Matadero Madrid center for contemporary creation

STUDY GROUP ON ECOLOGIES, NEW TERRITORY AND LANDSCAPES IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE

Start date
End date
Inland / Campo Adentro
Matadero Madrid is hosting Inland´s proposal to set up a research group called Ecologies, new territory and landscapes in Contemporary Culture, which aims to deal with the current evolution of thought concerning the issues of environmentalist thinking, landscape theory, the relationships between culture and nature, rural studies as well as forms of art and social change.
  The Research Group is put forward as an extension of interests dealt with in previous projects, such as Inland – art, agricultures and countryside. It is a moment for examination and reflection, where we will be sketching out lines of connection between current critical discourses on cultural/natural intersections in a broad sense and also between theory and practice. Taking biophysics and territories as the basis and central reference point for the phenomena of art and culture, we also plan to focus on an analysis of the transformation of art under a post-fordist capitalism, notions of utility, symbolic generation for social change as well as methods for sustainable living.
  The group will therefore carry out text analyses, presentations of diverse case studies ranging from the issues of rural Russia today, colonised towns, agroecology in Japan, and new approaches to the planning of land use in the USA as well as discussions and field trips which will take place over monthly or bimonthly sessions during an agricultural season.
  This open call is aimed at people working within the creative community in Madrid who may be interestedin links between art and nature, landscape and territory, art and agriculture, and/or the rural environment, science and culture, economics and natural resources, human ecology and who are also willing to commit to a research group for a period of two years. In return, they are given a solid theoretical and practical background supported by a network of agents and bodies brought together by Inland in a framework of artistic practice at Matadero Madrid and the other nodes of the network. There is also the opportunity to participate in a series of events, symposiums and field trips as well as experimentally based work, which will take place between March and December 2013 along with the possibility of taking part in an exchange program with Universities associated to the study group. In addition, the group will have the possibility to present the results publicly through conferences, symposiums, meetings, publications and exhibitions that will be held in Matadero Madrid.
  This project forms part of a larger program of collected research promoted by Matadero Madrid in areas, such as urbanism, education, social sciences and public art. These groups will have access to a shared workspace of 155m2 and the possibility of using Matadero Madrid’s residency program to invite researchers from other cities to come and work. Furthermore, tools will also be made available to the group, such as a residency space, as well as an online publication, which may be used in the development of their research.
  The program will be carried out through three lines of enquiry: 1. Ecologies of the art system: post-fordist conditioning of the cultural worker, reclaiming the commons and the promised land. 2. The represented landscape: bio-politics from the primary sector, biotechnology and new animism. 3. Land use, natural resources and ecological economics in rural/urban relationships.
  The involvement of participants requires the availability for regular meetings with the work group, the attendance and active participation in research group discussions, individual study, working online and other specific activities that may be programmed throughout the year.
  Candidates interested in participating in this research group should write to creadores@mataderomadrid.org referring to the subject Ecologías and provide the following documentation:
  -Biography and/or curriculum vitae -A covering letter of no more than one page -The research group will be bilingual on occasion, English/Spanish, therefore a high level of both languages is required.   Applications will be accepted until 8th March 2013. They will be assessed by a jury composed of members of Matadero Madrid and Campo Adentro, which will convene on the 11th March 2013. Of all the applications sent in at least 10 candidates will be selected and the decision will be made public on Matadero Madrid’s web page from 12th March 2013.   Director: Fernando García-Dory Organisers: Campo Adentro and Matadero Madrid. The study group proposal is being developed in contact with a variety of entities such as Fine Arts Faculty – University of Madrid, New Opportunity – The Colony, Fine Arts Faculty – University of Valencia, Fine Arts Faculty – University of Basque Country, Fine Arts Faculty – University of Canary Islands, Institute of Sociology and Peasant Studies ISEC– UNIA, COAL Foundation (France), Tromso Academy of Art (Norway), World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism - WISP (Kenya), Rural Platform Spain, Shepherds Federation, M12 (USA), Grizedale Arts (UK), MyVillages (NL), Fourierist International and individual artists such as Patricia Esquivias, Antonio Ballester, and others connected to Inland project.