Call for Fellows: 2018 ArkDes Fellowship

The ArkDes Fellowship offers practitioners, spatial thinkers, and researchers operating in or around the fields of architecture and design opportunities for interdisciplinary research at ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design. The first annual fellowship will be dedicated to the theme of Projecting the Future, providing four Fellows with space to conduct explorative work for a six month-long period (September 2018 to February 2019) in Stockholm.

With the headline exhibition The Future Starts Here opening in 2019, ArkDes will become a centre for future studies. Sweden is an important territory in which to consider future trends; while semi-peripheral, it maintains a global impact on models of social governance and the creative industries. With a General Election around the corner (September 2018), questions surrounding immigration, politics, militarisation, and housing are currently reframing a debate about society and its relationship to the built environment.

The word “project” has its etymological root in the Latin word proicere, to “throw forth.” As disciplines and practices, architecture and design are inherently preoccupied by ideas of the future—a combination of tensions, imaginations, hopes and fears—often inspired by what has come before. Historically, it has represented a horizon upon which all problems might, could, and will be solved; an ideological belief based on the notion of unimpeded progress and the vision of a ”better” world. At a moment in which the ways in which we live, work, and postulate are shifting, we should take time to consider how we frame our understanding of the “future” in time and as a place. We invite research proposals that challenge preconceived ideas behind these spheres of thought and operation, both in topic and in research methodology.

Apply!
The application process does not require a stipulated or tangible outcome; we expect any possible result of the programme to develop during the Fellows’ time at ArkDes, and from conversation with our curators, researchers, and guests. We are excited by the unconventional, experimental, contextually rich, and culturally engaged; proposals that can concisely advocate for an original position while, at the same time, offer convincing methodologies for research, communication and dissemination.

Information
Fellows will have full access to resources within ArkDes, including the library, collection, workspaces, and members of the curatorial and research departments. A monthly salary of around SEK 25,000 (after tax) will be made available to Fellows, along with round-trip travel from their country of residence.

Key Dates
Deadline for questions: February 19, 2018
Frequently asked questions published (online): February 23, 2018
Deadline for applications (online): March 19, 2018, Noon (Stockholm time)
Public announcement of Fellows: May 11, 2018
2018 Fellowship: September 2018 to February 2019

About ArkDes
Located in central Stockholm, ArkDes provides an arena for debate and discussion about the future of architecture, design, citizenship and public life. Concurrent to our role as a museum, ArkDes is also a government authority with a unique mandate to advise, impact, and imagine future urban policies in Sweden. We care for and work with a significant national architecture collection and support a research platform dedicated to studying and responding to contemporary urban challenges.