Call for submissions to ETH Zürich's gta papers: “The Crit”

Submissions are open for both scholarly and experimental articles on the crit for an upcoming issue of the ETH architectural history journal, gta papers.

Whether it is experienced as a courtroom or as a competitive talent show, the crit is a rite of passage in architectural education—a drama in which students are asked to present and defend their work in front of an audience consisting of their peers, their teachers, and invited external experts. It can be both a tool of instruction, and a theatre of the absurd. The crit is both experienced as a forum for exchange, and as a sometimes confronting exposure of the collective privacy of the studio to external inspection.

In the contemporary period, in which other disciplines look towards architectural education for innovative teaching methods, we have an interest in being able to clearly articulate where our pedagogical tools come from, and what purpose they serve. A close historical analysis of the crit reveals themes of power, discipline, the profession, and legitimisation that will inevitably touch on questions of class, gender, politics and symbolic authority. It may also reveal radical possibilities in experimental teaching, in process-driven design and in the performative presentation of architectural ideas.

The historical origins of the crit have been traced back, in part, to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, but there are other influences in its formation: from the revolutionary salon, to the Bauhaus, to the postwar student movements. Might its history be more closely read to reveal the seams holding together what has become an unquestioned tradition? Can we imagine a different history for the crit, and perhaps a different future for it, in architectural education and practice?

The results that we seek to publish may be biographical, sociological or speculative. We actively seek diverse positions. This issue of gta papers might serve as a survival manual for the student confronted for the first time with the contingencies of the crit as a ritual, as well as an experimental handbook for the teacher, and as a historiographic guide to the scholar.

Our editorial process will reflect this, in that the editorial team for this issue is a collaboration between historians and active design teachers.

Guest editors for the eighth issue of gta papers are Amy Perkins and Jeremy Waterfield.

Submit abstracts by May 31, 2021 to gtapapers@arch.ethz.ch.