suddenly seeks new language to describe the landscapes where we live now. Done with old ideals of the urban or the rural, we want to articulate the actual lives lived here, now, and the sense they make. suddenly commissions new writing, curates art exhibitions, sponsors talks, publishes books, incites disruptions, serves dinner in far-flung places as settings for conversations, and assembles the residue of all these activities in a digital commons, at suddenly.org 

The effort was born of German urban planner Thomas Sieverts’s observation that “the shaping of the landscape where we live can no longer be achieved by the traditional resources of town planning, urban design, and architecture. New ways must be explored, which are as yet unclear.” Sieverts suggests that we seek new ways in the “research process” of artists and writers. “These approaches have in common a positive concern with uncertainty, which expresses itself through the active reconfiguration of uncertainty as a space of hope. Uncertainty is understood as a challenge, as an adventure in urban evolution, as a space that cannot be made secure but can be shaped by the imaginative projections and led toward a certain inclination. Such a space cannot be functionally determined; it is an open space of possibilities.”

suddenly makes an open space of possibilities in books, exhibitions, gatherings, and the conversations they spark. We ask you to join them and help us articulate where we live now. Joining can begin by viewing and reading the materials you find here, or by attending the events listed on this site. It can grow by contacting us to initiate or support events and conversations where you live. suddenly has no staff, no budget, no facility, no faculty, no bylaws, and no resources, except what you and we bring to it. It is only the sum of the people, ideas, and actions that find common ground here. We hope it includes you.