Are you a creative practitioner interested in local ecologies and our relationship to nature within the urban environment? The V&A and Bow Arts Trust are seeking applications for two Artist Fellowships based at Bow Arts’ Royal Albert Wharf, situated in the heart of the Docklands in East London.
Fellows will take as their starting point the histories and practices of making, manufacturing, and materials in the London Borough of Newham, which borders the east bank of the River Lea and encompasses the historic Royal Docklands. This is an area where the makers’ relationship to and impact on local ecologies has been intensely felt over many centuries as the marsh land has been drained to make way for industry, worker housing and material extraction.
The two Fellowships will be rooted in the local context of East London with the aim of engaging and working with our local communities as part of the pre-opening programme for V&A East, the V&A’s new project in Stratford, London. V&A East will be at once locally rooted and globally relevant. These site-specific Artist Fellowships embody this ethos and are integral to explore new and innovative modes for artists and museums to work together with communities. Throughout you will be supported by the V&A Research Institute to study and interrogate the V&A’s rich collections relating to East London making.
In addition, the work undertaken during the Fellowships will form an important part of Bow Arts’ ongoing project Common Distributions, a co-creation exploration with local communities at Royal Albert Wharf to build a pavilion in Pump House Square for summer 2024.
The deadline for applications is Sunday 6 August. The three-month fellowships will run from mid-September – mid-December 2023 and January – March 2024. See how to apply here.
