The British Council, in partnership with HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme, the Helsinki Design Week (HDW) and Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architectureis seeking applications from practitioners to participate in a design residency programme hosted by HIAP in Helsinki. The residency will culminate with the HDW (7 – 17 September 2017).

The residency is for UK-based practitioners, who work at the intersections of design, architecture and art and who have an interest in exploring and questioning what constitutes design innovation.

The 2017 Residency

This year’s theme, New: Material, invites design practitioners and critical thinkers to research, reflect and engage with the many facets of materials. The resident will explore and question materials and materiality within the evolving context of the city of Helsinki. Projects could explore areas such as:

• Material and the body (bodily/physical vs. textual intelligence, body and time, the body as material);
• Material and simulation;
• Material and economy (space, resources, real estate, logistics, ethical issues);
• Material and computation (numeric material, digital material, digital materiality).

The residency will take place in two parts: 16 – 30 May and 15 August – 18 September 2017.

The residency will consist of two return flights to Helsinki, accommodation, a grant of £2,000, a production budget of 500 € for materials (ie: printing costs, model-making, prototyping or other materials) as well as mentoring, advice and contacts provided by the partners both in London and Helsinki.

The selected designer in residence will have an opportunity to present work to local colleagues and audiences at HIAP Open Studios and through Helsinki Design Week’s programme of events. A dedicated presentation of the resident’s project work will be organised according to the type of research/topic proposed by the designer in residence. Alongside these opportunities for the resident to communicate their work, they will be able to create connections with local designers, curators, researchers and design experts.

 

For further information on the residency and guidelines for applying, please see the open call document by the British Council.

The closing date for submissions is Sunday, 26 March 2017 (23:59 GMT).