DEADLINE EXTENDED

Until 18:00, 28 February 2023

This is the application form for the Topological Poetics Research Institute (TPRI) Ecopoetics Workshop 2023, which will take place in the Taleggio Valley, Italy, 18-31 July.

ABOUT 

Ecopoetics Workshop was initiated in 2018 as a two-week residency with a focus on creative, critical, and collaborative approaches to the nexus of poetics and contemporary environmental issues. The first iteration was held in association with the Nature, Art, and Habitat Residency (NAHR) in the summer of 2019. After a hiatus due to COVID, the workshop will take place once again in the summer of 2023.

Rather than only providing time to write nature poetry, Ecopoetry Workshop is intent on gathering poets, multimedia and movement artists, theorists, philosophers, and researchers committed to advancing the way humans conceive of and enact their relationship with nature. The organizing group conceives of ecopoetics as an expanded, open-ended research program and aesthetic practice. While some members consider themselves poets, they are also filmmakers, theorists, visual and movement artists, designers, and musicians investigating and producing novel modes of poetic engagement.

The workshop is open to many different approaches, but is most dedicated to engagement with complexity, aesthetic and practical innovation, and what can be achieved through empathetic collaboration. 

THEME: AIR

In 2023, in concert with NAHR, and where the opportunities present themselves, we will concentrate on the theme of “Air.” Participants will be encouraged to explore the function, mechanism, importance and state of air from a range of natural, ecological, social, political and ecological perspectives, and to reflect on the impacts of air pollution and air quality degradation. 

For more context on how we will approach the theme of air, please consult NAHR’s 2023 residency page.

SCHEDULE

The Workshop schedule involves alternating days of structured and open time. On structured days, the group meets in the morning to discuss the day’s theme (eg. the politics of breath in site-specific art). In the afternoon, it embarks on a creative exercise in the environment surrounding the town of Sottochiesa, where we stay. On open days, participants can work on their personal projects or meet in groups as they please. There are many walking paths through the mountains, and streams, towns, and other places of interest to visit. At the halfway point of the workshop, there is a ‘work-in-progress’ event providing the opportunity for feedback, and at the end of the workshop there is a project presentation event. Participants will be strongly encouraged to fully complete an object or text by the end of the workshop.

GUIDELINE FOR APPLICANTS

A maximum of 8 participants will be invited to join the organizing group of Brooke Bastie, Courtlin Byrd, Brent Cox, and Simon Eales. Preference will go to applicants whose statement of intent is most closely engaged with the concerns of Ecopoetry Workshop and the Topological Poetics Research Institute. A shorthand gauge for measuring such a closeness is: creativity (is the intended work innovative?), criticality (is the intended work rigorous and relevant?), and collaborative (would the intended work both contribute to and benefit from being developed in a group context?).

COST

Two weeks apartment accommodation at Soggiorno Mazzoleni in Sottochiesa, all reading materials, and facilitation fees: 850 euros. Travel and other food costs are the responsibility of each individual participant.

If you are invited to be part of the workshop, we will ask that a deposit of 150 euros be paid to secure your place. The remainder of the fee must be transferred to the Workshop's PayPal account by the 1st of June 2023. 

If participants are affiliated with an institution of some kind, we strongly encourage them to seek out funding from that institution. Our participants have had great success with this in the past. We will continue working to secure funding between now and the workshop. What we raise will be used to offset the costs of the workshop for participants. 

DEADLINE

New deadline!! : 18:00, 28 February 2023