2025 Experimental Weaving Residency
The Unstable Design Lab is hosting its fourth experimental weaving residency with the goal of developing new techniques and open-source resources that can co-evolve weaving and engineering practice. Our theme for the 2025 residency, Expanding Experimentation, speaks to our desire to expand how we think about “experimentation” in weaving, looking beyond complex structure to invite explorations around politics, textility, and materiality of weaving. To consider, for example: the politics of craft/technical knowledge within material practice; how weaving animates different stories about technology; legacies of craft as they are felt across different bodies and geographies.
The chosen resident will work with the Unstable Design Lab, as well as researchers from the ATLAS Institute and University of Colorado more broadly, to create a series of swatches and/or resources that take up the theme of “expanding experimentation” in varied forms that can be deployed, adapted, and engaged by a broader public. The key outcome of this residency should be knowledge that can emerge between the resident and the Unstable Design Lab researchers, that can be shared in various forms such as publications, exhibition pieces, open-source recipes, software files, and/or work books.
Timeline
| Information Session | January 9, 2024 @ 12:30pm MST. Register Here |
| Application Deadline | Feb 18, 2024 |
| Notification to Selected Applicant | March 31, 2024 |
| Residency Dates | 12 weeks between Jan 15-May 15, 2025 |
Resources
This residency is best suited to applicants who are comfortable leading their own design and creation processes. While we are happy to share our skills and equipment, there is no dedicated technical support provided to the resident. The resources available to the resident include a desk in the Unstable Design Lab, priority access to a TC2 digital jacquard loom (3W warped at 60 ends per inch), access to other weaving, spinning, sewing, and knitting equipment in the lab, access to traditional and novel weaving materials, programming support for some custom software needs in AdaCAD, and access to the fabrication facilities at the ATLAS Institute.
To help facilitate potential collaboration around shared interests, the organizers will schedule meetings with various researchers during the first weeks of the residency to help the resident form connections and identify the key themes and challenges of the lab. As a collaborator in the Unstable Design Lab you will be working among artists and researchers across many domains of research. You would share immediate lab space with PhD students Deanna Gelosi, Eldy Lazaro, Etta Sandry as well as undergraduate researchers Lily Gabriel and Caleb Loewengart.
Expectations
- The resident will be expected to work at least 30 hours per week evolving concepts that address the artist’s interests as well as the curiosities and topics of the Unstable Design Lab team. We expect residents to work in-person, within the lab as much as they are able.
- With the resources provided, we hope that this is a generative experience for the resident with outcomes that may include swatches, finished works, performances, events or workshops, etc.
- The selected resident must be willing to share any techniques or resources they develop as open-source/publicly accessible documents to both the collaborators and public more broadly. This often includes the production of a catalog to commemorate the residency.
Stipend, Housing and Timeline
| Stipend* | $9520 USD |
| Airfare Reimbursement | $450 USD |
| Materials** | $500 USD |
* the stipend will be taxed by the US government and this may have significant impact for international applicants
** materials budget does not go directly to artist, but is to be spent by the lab during the residency on supplies determined by the artist.
The residency scheduling is flexible but should total 12 weeks, taking place between January and May 2025 in Boulder, Colorado. The resident will receive $9520 as a stipend, $450 towards airfare to and from Boulder, and a materials budget of $500. The artist will be responsible for locating housing and travel to and from the university. International applicants are welcome to apply but should note that the stipend will be lower due to taxes taken by the US government on international workers.
A Note for International Applicants
We welcome international applications. If you are of non-US citizenship, please make note that the stipend will be particularly affected by US taxes on international workers as well as some fees for VISA processing in your country of citizenship. As we reach the later stages of the application process, we may use this information to provide you with more specifics on the taxes you may incur as well as verify with the host university that you would be eligible to work within the institution. We can provide flexibility in the residency dates to support applicants who may be facing additional challenges obtaining a VISA and/or traveling to the US. For more information on the particular program through which we host residents, visit: https://www.colorado.edu/isss/cu-departments/hiringhosting-international-students-scholars/international-scholars-j-h-e-pr/j-1-3
Organizers
Laura Devendorf
Director of the Unstable Design Lab
Assistant Professor, ATLAS Institute
& Dept. of Information Science
website
Steven Frost
Faculty Director of the
B2 Center for Media Arts & Performance
website
Etta Sandry
Former Experimental Weaver in Residence and
PhD Student at CU Boulder
website
Selection Committee
The selection committee and organizers will work together will determine the finalists. The organizers will ultimately select the chosen resident.
Bukola Koiki (she/her)
Conceptual Fiber Artist and Educator
www.bukolakoiki.com
social: @bukolakoiki
Marianne Fairbanks (she/her)
Associate Professor of Design Studies UW-Madison
mariannefairbanks.com, weavinglab.com, helloloom.com
social:@mariannefairbanks, @weavinglab, @helloloom
Sarah Rosalena (she/her)
Assistant Professor of Computational Craft and Haptic Media,
University of California, Santa Barbara
www.sarahrosalena.com
social: @sarah_rosalena