International Visitors Programme
In March 2023, Katherine Clarke of muf Architecture/Art and Anne Thorne of Anne Thorne Architects, formerly of Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative, London, travelled to the Nieuwe Instituut with the support of the International Visitors Programme. The invitation was extended as part of the Platform Professional series of events at the Nieuwe Instituut, in conjunction with The Counter-Archive workshop, hosted by Parity Talks at ETH Zurich and organised by GTA Archives and Collecting Otherwise on International Women's Day.
Katherine Clarke and Anne Thorne gave keynote presentations drawing on their exemplary design practices during the Counter to: Vital Pedagogies of Feminist Design Practice on 8 March. Anne Thorne and Katherine Clarke spoke about broadening notions of architectural practice to reflect a regenerative, feminist practice. They highlighted the ways in which intergenerational knowledge sharing becomes important in an architectural pedagogy, and emphasised the importance of counter-institutional or grassroots actors in processes of making space. The event was co-organised and moderated by PD Dr. Irina Davidovici (Director of the GTA Archives, ETH Zurich) and Setareh Noorani (Researcher, Nieuwe Instituut and founding member of the Collecting Otherwise working group).
As an extension of their visit, they also took a guided tour of the Feminist Design Strategies section of the Designing the Social exhibition and of Sonneveld House, with a particular focus on recent interventions.
Katherine Clarke is a founding partner of muf architecture/art with Liza Fior. An internationally acclaimed practice, muf’s work in the public realm is at once pragmatic and infinitely ambitious. Its projects are an ongoing dialogue between detail and strategy and include urban design and masterplanning, landscapes, streetscapes and buildings. It is the only UK winner of the European Prize for Public Space for Barking Town Square and has been shortlisted for the same award in 2022 for the Kings Crescent Estate Play Street.
Anne Thorne is an architect, writer, teacher and founder of Anne Thorne Architects Partnership, London, in 1991. In practice for over 30 years, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a former Master of the Artworkers Guild, and in 2022 received an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in recognition of her international achievements, particularly her pioneering approach to equality and women’s participation in architecture and urban design.