New Open Call: Exhibition Road Engineering Residency


Learning
December 11, 2015

We have just issued a new open call for a one year residency targeted at UK based engineers, makers and designers who wish to develop their practice by responding in their own way to the rich engineering heritage of the Museum – from the Collection’s origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and architectural history of the site, to the pioneering engineering systems at work in the Museum’s ongoing Exhibition Road Building Project.

Interior view of the Educational Museum South Kensington Museum (The Brompton Boilers) c 1859

Interior view of the Educational Museum South Kensington Museum (The Brompton Boilers) c  1859 showing parts of its science and engineering collection

The Residency will sit within the context of the V&A’s 2016 Engineering Season – a major multi-element public programme that will celebrate the wonder and importance of engineering in our everyday life. The DNA of the V&A contains the marriage of art and science, dating back to the institution’s early days as the Museum of Manufactures, as it was initially known upon its founding in 1852. The Museum’s first collections explored design’s connection to industry and celebrated innovation. In the spirit of these themes, looking back on to the origins of the Museum and looking also to its future, the Engineering Season will explore engineering design as an essential tool for creative problem solving that touches every aspect of our daily lives.

machinery court at great exhibition

The Machinery Court at the Great Exhibition, Plate 50 of Vol. II; colour lithograph with some watercolour & varnish; ink on paper;
by Joseph Nash (1808 – 78); printed & published by Dickinson Brothers, London;
English (London); 1852.

This Residency is the third and last of a series of yearlong residencies funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, as part of their generous grant towards the V&A’s Exhibition Road Building Project.

We are ideally looking an engineer and welcome applications from practitioners from a variety of engineering disciplines (structural, civil, mechanical, engineering design, electrical, biological etc.) but we also welcome applications from makers and designers with a demonstrated interest in engineering.

The resident should be interested in engaging with an operational building site and live architecture project. At the same time, he/she should be keen to develop public programmes with a range of different audiences linked to the Museum’s 2016 Engineering Season. We are therefore looking for practitioners who want to use this residency to create, build and present their work to the public while allowing museum visitors to follow their work in progress and understand their creative process through open studios, workshops, talks and other participatory programmes.

Information for applicants

Residency period: April 2016 – April 2017

Bursary: £10,000 for twelve months (subject to tax and national insurance)

Studio at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington

An additional budget for production of public-facing activities or displays

Deadline for applications: midnight, 17 January 2016

Interview date: 26 January 2016

For more information and to apply, click here.

This residency is generously supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

HLF logo -english_compact_pantone

About the author


Learning
December 11, 2015

I oversee the V&A's residency programme, supporting artists, designers and other creative practitioners who are invited to undertake research, develop public programmes and create work inspired by the museum’s collections.

More from Laura Carderera
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Comments

Dear Sir/Madam,

I was preparing application for the V&A residency, but have missed deadline by 1 day as I was out of the country. Is there still any chance to submit the application?

Thank you,
Michael

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