Short Description
VARES is an international interdisciplinary residency for spatial practice, whose main task is to seek, find and create alternative spatial practices that are not based on market logic, but rather on the desire to create spaces and places that enrich everyday life, empower the local community and town of Valga.
We are interested in finding ways to practice slow architecture, critically rethinking the discipline of architecture, learning and resurrecting vernacular and traditional crafts, gathering old and used materials and creating a place for lifelong learning for architects and spatial artists. VARES is a part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 main programme.
Eligibility
The call is open to all whose work and mindset align with the philosophy of the residency and the “Material Purgatory” theme. A sensitive and sustainable approach to materials and the environment forms the foundation, from which we encourage residents to work on projects driven by personal interest and ardor, across various media and scales: from reinventing daily routines, to the imaginative rethinking of everyday spaces and objects, urban interventions, speculative utopias and social critique – from art to scientific research. We welcome professionals and students, writers and thinkers, practitioners and theorists.
Valga Architecture Residency invites researchers, architects and crafty creators to apply for our summer group residency “Material Purgatory: Life after demolition”. The residency focuses on finding new opportunities for retired materials that have been forgotten in the purgatory of the shed for decades.
For the residency we are searching for proposals that ask questions how bits of materials can be (re)used; how and what kind materials should be collected and store; how to adapt existing systems of construction, that would favor the use of local, already existing materials; how to influence aesthetic choices, that would promote used materials over virgin materials; who to lessen material greed and overconsumption in the building industry?
Submission Requirements
- Your CV (and portfolio if available, PDF format only, max 25 MB)
- Statement of interest: a motivation letter and/or a rough action plan, visual material or project description for the residency period, and connection to the proposed theme (max 25 MB, PDF only)
How to Apply
Online Application
Program Benefits & Awards
Stipend + travel support + production budget available
Entry Fee
None
Location
Valga, Estonia
Timeline
- Application Deadline: 12 May 2025
- Residency period: July 7 – August 24, 2025
Website Link: https://vares.space/en/
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