (text/Illustrations for journal)
> "new cartographies by roomservices" in XXI Architecture&Design Journal, Dec. 2007 Istanbu. (article)
> roomservices (2007) VROOM, Istanbul: Roomservices Publishing, ISBN: 978-91-976356-2-2 (book)
> Uzer, E. & von Busch, O., (2005) Nomadic restoration vehicle for a participatory housing system NoRev, ENHR Housing Conference 2005, Reykjavik, Island. (Book of Abstracts), pp: 192.
> roomservices (2005) NoReV - Nomadic Restoration Vehicle, Istanbul: Roomservices Publishing, ISBN: 978-91-976356-0-8, (book)
