Open call! TBA21–Academy Artistic Residency in South America
TBA21–Academy continues its artistic commission program and expands it into a one-residency partnership with major Brazilian institutions, The Oceanic Art and Science Lab of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo (LACO IOUSP) and Pivô, alongside European partners as a key Consortium Member of the S+T+ARTS Buen-TEK initiative.
The open call invites artists to engage in an artistic residency focused on art-driven innovation rooted in Indigenous knowledge, vernacular practices, and local technologies. Calling for artists based in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, and Uruguay, this residency explores how artistic research can respond to coastal transformations brought on by climate change.
Aligned with TBA21’s commitment to nurturing transdisciplinary cultural practices, the residency invites thoughtful, site-responsive proposals that reflect and respect the interconnectedness of human and more-than-human life. We invite artists to investigate how transgenerational knowledge and embodied coastal practices offer alternative ways of living in resonance with oceanic ecosystems.
The project is supported by the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS Buen-TEK, an initiative designed to bridge ancestral practices with contemporary technology to create innovations that honor both people and the planet, in which TBA21 acts as Consortium Member. Central to the project is the concept of Buen Vivir, a holistic Indigenous philosophy and Andean cosmology that emphasizes living in harmony with nature and community, advocating for interconnectedness and sustainability. The project is also influenced by the concept "Lo—TEK" (Watson, J., 2019), which explores local traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and how Indigenous cultures have created sustainable solutions for environmental challenges, highlighting Indigenous or vernacular engineering solutions as sophisticated and resilient technologies.
Building upon TBA21–Academy's long-standing commitment to fostering site-responsive artistic research, the residency in Brazil extends the foundation's dedication to exploring oceanic and coastal ecologies through art, developed through residency programs in Jamaica and Venice. The South American residency continues this trajectory, inviting artists to engage deeply with local knowledge systems and the pressing realities of climate-induced coastal transformations.
The residency program will support selected applicants through funding, guidance, and support from host institutions, European partners, and trans-local experts, but also through showcases, an ongoing peer-to-peer learning program, and dissemination activities. The 5-month residency will be developed between September 2025 and February 2026. Artists are not expected to work full-time on their projects, however, they will be asked to be present for at least 4 weeks at the host institution.
See details about the application process and the application forms here. You can apply in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
TBA21–Academy’s residency programs are embedded in place-based research, fostering transdisciplinary encounters between art, science, and local knowledge systems. Projects emerging from the residency program include works by Sonia Levy, Leonor Serrano Rivas & Diego Delas (Venice); Joan Jonas, Susanne Winterling, Dineo Seshee Bopape, and Claudia Comte (Jamaica), as well as ongoing work by Carlos Casas, Adelita Husni-Bey, and Nandita Kumar.
