Organizer Information:

Union de los Rios is a sprawling, semi-feral farm located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where the Trevélez and Guadalfeo rivers meet. They view the land as a living entity and offer spaces for adults to engage in learning, unlearning, and collective processes.

Title & Description:

Applications are open for the Entropy / Syntropy experimental land-based residency.

Named for the universal tendencies of things falling apart (entropy) and coming together (syntropy), this residency weaves together practices from Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF), democratic unschooling, and land reciprocity. It offers up to 8 participants an invitation into open-ended inquiry. The structure includes co-living, co-stewarding (15 hours per week of land work), and co-sensing (weekly GTDF seminars). There is no pressure to produce and no pre-specified outcomes.

Category:

Land-Based & Experimental.

Eligibility:

  • Who: Folks with a personal or relational practice they would like to explore in dialogue with the land.
  • Mandatory Prerequisite: Participants must have finished reading the book Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira / Andreotti by two weeks before the residency starts.
  • Mindset: Applicants must be ready to face global complexities (complicity and collapse), understand land-work as a relationship, and participate in co-creating a living relational field. Retreat-style comforts and therapeutic holding are not provided.

Program Benefits & Awards:

  • Workspace & Tools: Access to a shared outdoor covered workspace (8m x 5m), a shared indoor workspace, music production equipment, kilns, basic carpentry and metalworking tools, a scrap store, and renewable bio-based materials from the land.
  • Accommodation: Simple housing in a renovated farmhouse (private or shared depending on needs and space).
  • Community: A structured container of shared meals, mutual care, and consent-based decision-making.

Application Fee & Program Costs:

  • Application Fee: Free to apply.
  • Residency Fee: There is no fixed fee to attend, and no funding is provided.
  • Participant Costs: Residents must cover their own travel/transport, specific art materials, and shared food costs (approximately €30 per week per person). Financial contributions towards the land are gratefully welcomed but not required.

Application Requirements:

To apply, artists must send an email specifying which cycle they are applying for. The email must include:

  1. Any questions that come up for you.
  2. An explanation of why you are drawn to this specific inquiry.
  3. A description of your practice.
  4. References to your work (if available).

How to Apply?

Submit your application directly through the google form.

Key Dates:

  • Cycle 2 Residency Dates: April 25 – June 17, 2026 (8 weeks).

Location:

Foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Contact Information:

Email: luke@uniondelosrios.org