Designers in Residence 2020: Open Call

Designers in Residence is a core part of the museum's programme. It has two main aims: to provide designers in the early stages of their careers time and space to develop their practice and produce new work, and to offer museum visitors an opportunity to engage with live design projects.

Following an open call the museum selects four designers working in different disciplines, to further develop their individual responses to the theme and brief. Successful residents will share the museum’s Designers in Residence Studio, which provides a place for the residents to work as well as a space to exhibit their finished projects.

Each resident is provided with a commissioning budget of £6,000, which goes directly towards producing the work that will be presented at the end of the residency. A bursary of £8,000 is also offered to support the development of their career and to fund their practice.

Deadline for all applications, including proposals, based on the theme of ‘Care’ was 9:00, on Monday 23 March 2020. Please note entries received after this deadline will not be accepted.

As we enter a new decade characterised by technological acceleration, 24/7 working, and climate uncertainty, there is a crucial role for design in supporting the ways we care for ourselves, each other and the planet.

It is clear that humans are impacting the ecological resilience and diversity of life on Earth. Designers are responding by exploring alternative tools and production systems that can protect and restore. Increasingly they are thinking about soil and biodiversity, how to supply clean water or revive endangered ecosystems. And, as designers always have, they continue to rethink how to keep people sheltered, fed and mobile.

Meanwhile, in healthcare, digital applications and devices are being designed to track the body’s performance, shifting the management of health away from medical professionals and into the hands of patients themselves. Paradoxically, these technologies are fuelling a data tracking culture that may be affecting our wellbeing. By contrast, designing holistic systems that encourage slower living and social bonding, and that manage resources equitably and sustainably, is imperative for communities to become more resilient.