–
moup

What was it?
~ Collegiate and collective; a sharing and recording of practice, place, and time.
~ Something other than its original acronym.
~ ‘A nibble’ in scots (valid scrabble word in the UK, Australia and NZ).
~ The Martinist Order of Unknown Philosophers.

Formerly an acronym for researching Methodologies of Unconventional Practice, MOUP evolved as a project of critical self-reflection arising from weekly practices of writing, meeting and discussion.

The residency assembled around what it means to develop individual and collective creative practices that simultaneously span and diverge from architectural education. Commissions, employment, freelancing, personal expectations, societal concerns, and pandemics alike were measured against the axes of Why, What and How are we doing?

Initially gazing outward to professional contexts, the covid pandemic slowly shifted focus inward. The absence of shared physical space forced a digital turn to the creation of an online index. Writing and discussions were gathered in an online navigable network that aimed to invert the hierarchy and brevity of conventional design websites.

Less archive but more depository; more journal but less diary; MOUP made for brief oversight as well as attentive thought.