Open Call for 'SMW — Sketchy Material Wasteland'
This open call for summer 2024 at the VARES residency concentrates on the sketchy materials used in homes and offices around us. Looking at the short life cycle of MDF, OSB and other particle boards used in fast fashion architecture and furniture design, we invite artists, architects and other cultural practitioners to rebuild or destroy the reputation of the simple particle board.
This open call focuses on the theme of “sketchy materials” referring to the unreliable, dishonest, shady substances that make up a lot of the furniture, walls and floors around us. The growing discussion about material reuse mostly focuses on natural materials (wood, stone and metal), non-composite matter that can be relatively easily disassembled and repurposed for new needs. Recycling and repurposing becomes a lot more tricky with lesser-valued factory produced composite materials like particle boards (MDF, OSB or imitation wood). The low grade formaldehyde soaked boards with a relatively short life cycle are unvalued due to the challenges it brings with repurposing them for new needs and environments. With every IKEA cupboard left behind, every refurbished school or office, more sketchy materials are forgotten, thrown out and discarded. With the poor structural integrity goes hand in hand the debate of material value, how culturally some materials are considered good or bad, and how fast fashion furniture design ends up quickly in the gutters and landfills. The open call is to cultivate an explorative, bricoleurish mindset that always finds ways to work with any kind of materials and found objects, while avoiding mass-produced virgin materials, closing the material loop and creating behavioural change when it comes to how and what kinds of objects we surround ourselves with.
We invite cultural practitioners, architects, students, spatial artists, writers, anyone working and rethinking about the matter and spaces around us to experiment with the sketchy materials. The goal for the residents is to experiment, research, write, rebuild or destroy the reputation of unvalued, toxic, cheap materials, to find meaning in the particle board itself. In the end, the materials around us in their current state, natural or factory made, are the main building blocks for future projects.
Who are we looking for?
The residency is open to anyone interested in rethinking how and with what we create the spaces around us. We invite both established professionals, amateurs, students, writers and thinkers who wish to define, create and practise alternative ways of creating and using spaces.
About VARES
VARES (Valga Architecture Residency) is a newly formed international multidisciplinary residency for spatial practice, where the main goal is to seek and create alternative ways of creating that are not dictated by market logic. We are interested in slow paced architecture, critically rethinking the discipline of spatial creation, preserving vernacular crafts and repurposing used materials.
Situated on the border of Estonia and Latvia, the residency has made its nest in an old school from the 1930s, a two storey building that will slowly be transformed into a house museum, a collection of experiments, spatial interventions and ideas left behind by the residents living there.
During the 2023 summer we worked with volunteers to refurbish the academic building to become a more homely setting. The residency has comfortable corners for living, yet the building itself is left raw and open for the residing artists to work on and in.
The town of Valga is approximately 12 000 people and is currently, like many small towns, shrinking. With the change in population, a lot of spaces and buildings have remained empty for decades. The residency is a spatial experiment, where the town itself can become the source of materials for the artists.
VARES Architecture residency is a part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 main programme.
Practical info
The Open Call is available for both individuals and groups (max 3 people) to apply. Artists with families are also welcome. The project period will end with a group exhibition, which will also be the kick-off event of the 2024 VARES summer school.
The residency period is two months 17.06.2024-15.08.2024 The attending people are welcome to arrive earlier and leave later than the designated residency period (extended stay is not covered by the residency funds).
This Open Call is currently available only for people who are residents of the Creative Europe countries (EU + Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Georgia, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine).
VARES will provide a 350 euro travel budget, a 25 euro daily allowance and production budget (according to the residents project). The residency offers accommodation and basic workshop options within the residency building, with more specific workshop conditions available in Valga that will be organised according to the residents' needs. In addition the residents have full access to our old materials’ storage (in this case an array of sketchy materials) and are welcome to add to it as well.
The VARES residency is situated approximately 3.5 hours from Tallinn by train and 2.5 hours from Riga. The building is 400 metres from the Latvian border and 5 minutes by foot from the Valga town centre. The residency offers a couple of bikes as means of transport around the town and additional engine assistance can be arranged (vans, cars etc.).
Conditions for applying
For the application we ask you to provide us with a:
Motivation letter ca one A4 - ideas on the Open Call theme and general aim for the residency period (ideas, themes to explore, experimentation plans; nothing has to be certain but a direction you wish to take with the project)
Visual material - Scheme, photograph, collage, diagram, project, video, etc to accompany the motivation letter - max 25 MB
CV and portfolio - the applicant will not be judged by the CV and portfolio, but is there to give a wider understanding of the person applying.
Proof of residency - a picture of an ID or living permit for the above mentioned countries.
Deadline for the Open Call is 10th of October 23:59 Eastern European Time.
For applying or any questions, please send them to info@vares.space
The choice of residence will be made by the VARES curators and project managers (Margus Tammik, Mari Möldre, Merilin Kaup, Triin Reidla and Ulla Alla) and results will be sent via email latest on the 14th of October.
Website: www.vares.space
Instagram and Facebook @vares.space
Title
RESIDENCY OPEN CALL: Sketchy Material WastelandType
Call for SubmissionsOrganizers
Submission Deadline
October 10, 2023 11:30 PMVenue
VARES Architecture ResidencyPrice
FreeCountry Restrictions
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Holy See (Vatican City State), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Kosovo