Creation & Transition Residencies at the Almanach Lab

Fondation d’entreprise Martell is launching a new call for applications to welcome designers, researchers, and artists to take up residencies for research, experimentation, prototyping and/or production at its workshops in Cognac.

Committed creation in a changing world
A firm believer that art and design are essential levers of transformation within our society—whether for creating new imaginaries or designing new uses—Fondation d’entreprise Martell is setting up the Almanach Lab, a platform for research and experimentation where creators can develop thinking and design centered around resilience, sensitive to ecological and social issues, and in connection with the local region.

The call for applications is open to all nationalities and demonstrates the Foundation’s desire to contribute towards the renewal of critical and practical design approaches by encouraging a generation of creators who are keen to pave new ways towards a resilient and sustainable future.

Research rooted in a collective dynamic
Anchoring research and working with the region. The new residency program at the Foundation stems from its aim of acting as an agent for dynamism within its region, with the support of the creators it welcomes, in order to activate new, collective transformation potential.

It soon became clear that the first step, before taking any action, would require the compilation of an inventory of the region’s resources and issues. A team of designers was therefore assigned the investigative task involving meeting many different local people (institutions, businesses, networks, and local residents), with a view to identifying and making accessible local, natural, and industrial resources, both material and immaterial.

Illustrating this new direction, the manifest exhibition Almanach (June to December 2023) offered an immersion into the samples collected, enabling the rediscovery of significant materials and neglected deposits, living techniques, and forgotten expertise.

This commitment to regional anchorage continues with the creation of the Almanach Lab which makes the results of these investigations permanently accessible within the walls of the Foundation. Both a theoretical framework and a technical tool for designers in residence, the Almanach Lab accompanies research creation projects: focused on the ecological transformation of regions and our lifestyles. It provides an opportunity to interact with local resources and stakeholders.

Towards a living and shared archive
To support its future creators in residence, in 2023 the Foundation decided to set up a knowledge tool: at the heart of the Almanach Lab, the living archive is established as a support mechanism for research work. This participatory archiving and transmission tool will be supplemented over time by the projects and contributions of the creators in residence. The living archive combines contacts, expertise, the history of techniques, materials, prototypes… Non-exhaustive, it is designed as a starting point for understanding the issues at stake in the region where the Foundation is based. Its aim is to inspire new discussions and collaborations on a local scale.

The contributory dimension of the residencies sits at the heart of the Foundation’s project: the creators in residence are invited to explore production and interdependency processes in an open and transdisciplinary way, to more effectively project their activity as a tool and a lever for transition. Thinking on both a macro and a micro scale, with a view to sharing best practices is also encouraged of course.

Objectives
–Enable the emergence of new creative practices that bring about change
–Create new imaginaries
–Collectively pave new paths toward building a more resilient and sustainable future.

How to apply
A committee comprised of professionals from the worlds of art, design, and science will select around 15 creators who will receive financial, technical, and scientific support to carry out their project at the Foundation as of summer 2024.

Please visit our website for more information and access the details of the call for application here.