Open call: Cantiere per pratiche non-affermative (Construction site for non-affirmative practice) – Careof, Milan, September/October 2011

We have been invited by Careof , an organisation for contemporary art based in Milan at the Fabbrica del Vapore, to take part in the FDV Residency Program for creatives.

In September and October 2011, we will transform the exhibition space at Careof into a studio/incubator for non-affirmative practice in design. We invite five recent graduates from Italian design schools, who in their graduation project have intended to foster debate on a specific socially, politically or environmentally relevant issue, to share for two months the material and social resources of our residency. Thus inserting a buffer between the educational and professional world by creating a space where to extend and deepen the path of research and experimentation people have undertaken during their studies and in particular during their thesis work.

The project, Cantiere per pratiche non-affermative (Construction site for non-affirmative practice), is part of our current research on the relationship between design, precarity and critical practice, which has been ongoing since the beginning of 2011 within the framework of a Ph.D. at the Design Department of Goldsmiths College in London. The underlying question of the research project is: what organisational structures and strategies enable designers to contribute with their work to a more equal, just and de-alienated society?

Apart from coordinating the unusual workspace, we will contribute to the project by organising a series of encounters with designers and other experts around the production dynamics of the capitalist economy.

The invited designers will be welcome to use the gallery/studio at Careof as a multi-functional workspace. This means that they will be able to:

– Have a fixed workspace in the gallery from the 5th September to the 29th October (the space will be open Monday to Friday from 11am to 7pm)
– Organise and participate in research-oriented seminars, talks and workshops related to their own or others’ projects
– Exhibit their works and use the gallery to involve and engage with the public
– Benefit from working closely to practitioners from various disciplines who have similar interests

The initiative is addressed to designers who graduated in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Designers wanting to participate should send their graduation project (5 images and an abstract of max. 500 words) together with a motivation letter to bravenewalps [at] gmail [dot] com by the 31st July 2011. The names of the five participants will be published by the 10th August 2011.