Practitioner-In-Residence Open Call
We forgot about March & so feel less bad about sending out a second bulletin, especially because it is to announce that
APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2025/2026 PRACTITIONER-IN-RESIDENCE COHORT ARE NOW OPEN!
The theme for our 2025/2026 residency is Counter Computing: Alternative Imaginaries. We would like to see your interpretation and exploration of this open brief. You may consider thinking about the following questions: What is computation? What is the role of the “counter” in artistic and technological practice? How can we imagine technology and society otherwise through such counter-acts? What are the poetics of techno-social relations? We are interested in any form of artistic and/or scholarly practice that engages counter-computational practices, such as glitching, hacking, tinkering, queering, subverting, (un)making and (re)imagining. Through such experimentation, we encourage you to explore how our relation to (and imagination of) technology can be remade to envision alternative pasts, presents and futures.
We are open to proposals for residencies of up to 4 weeks which will be held over the course of the 2025/2026 academic school year, beginning September 2025 until June 2026 (5 residencies in total). Residencies include full access to the lab and its collection and logistical support to whatever extent is possible (we operate on a volunteer basis and foster the ethos of collaboration and independence in hands-on inquiry). In addition to working in the lab, MAL residents are expected to produce some public output in a format of their choosing (e.g. a lecture, demo, video, publication, performance, exhibition etc.) which will demonstrate their residency project and its results. Residents will also provide documentation of the project process for publication on the MAL website as a technical report. Examples of previous technical reports can be seen here: mediaarchaeologylab.com/projects
Chosen participants will receive a stipend of $1000 to support the production of their work. We are unfortunately not in a position to provide accommodation in Boulder, but we will support you in writing letters of invitation for funding (and/or visa) applications.
The program is open to artists of all genres and disciplines as well as practice-based researchers, tinkerers, retro-tech enthusiasts or other counter-disciplinary practitioners. Applications from established professionals, emerging creators; and students are welcome! Submissions may be made by individuals or collectives (in case of collectives, the stipend will be shared among members). We encourage local, national, and international practitioners to apply. If you are excited about the MAL collection and are interested in this hands-on inquiry, we’d love to hear from you!
Apply for the residency here. For any additional questions, please email mediaarchaeology@colorado.edu or o.sheerin@colorado.edu
Timeline:
Deadline: May 15th
Notification of Acceptance: June 20th
First residency in 2025/2026 season: September 2025
Last residency in 2025/2026 season: June 2026
Full details in PDF form:
Founded in 2009, and located within the territories of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples in Boulder Colorado, the lab is supported by the College of Media, Communication and Information, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the English Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. The MAL is a space for cross-disciplinary experimental research and creative practice, tinkering, and teaching using functioning historical media. Primarily a site of exploration and play, the MAL invites visitors to actively engage with hundreds of analog and digital devices from all over the world, ranging from the late 19th century right up to the modern day. In this way, the lab tries to foster an imaginative approach to the relationship between past and present to envision alternative possibilities in the future.
The MAL residency program has attracted researchers, artists, musicians, and writers from across the U.S. and from countries around the world such as the UK, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland. To get a better sense of what kinds of technologies we have and the projects we have supported, you can browse through the MAL collection at mediaarchaeologylab.com/collection/. Past residencies can be viewed at mediaarchaeologylab.com/projects/, section RESIDENTS.