Informed criticism plays a pivotal role in Architecture. How information is shared and used are key aspects for the future of the discipline. Therefore editing, curating and publishing become fundamental tools in the shaping of an architectural culture.
CARTHA is an independent, pro-bono publishing project. It provides a curated, open platform dedicated to architecture and its role in society. It has as its core concept that the generated content has to be able to be produced, accessed, and appropriated by anyone, anywhere and free of charge. It works in cycles, devoting long periods to dissect selected topics which are framed to allow a broad audience to engage with them through open calls and direct invitations, in various formats (text, interview, photography, image) and media (web, talks, exhibitions and books).
Free from geographical and institutional restraints, CARTHA provides the framework and pace to contribute to a critical analyses of our reality towards an informed Future
CARTHA is an ongoing archive of a territory under construction presented through three different channels: a free of charge Internet distributed publication, events and books published at the end of the cycles as the embodiment of the generated content.
Since its foundation in 2014, CARTHA has featured more than 150 contributions from about 50 different countries.
CARTHA promotes a series of events around the selected topics. Above we see the lecture by Lütjens Padmanabhan, EMI Architekten and Raphael Zuber, on their contributions to "CARTHA on the Form of Form - Lisboa Paralela", which took place at the LABA in Basel.
CARTHA has contributed to multiples initiatives across Europe and the US. The image above depicts the exhibition curated and designed by CARTHA at the occasion of the 2016 Lisbon Architecture Triennial.
CARTHA works in yearly cycles (On Relations - 2015, On The Form of Form - 2016, On The Limits of Fiction - 2017). The book pictured above is the result of the work done during 2015, reflecting on the ethereal sets of relations which form Architecture.
