Open call for the Situated Research residency 25-26

About the Open Call

Medialab Matadero presents the fourth edition of the annual program of Situated Research residencies, seeking 3 research projects to be developed starting in November 2025 through November 2026. The program's mission is to promote transdisciplinary, collaborative, and open research, fostering projects with national or international reach to consolidate Medialab as a creative research center focused on the present and future of technologically mediated society. The Situated Research residency program seeks proposals that explore emergent territories, combining conceptual development with creative practice while aligning with significant trends in research across art, design, science, technology, and society. Medialab Matadero is committed to cultural innovation and critical thought, welcoming projects that are too exceptional for academic research. The program supports experimental and collaborative research proposals that are both rigorous and operational, promoting the analysis of emergent landscapes and testing solutions with a social and ecological approach, including speculative strategies, learning-by-doing methods, and explorations of what appears counter-intuitive. Projects should align with Medialab's goals, exploring intersections between art, design, science, and technology, contributing to creatively addressing major contemporary challenges within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. Research must be public and situated, establishing links with other Medialab Matadero activities, showing capacity to transform and enrich themselves in dialogue with other initiatives, residents, agents, communities, and the general public, including documentation tasks and programming public activities focused on learning, dissemination, and feedback. Submitted projects must respond to Medialab Matadero's thematic research tackled since 2021, including infrastructures as planetary-scale sensoria; energy flows and more-than-human metabolisms; emerging synthetic forms of cognition; and the technological imaginaries of uncertainty that coalesce around the tentative concept of teslaforming. Research proposals should be related to these topics and expand them in new directions. The residency has a duration of 12 months, with required regular and extended research stays at Matadero. The application and residency can be carried out in either Spanish or English. Organizing public research activities or events (seminars, workshops, discussions) is part of the residency, with conceptual, logistical, and material support from Medialab. The result of the research process can be materialized in a publication, audiovisual documents, or other formalizations.

What is Offered

Selected projects will receive access to the available infrastructure at Medialab Matadero, including Fablab fabrication facilities, other technical materials, and an individual workspace. An economic endowment of 14,950.00 € (plus VAT) will be provided. Additionally, residents will receive support from Medialab's technical and administrative team, ongoing dialogue with the curatorial team, and specific local and international support, theoretical reflection, and concrete feedback from Medialab’s lead curator.

Requirements

This call is for projects that investigate disciplines such as design, art, architecture, urbanism, economics, film, photography, journalism, digital media, environmental sciences, philosophy, engineering, social studies, political science, programming, materials science, activism, or any other field that aligns with the residency's goals. Projects must meet fundamental guidelines detailed in the official terms and conditions. Project goals should align with Medialab’s mission, exploring intersections between art, design, science, and technology. Research must be public and situated, establishing links with other Medialab Matadero activities and involving documentation tasks and programming public activities. Submitted projects must respond to thematic research areas of Medialab Matadero since 2021 (e.g., infrastructures as planetary-scale sensoria, energy flows, synthetic cognition, technological imaginaries of uncertainty). Regular and extended research stays at Matadero are required, as this residency cannot be carried out remotely. Applicants' specific background will be considered to promote exchange between expert and emerging practitioners.

How to Apply

Submit your project by filling out the registration form available at https://form.jotform.com/241562142081346.