do 6. 6. 2023 / Open call for a funded residency on Housing in times of crisis

1. 6. 2023Artalk Infoservis

Open call for a funded residency on Housing in times of crisis (Never Never School) / do 6. 6. 2023

Open Call - Research Residency

About the program/ Projects:

We are opening a 1-month research residency in a merged collaboration between East Slovak Gallery and Spolka Collective to contribute to research on the topic of Housing in times of crisis. The residency is open within the framework of two projects:

House of Mine that examines the different levels, aspects, and variables of the basic concept of home. The whole project will consist of complex research on what home is, what it means, how it can form an individual personality, and how it can influence the development of one’s life and decision-making,

and Never Never School, a unique platform for dialogical learning, utopian speculation and research about cities. It is based in Košice, a city in East Slovakia.

The residency will be followed by Never Never School – 10-day workshop/summer school, where we would like to co-create/prototype housing innovations based on collaborative research and experience. The event itself is preceded by Never Never Talks. After summer school, the book is previewed, with a public book launch event. The resident is invited to participate in all the project activities, contributing to the book or other activities will depend on other financial possibilities of Never Never project.

Important Dates:

May 2023 - Open call for residency

August 2023 - Residency for 1 researcher in Košice /in collaboration with East Slovak Gallery

September 1-10, 2023 Never Never School in Košice

Locality:

Košice, Slovakia

Second biggest city of Slovakia near the borders with Hungary and Ukraine has once been an industrial tiger, nowadays slowly transformed with a strong vibrant program during European Capital of Culture (2013) and follow-up cultural and creative inputs. The IT sector is defining the contemporary urban economy, pushing the prices of services in the city up. Together with trends in financialization of housing, the accessibility to home is not universal for everybody. Although a city full of historical stories that can create a very welcoming vibes and good quality of life, it is still a place of increasing social inequality and poverty. Incoming war-related influx contributes to a variety of urban structure and can become a point of consideration for more systematic policies regarding not only housing, but also other social policies.

Our ambition:

We believe a more imaginative approach to housing should take place, crossing various sectors as well as changes in local discourse. Firstly, we need relevant data and information. Drawing from recent events in Ukraine, local policymakers, architects, the humanitarian sector and academia, could and wish to work in a more intertwined way: exchange information and experience and work together. That could enable new approaches and models of housing: the architecture of change and possibility, beautiful and sustainable, delivering responses that in time promote the capacity for action, peace and resilience. That could also promote the most important value of housing which is providing a sense of safety and involvement in the world around us (Madden, Marcuse, 2016). Never Never School – as a platform – is a place to support such links, by creating collaborative and solidary safe space. Rather than seeing migration as an infrastructural, military and economic problem to be solved, we want to find out and manifest different new layers of care, helping all of us feel safe without associating one's sense of safety with identity-based belonging (whether migrant or not). By integrating the experience and approach of the humanitarian sector in interdisciplinary spatial practice and vice versa participatory, context-based, sensitive and collaborative approaches of planning into the humanitarian sector – we place importance on the processes that create space and affect everyday lives and also empower spatial planners and researchers to make this necessary positive change.

Who are we looking for:

We would like to invite a person of any age, gender and origin to join our conversation and bring a unique perspective on the topic of housing. We can imagine cooperating with some from fields of art, architecture, social sciences, economy, politics, geography, social work or really anything that could be related.

We hope that the resident could contribute with research in a format of writing or drawing and after some editing publish it on our website and in the previewed book. We would also expect the resident to participate in local discussion (Never Never Talk) as well as many informal debates with many stakeholders around the town. However, form and content of the residency shall be adapted to the vision of the resident.

Application

1 page of CV to imagine your background and perspective through which you are looking at the world.

1 page proposal of how you would like to spend the residency time in Košice

what angle you would like to take on the topic of housing

what activities would you carry

what would be the expectations you would have towards the Never Never School

optional supporting documents: short portfolio, web, or links to works that are connected with the topic.

About us

East Slovak Gallery

https://vsg.sk/en/

The establishment of our gallery, and the building of the former county hall in which the gallery is located, is closely linked to the city of Košice and the rich history of the region of Eastern Slovakia, which has cultural and national significance. Our commitment is not only to work with visual art, but also to highlight relevant contemporary issues such as the climate crisis, social inequality, segregation and intolerance. We take care of the environment and follow the Green Code. We have set ourselves the objective of becoming an inclusive institution that reflects the world in which we live. In addition to collecting, researching, documenting and presenting fine art, we have re-opened our library with a specialized library fund for our visitors and researchers. We have re-designed the entrance courthouse into a modern point of first contact. In addition, we have set up an independent space called The Extinction of the Planet, where we hold various events focused on the city, urbanism, ecology, climate, and other current topics.

We build on the hard work of our predecessors with the energy of a new generation of curators, gallery educators, and professional staff thinking about art as a catalyst for present and future ideas. Our exhibition projects are diverse and range from old to contemporary art. Outside of exhibitions, the gallery also prepares a rich programme for the professional and general public from the youngest visitors to the elderly. Our team is working to create a professional documentation centre, and we are gradually improving the conditions in the depository for the storing of artworks. We strive to bring quality solutions and new approaches, working in cooperation with renowned architects, artists and scientists.

Never Never School

https://nevernever.spolka.cc/en/

We are Never Never team, architects and sociologists since 2018 organizing Never Never School – a unique platform for dialogical learning, utopian speculation and research about cities. It is based in Košice, a city in East Slovakia. It uses design as a tool for investigation, imagination and as a means of dialogue about possible futures. At the same time, it serves as an incubator: participants can translate their ideas into projects embedded in the local context, which they test and develop together.

The goal of the Never Never School 2023 is to look for strategies and change stereotypes of how housing is perceived. We have been working on this theme since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Providing a decent place to live, or the politics of housing is a topic relevant to spatial planning, but very underdeveloped in our countries. It was the pressure of global events (whether due to war, homelessness, the privatization of housing, touristification,…) that made us consider how the global meets the local in infrastructure and city making, and how much needed is a cooperation between countries. The summer school can help us create a space to together look for a common language between our experiences and professions and integrate humanitarian principles into urban policies. To put it another way, to get closer to finding an answer to what a caring city can mean (in the context of concrete situations) and search for better futures.

The patrons of Never Never School are members of Spolka.

https://spolka.cc/en

Spolka forms sustainable cities for all. We involve the public in innovative urban development. We are a team of experts in the field of architecture and sociology.

Funding

Stipend of 1500 eur /month

Housing provided in premises of VSG

Travel costs refunded

East Slovak Gallery - House of Mine

Granty EHP a Nórska

Slovak Arts Council

Partners Of Never Never School

Consortium

Spolka (Slovakia)

ReStart Ukraine

OpenDoorsHungary