Mediterranean Futures Residency 2026
Mediterranean Futures Residency 2026
Cultural Heritage, Contemporary Art & Emerging Technologies
Sidi Bou Said, Tunis, Tunisia
International Open Call
EL SPACE is pleased to announce the inaugural edition of the Mediterranean Futures
Residency, a selective two-month international residency bringing together artists, designers,
architects, and creative technologists whose practices engage with cultural heritage, memory,
and contemporary technological transformation.
Situated within the exceptional historical and cultural landscape of Tunisia, the residency offers
a rigorous framework for artistic inquiry, critical exchange, and experimental practice. A cohort of
five residents will be selected through an international open call. Selected residents will be
invited to undertake a period of focused research and production at one of the Mediterranean’s
most culturally rich sites, Carthage.
Curatorial Framework
Heritage is often understood as a repository of the past. Yet heritage is equally a question of the
future: how cultural memory is transmitted, transformed, and reinterpreted across generations,
communities, and technological shifts.
At a moment when digital technologies are fundamentally reshaping how societies record,
access, and experience history, the Mediterranean Futures Residency invites participants to
examine heritage not as a fixed inheritance but as a dynamic field of cultural production —
contested, evolving, and open to reinvention.
Through artistic research, site-based investigation, and technological experimentation, residents
will develop new relationships between memory, material culture, architecture, archives, craft
traditions, and the possibilities opened by emerging technologies.
The program welcomes critical, speculative, and transdisciplinary approaches that challenge
conventional understandings of heritage and open new possibilities for engagement, authorship,
and transmission.
Residency Environment
The residency is anchored in the unique cultural, historical, and architectural landscapes of
Tunisia, a country situated at the crossroads of Mediterranean, African, and Arab histories, and
home to one of the world’s richest concentrations of archaeological and living heritage.
Residents will be based in Tunis and will have access to workspaces in Sidi Bou Said, with
opportunities for sustained engagement with Ennejma Ezzahra Palace, one of Tunisia’s most
significant cultural landmarks and a site of rare historical and architectural distinction.
The program combines immersive, situated artistic practice with access to contemporary digital
fabrication infrastructure, creating a productive dialogue between historical knowledge systems
and future-oriented modes of making.
Areas of Interest
Applications may address, but are not limited to:
● Cultural memory and contemporary society
● Archives and counter-archives
● Architecture, urbanism, and spatial heritage
● Oral histories, storytelling, and intangible heritage
● Material culture and craft traditions
● Digital heritage, preservation, and access
● Artificial intelligence and cultural memory
● Digital fabrication and contemporary making
● Sound, image, and technological mediation
● Speculative and critical futures of heritage
● Public space, collective memory, and contested histories
● Networked culture and decolonial historical narratives
● Climate change and environmental risks on local cultures
Who Should Apply
The Mediterranean Futures Residency welcomes applications from emerging and established
practitioners across disciplines, including:
● Visual artists
● New media and digital artists
● Designers
● Architects
● Video artists
● Photographers
● Sound artists
● Creative technologists
● Independent researchers and scholars
● Interdisciplinary and hybrid practitioners
Applicants should demonstrate a strong, sustained artistic or research practice and articulate a
clear and compelling engagement with questions of heritage, technology, and contemporary
culture. The residency particularly welcomes practitioners whose work operates at the
boundaries of disciplines and challenges established frameworks.
The residency is committed to assembling a cohort that reflects the geographic, cultural, and
disciplinary diversity of the contemporary art world.
To be eligible, residents must be nationals of one of the following countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Albania, Armenia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Ukraine.
What the Residency Provides
Selected residents will receive:
➢ Full accommodation for the duration of the residency in Tunis
➢ Travel support to/from Tunis
➢ Meal support throughout the program
➢ Production support, including access to digital fabrication facilities:
○ 3D printing
○ Laser cutting
➢ Curatorial and research mentorship from the program team and invited specialists
➢ Access to cultural and heritage institutions, archives, and collections
➢ Integration into an international cohort of artists and researchers working across
disciplines
➢ Opportunities for public presentation, professional exchange, and critical dialogue
Residency Philosophy
The Mediterranean Futures Residency is structured around the conviction that artistic practice
constitutes a distinctive and irreplaceable form of knowledge production, one capable of
generating new understandings of history, culture, and collective life that other disciplines
cannot reach.
The program prioritizes research, experimentation, dialogue, and process over the production of
finalized, exhibition-ready works. Residents are encouraged to pursue lines of inquiry that may
be uncertain, speculative, or unresolved, and to treat the residency period as space for genuine
intellectual and creative risk-taking.
Outcomes may take many forms, including but not limited to:
● Moving-image and video works
● Sound compositions and acoustic investigations
● Archival interpretation and counter-archives
● Digital works and interactive projects
● Prototypes and fabricated objects
● Experimental and hybrid formats
Public Program
Throughout the residency, participants will contribute to a structured series of public
conversations, presentations, studio visits, and informal exchanges designed to foster dialogue
between artists, researchers, cultural practitioners, heritage professionals, and local and
international audiences.
Invited guests, including curators, theorists, architects, and practitioners from the Mediterranean
region and beyond, will participate in the program as interlocutors and collaborators.
The residency will culminate in a public presentation of research outcomes, prototypes, artistic
works, and ongoing investigations developed during the program, open to the public and the
broader cultural community.
Selection Process
A maximum of five residents will be selected by an Advisory Committee through a rigorous
international review process.
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
● Artistic excellence and depth of practice
● Originality and conceptual strength of the proposed project
● Relevance and engagement with the curatorial framework
● Quality and clarity of the research approach
● Feasibility and ambition within the residency context
● Potential contribution to the cohort and to collective dialogue
● Capacity to engage meaningfully with the cultural environment of Tunisia
The program is committed to assembling a cohort of exceptional diversity and complementary
perspectives. Shortlisted applicants may be invited to a conversation with the selection
committee prior to final decisions.
Application Requirements
Applicants must submit the following materials in English or French:
1. Curriculum Vitae: maximum 3 pages
2. Artist Biography: maximum 300 words
3. Statement of Practice: maximum 500 words, describing the applicant’s artistic or
research background and primary areas of inquiry
4. Project Proposal: maximum 1,000 words, outlining the specific research questions,
methods, and intentions the applicant wishes to pursue during the residency
5. Portfolio: up to 10 representative works or project examples, with captions and brief
descriptions
6. Preliminary Production and Resources Plan: a concise outline of intended activities,
resources, and timelines for the residency period (include a list of materials needed)
7. Links to relevant websites, videos, or online work (optional)
All materials should be submitted as PDF files via email at aslema@elspace.co
Application Deadline: July 19, 2026 no later than 12PM Tunis Time.
Key Dates
Application Deadline: 12PM on July 19, 2026
Notification of Results: July 30, 2026
Residency Period: October 1, 2026 – November 30, 2026
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted via email at aslema@elspace.co
For inquiries: aslema@elspace.co