speculative economies
open call
apply before
March 30
notifications beginning of April
notifications beginning of April
au JUS is an artist-run project space based in Brussels, that employs role play as a form of collective research.
In the period of April-May we are launching a residency program around the theme SPECULATIVE ECONOMIES.
We are welcoming one artist and/or collective in residence and into close dialogue with our collective for ideally 2-3 weeks in May 2025.
The gallery space of Au Jus is located in the area of Saint Gilles and it has an apartment which accommodates up to 2 people.
Residency theme
SPECULATIVE ECONOMIES is a proposal for an artistic game saloon that brings together artists that deal speculatively with economy, money or processes of financialization as a way of critique.
This open call is for 1 (out of 3) residencies in the context of a 3-month long transdisciplinary public program that will look at MONEY as a collective fiction.
We would like to invite an artist with a practice/a work that uses gameplay, performance formats and/or LARP (Live-Action-Role-Play) as medium.
The residency will be accompanied by a series of transdisciplinary public events to speculate on economy and experiment with alternative systems of redistribution, to which artists as well as economists will be conjointly invited. Moments of public engagement/presentation are envisioned in the frame of the residency.
We invite proposals that engage with a combination of the themes below:
🌱 economic imaginaries, commoning, critical reflections on capitalism, speculative and analytical models of financialization
🦠 LARP, role play, games, world building exercises, group relation work, somatic exercises
🌍 collectivity, self-organization and funding
🧬 digital alternative economies and cryptocurrencies, blockchain imaginaries, DAOs, etc.,…
⚖️ feminist, decolonial and/or collective models of all of the above
⛔ Exclusions: This residency does not support any expressions of racism, homophobia or ignorance towards social inequalities.
Residency Support & Facilities
Residents will receive:
- A 400 € production fee for presenting their work to the public in a format of choice. This includes the expenses for materials and food.
- Accommodation (apartment ca. 40m2) with a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom and an internet connection.
- Close contact to the Au Jus collective for exchange on curatorial, artistic and production matters.
- Use of the gallery space which includes a main gallery with storefront window (40 m²), basement (40 m², divided into two rooms), garden area (15 m² outdoor space), basic presentation equipment (different sets of lights, projector, screen, amp and speakers, mediaplayer, sewing machine, hydroponic tent, basic set of tools, and other)
- Public Engagement Requirement: During the residency, the artist should participate in a public-facing event (e.g., a workshop, LARP, talk, exhibition, screening, etc…) to share insights about their artistic practice and research.
Application
🔗 We will start the selection process by 2nd of april, 2025. If you can’t make the deadline of 30 March,
you are welcome to send it in later (we always welcome getting in touch!) but we cannot guarantee to check the application for this residency.
Please apply in any format you see fit but include the documents requested below:
- Project description
- Artistic positioning
- CV, Portfolio or Website
Our collective communicates in English but we understand French, Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese, so you may send in your application in any of these languages if you feel this makes the application easier for you.
In view of the short residency period, you can apply with your project at any point in your project process. We would find it important that you can share a public moment with us, so it may be an already finished project.
The selected artist or collective will be notified by beginning of April.
For more questions, please contact contact_aujus@proton.me
Please note that we will prioritize the invitation of FLINTA, BIPOC, crip, and non-European applicants in case of equal qualification.
Our program is self-funded but this residency is made possible with the support of the VGC.
LARP
One of our collective interests are artistic LARPs (Live Action Role Play) - a narrative game in which players pursue the goals of their characters within a fictional environment. In LARP workshops, the game's characters and the rules of the game and world, or setting, can be worked out collectively. LARP is a form of interactive fiction where object and subject merge in the story itself and the spectator becomes the actor. Content is thus transmitted not only as image or thought, but as embodied knowledge and stored as personal memory. Prefigurative play is particularly suitable for exploring ‘systems of financialisation’ that govern this world, if we consider for a moment that money only works because it is a collective fictive agreement. In LARP playful simulations enable participants to radically rethink and re-enact the way our social life is organised. In this context, LARP offers itself as a promising method for participatory arts practice because it functions as a true laboratory for thought experiments and creates temporary realities.
SPECULATIVE ECONOMIES builds upon the previous event series that researched law in its fictional quality: Il/legal Fictions – an artistic research of complex systems that govern our society. Au Jus is currently welcoming new members into its association, find out about how to join us and please check our current and past program here.