Residency period: 7. July – 24. August 2025
Stipend + travel support + production budget available
Application deadline: 12. May 2025, 23:59 Estonian time
Valga Architecture Residency invites researchers, architects and crafty creators to apply for our summer group residency “Material Purgatory: Life after demolition”. The residency focuses on finding new opportunities for retired materials that have been forgotten in the purgatory of the shed for decades.
VARES summer residency focuses on materials that have been left in the back of the garden, forgotten in the urban environment or already abandoned in the local dump. Roof tiles, floorboards, old windows, demolished office furniture, piles of fabric strips, bathroom tiles or dodgy composite materials that have been gathering dust in the shed, attic or basement, waiting for its fate to be decided: either to be used or thrown out. Material piles, where there is not enough stuff for starting a new project, but enough to not be thrown out.
For the residency we are searching for proposals that ask questions how bits of materials can be (re)used; how and what kind materials should be collected and store; how to adapt existing systems of construction, that would favor the use of local, already existing materials; how to influence aesthetic choices, that would promote used materials over virgin materials; who to lessen material greed and overconsumption in the building industry?
For the two month long residency we are open to proposals that might be spatial interventions, urban installations, in depth material research, mapping of societal and cultural material preferences, documenting people’s material storages etc. We invite the residents to use VARES’s old materials’s storage, which is growing from one end and shrinking at the other. We expect material flexibility in proposals that take into account the available materials that can be found in the VARES shed or around Valga municipality.
For spatial and urban interventions and installations we want to know the clear afterlife of the project: for whom is it built for, who and how will it be taken care of after the resident leaves, and the expected lifespan for the piece?
Who are we looking for?
The call is open to all whose work and mindset align with the philosophy of the residency and the “Material Purgatory” theme. A sensitive and sustainable approach to materials and the environment forms the foundation, from which we encourage residents to work on projects driven by personal interest and ardor, across various media and scales: from reinventing daily routines, to the imaginative rethinking of everyday spaces and objects, urban interventions, speculative utopias and social critique – from art to scientific research. We welcome professionals and students, writers and thinkers, practitioners and theorists.
Closing event
The one-month residency will culminate in a public weekend from August 22 to August 24, featuring lectures, seminars, short workshops, walks, and more. We expect residents to publicly share their summary or interpretation of the residency period in their preferred format (lecture, publication, exhibition, installation, workshop, performance, open studio etc.).
About VARES and Valga
VARES is an international interdisciplinary residency for spatial practice, whose main task is to seek, find and create alternative spatial practices that are not based on market logic, but rather on the desire to create spaces and places that enrich everyday life, empower the local community and town of Valga.
Recycling materials and manual activities are one of the fundamental principles of VARESE, where we expect residents and projects to use materials in a moderate and thoughtful manner. We are interested in finding ways to practice slow architecture, critically rethinking the discipline of architecture, learning and resurrecting vernacular and traditional crafts, gathering old and used materials and creating a place for lifelong learning for architects and spatial artists.
Practicalities
The residency period is July 7 to August 24, 2025, with a public closing event and sharing taking place from August 22-24, 2025.
The open call is available for both individuals and groups to apply.
The residency offers accommodation and basic workshop options within the residency building, with more specific workshop conditions available in Valga that will be organised according to the residents’ needs.
The VARES residency is situated approximately 3.5 hours from Tallinn by train and 2.5 hours from Riga. The building is 400 metres from the Latvian border and 5 minutes by foot from the Valga town centre. The residency offers a couple of bikes as means of transport around the town and additional engine assistance can be arranged (vans, cars etc.).
How to apply?
If you wish to participate in the residency, please fill out the following form:
In the application we ask for the following information about the proposal:
-
Your CV (and portfolio if available, PDF format only, max 25 MB)
-
Statement of interest: a motivation letter and/or a rough action plan, visual material or project description for the residency period, and connection to the proposed theme (max 25 MB, PDF only)
The deadline for applications is May 12, 2025 23:59 Estonian time. We only accept applications that have been sent through the registration form. Applications sent to our email will not be taken into consideration.
If you have any questions, please send it to info@vares.space
The selection will be made by VARES curators (Ulla Alla, Merilin Kaup, Mari Möldre, Margus Tammik) and the results will be published on our website by May 19, 2025.
Website: www.vares.space
