Alternative Ecologies long-term postgraduate program

The Institute for Postnatural Studies is launching Alternative Ecologies, a new long-term independent postgraduate program dedicated to exploring how contemporary artistic practices can critically and imaginatively engage with ecology under present planetary conditions. Conceived as a hybrid learning ecosystem, the program brings together online laboratories, individual and collective artistic production, critical study, and three intensive in-person encounters in France and Spain. It fosters sustained experimentation across physical and digital contexts, encouraging participants to develop practices that are responsive to complex ecological realities.

About
In a world reshaped by climate crisis, technological acceleration, and unstable ecosystems, how can art become ecological inquiry? ALT-ECO is a one-year, hands-on postgraduate program for artists, designers, and researchers who approach ecology as a living, relational practice rather than a theme. Through hybrid learning, immersive encounters, and sustained experimentation, participants unlearn dominant narratives and reimagine relationships between human, non-human, and technological systems.

Grounded in postnatural, posthuman, ecofeminist, and decolonial practice, the program positions artistic practice as a form of inquiry. Moving from research about ecology toward ecology as practice, ALT-ECO foregrounds practice-led research, where artistic experimentation itself generates knowledge, concepts, and material understanding. The program culminates in a collective, time-based exhibition in Madrid, hosted in a prominent venue that brings together artists, curators, critics, institution directors, and the wider cultural community. This final encounter transforms the space into a living laboratory where the artworks, gestures, and practices developed throughout the year are presented as an evolving constellation rather than static objects. The exhibition emphasizes process over product, highlighting temporal, relational, and participatory dimensions of the participants’ work.

For whom
The program is open to artists, designers, researchers, and practitioners working across contemporary fields of artistic and cultural production. Applicants may come from backgrounds including visual arts, performance, sound, writing, theory, architecture, cinema, choreography, design, science, or other relevant disciplines. ALT-ECO welcomes participants at different stages of their practice—emerging, mid-career, or established—who demonstrate a strong engagement with artistic research and a willingness to work experimentally. The programme values diverse trajectories and forms of knowledge, recognising that ecological thinking benefits from cross-disciplinary exchange and situated experience. Applicants may enter with a clearly defined project or with the desire to develop new directions through the program’s intellectual and practical ecosystem.

Contributors and guests
ALT-ECO features lectures, workshops, and studio visits with leading international artists, theorists, and curators

Lecturers: T. J. Demos, Kim TallBear, Karen Barad, Astrida Neimanis, Dr Jennifer Mae Hamilton, Filipa Ramos / Workshops and crits: Laura Tripaldi, Lucia Pietrouisti, Marielsa Castro / Artist/studio Visits: Anne Sophie Tisseyre and Anne Stenne (Pierre Huyghe’s studio), Rafael Pérez Evans, Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe), Harun Morrison, Angelo Custodio, Carlos Monleón, Teresa Solar, June Crespo, and more TBC.

Team
Gabriel Alonso, Program Director and Faculty / Cristina Ramos, Program Curator and Academic Lead / Karol Muñozcano, Program Manager & Institutional Relations / Yuri Tuma, IPS Faculty / Alicia Sanchez, Graphic & Visual Designer / Daniel H. Rey, Curator of Programs and Networks.

Applications and fees
Applications open: March 1, 2026 / Last day to apply: May 17, 2026 (11:59pm CET Madrid time) / Program begins: September 14, 2026 online.

Tuition fee: 6,000 EUR. Installment plans and partial/full fellowships are available.

Information and application
Full program guidelines here. For questions and Q&A sessions: alteco@instituteforpostnaturalstudies.org.