THE INSTITUTE FOR FUNCTIONAL ESCAPISTS

Contemporary Arts Center Córdoba / Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Urban Land Project

The year is 2030. The post-apocalyptic darkness have fell, and the earth as we know it, has come to an end. This is the dystopic story of man's existence after earth's destruction. The disaster and the subsequent ice age destroyed all organic life, and all forms of human civilization. There was nowhere to hide, the earth would soon be covered by a kilometer-thick layer of ice. All hope for the existence of humanity, would always be lost, hadn't it not been for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Mirror Mask (Michael Schoner) is about reflecting the inside versus letting the outside in and letting the outside see something from the inside. The Mask gives the wearer an animalistic snout. It's a reminder of smell, direction and instinct.

How do you define a better life? What matters most to you – good schools, safe streets or something else? The OECD Better Life Initiative proposes an interactive tool, Your Better Life Index, which enables you to rate your country on the things you feel make for a better life.

According to a recent study, noise pollution could be costing lives. A World Health Organization report finds Western Europeans lose years to death or disability from excessive sound. The results indicate that at least one million years of healthy life are lost every year from traffic related noise in the western part of Europe. Sleep disturbance and annoyance, mostly related to road traffic noise, comprise the main burden of environmental noise. Though European countries have taken steps to turn the volume down, the U.S. backed off the effort decades ago. Read the report here.

Wouter Osterholt and Elke Uitentuis, two Dutch artists, developed Model Citizens during their stay as artists-in-residence at Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery. The project is an investigation into the urban fabric of Antikhana, the neighborhood in which Townhouse Gallery is situated. Downtown Cairo is in the midst of tremendous changes, as businesses, institutions, and individuals are relocating to new developments on the outskirts of the city. Now, some speculate, the government has plans to transform Antikhana into a more tourist-friendly district. "Model Citizens" proposes an alternative vision for the future of the neighborhood: One imagined by the community itself.

Karola Schlegelmilch. Berlin-based photographer and experimental filmmaker. Photographs explore casual, informal or temporary architectures, issues of appropriation and conversion, and popular architecture.

© Kgafela oa Magogodi/Jyoti Mistry

"Today, over half the world's population lives in cities. In particular, the regions of the Global South face rapid globalisation, with African cities recording the highest urbanisation rates. The African contexts have created specific urban structures, topographies and cultures, notably different from European-American models of urban development. How do these structures function? How do urban dwellers organise their daily life? What issues are addressed in the African discourse on the history and future of cities? What positions do European and African artists take on urbanity in Africa? The Afropolis exhibition is showcasing five African cities - Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa and Johannesburg..."

SurvivaBall is nothing less than a self-contained living system—truly, a gated community for one. If you have a SurvivaBall, even if everyone else is dying, at least you can weather all storms. For more information, visit http://www.survivaball.com

"The Global MetroMonitor, a new joint report of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is the first analysis of international metropolitan economic performance before, during, and after the Great Recession..."