Stimuleringsfonds

The Creative Industries Fund NL received ten applications in response to the Open Call Residency Think Tanger 2023 / 2024. Lada Hršak and Siwar Kraytem have been selected for a work period at the Think Tanger cultural platform in Tangier, Morocco.

20 June 2023

selection

The two selected proposals connect well with the urban issues that are relevant for the city of Tangier. Lada Hršak and Siwar Kraytem explore urban spaces from an angle that Think Tanger has not yet applied so far. Think Tanger expects that the selected applicants will offer a refreshing approach with respect to the goals of the residency and looks forward to the results.

Lada Hršak – Tanger Glossary (autumn 2023)
Lada Hršak (Bureau LADA) engages in artistic research, inclusive architecture and the future of education. The architect does so via performative and constructed interventions and campaigns in collaboration with practitioners in the fields of ecology, art, heritage and sociology. With her proposal titled Tanger Glossary, Hršak plans to conduct a series of sensory walks, conversations and observations, in addition to a number of performative storytelling and printmaking events at Think Tanger. These activities should contribute to an analogue ‘forensic’ city map that will evolve during the work period. The proposal is mainly geared to exploring disappeared and disappearing spaces and ecologies by means of alternative sensory mapping.

Siwar Kraytem – Letters from Tangier (spring 2024)
Research and practice by the designer, researcher and artist Siwar Kraytem focuses on multilingualism and language in times of transformation, as well as on community building by means of language. The designer will use the working period to investigate multilingualism and the local relationship to the Arabic language, and to examine the social and urban structures of Tangier. Kraytem particularly aims to focus on the informal Arabic Darija dialect. Through a series of workshops, the designer wishes to determine whether this dialect exists in the urban context, what space Darija shares with other languages in Tangier, and what role these languages play in the city. The silkscreen print facilities at Think Tanger will be used to this end.

assessment

Proposals consisted of a portfolio, CV, development plan and the applicant’s motivation letter. Headed by the chair Robert Jan Verhagen (Mondriaan Fonds), the proposals were assessed by advisers Arthur Steiner (committee member Open Call Resilient Communities / Inclusive Cities / Just Societies) and Yin Wong (committee member Internationalisation Design Sector Programme) from the Creative Industries Fund, and by Aline Thomassen and Maziar Afrassiabi from the Mondriaan Fonds. The assessment examined to what extent the proposals were consistent in terms of goal and set-up, and to what extent they were in line with the objectives of this Open Call. Hicham Bouzid assessed the proposals on behalf of Think Tanger. The assessment was conducted similarly to a tender, with two proposals preferred over the others.

contribution

Lada Hršak and Siwar Kraytem will each receive a grant of € 5,500 to help cover travel expenses, material and transportation costs, and subsistence costs.

background

The first edition of the Open Call Residency Think Tanger 2023 / 2024 was issued at the beginning of February 2023 in collaboration with the Mondriaan Fonds, offering two work periods at the Think Tanger cultural platform in Morocco. During these work periods, first in the autumn of 2023 and the second in the spring of 2024, a designer and artist can perform research, expand their network and develop their own work, in exchange with Think Tanger. The intersection between design, urbanism and social-urban issues is pivotal. The Mondriaan Fonds received 13 applications and selected the artists Maike Hemmers and Annelotte Lammertse.

Photo: Lada Hršak – Tanger Glossary