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 based in Istanbul working on disaster risk mitigation, participatory housing and interventions in the public space and she is working at ITU Housing Research and Education Center at Faculty of Architecture in Istanbul. She is currently about to submit her PhD on Cultural Heritage at Risk.
Otto von Busch is a designer working on participatory cultures and fashion and he's holding a PhD from Goteborg University on engaged and hacktivist fashion design.
Both having diverse backgrounds and interests, the projects they make under roomservices reflect their 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
> "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.
> 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 Kuntslerhause 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
> "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)