Thirteenpoint and Sarah Saleh selected for residency Think Tanger 2024 / 2025

28 August 2024

Think Tanger is a multidisciplinary cultural platform that focuses on stimulating culture, creativity, innovation and exchange in Tangier, Morocco. The organisation brings together artists, designers, researchers, businesses and local communities to take a critical look at the urban and cultural dynamics in a city in transformation, in order to better understand and stimulate dialogue on the subject.

The aim of this residency, offered for the second time this year in collaboration with the Mondriaan Fund, is to encourage crossovers and experimentation and to learn from each other’s perspectives, knowledge and ideas. The working period offers designers and artists the space to conduct research, broaden their network and develop new work with a focus on design, urbanism and the dynamics between social and spatial aspects. Participants engage in a dialogue with Tangier’s unique context by creatively exploring existing assumptions and social issues.

general impression

In the proposals submitted, the advisory committee saw great ambition, sometimes to such an extent that achievability within the specified working period was in doubt. The projects show interesting connecting factors in relation to the city and the location of the residency. Because Think Tanger provides an opportunity for discovery and exploration, the committee gave preference to applicants who were open-minded about proposals where a specific intervention or tangible goal was already determined in advance. In particular, the committee valued applications with an intrinsic interest for the designer, where the development and deepening of the practice plays a central role.

selection

In the case of the two proposals that were selected, the advisory committee considered that the process and the outcomes were important for both the designer and the cultural platform.

Thirteenpoint – Find Tanger in my bag

With the project Find Tanger in my bag, maker Liping Hua explores the production methods of woven bags and carpets. Hua also looks at the people involved in the production, their interaction with each other and the emotional connections with local people. Working with a carpet maker, she experiments with making Moroccan carpets using the patterns of woven bags. That is because, according to Hua, the production of woven bags not only generates exciting colourful patterns but also contributes to a collective emotional memory for local people. The aim of this project is to explore the visual language and social value of woven bags. By doing this, Hua hopes to gain insight into the individual emotional attachments people have with the bags. She also aims to develop a new visual language based on the generative process during the working period at Think Tanger. A language shared by locals and associated with emotional memories attached to these objects. The results of the study will be recorded in a book.

Sarah Saleh – Here, there and everything in between - the Tanger chapter

Designer Sarah Saleh’s project Here, there and everything in between - the Tangier chapter aims to document and explore the transformations within Tangier’s urban landscape. In particular, she is focusing on the importance of Tangier as a city undergoing rapid socio-economic changes, including rationalisation, displacement, globalisation and privatisation of public space. Saleh seeks to capture the nuances of these dynamics through multimedia documentation, focusing on the impact on local communities and the wider urban effect. By engaging with the local community and collaborating on archival resistance, the designer aims to shed light on marginalised voices and, in so doing, empower residents to claim their own stories in a rapidly changing urban environment.

assessment

All the applications received were submitted for advice to an independent committee consisting of Zico Lopes, Isabel Driessen and Çengiz Mengüç. On behalf of Think Tanger, Hicham Bouzid assessed the proposals. The following criteria were considered:

- The artistic quality of the work;
- The quality of the development plan;
- Motivation in relation to the aims of the residency.

The assessment took the form of a tender: two proposals were preferred to the other submissions.

numbers

A budget of € 100,000 was made available by the Fund for this open call. Thirteenpoint and Sarah Saleh each receive a subsidy of € 5,500, intended to cover travel, material and transport costs and as a contribution to living expenses.

background

The Open Call Residency Think Tanger is a collaboration between the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Mondriaan Fund. The call offers two working periods at cultural platform Think Tanger in Tangier, Morocco. During the working periods, the first in autumn 2024 and the second in spring 2025, a designer and an artist can conduct research, broaden their network and develop their own work in an interchange with Think Tangier. The focus is on the intersection between design, urbanism and socio-spatial issues. From the Mondriaan Fund, artists Grazia Gallo and Gizem Ustuner have been selected for the residency.