Chosen participants of the Designers in Residence program

During the month of May, the second open call was anounced for local designers and artists to participate in the residency program of bilateral exchange with partners from Sweden.

Organized by Nova Iskra, the Swedish institute and IASPIS, an organization dedicated to the support of artistic production and residencies, this autumn five authors will have the chance to spend two months in Malmö or Belgrade, with a full scholarship, travel and accommodation costs covered, as well as additional professional support of local organizations.

Among 30 complete applications from Serbia which were taken into consideration, the Swedish partners have selected two architects and one designer. This October and November, guests of Malmö will be Aleksandar Škorić (http://sasadesign.com), Ivan Marković and Dejan Todorović (https://www.behance.net/DejanTodorovic). The hosts of our designers will again be Swedish institutions and design centers – Cultural Center Stpln (http://stpln.se/), University of Malmö (http://mah.se/) and the Form/ Design Center (http://www.formdesigncenter.com/). Interdisciplinary work, careful planning of each residential stay according to the participants’ needs and the specifics of the host organization are the main features of this program.

Unlike last year, in 2015 there is also a thematic framework for designers from Serbia – the program participants will work on their proposed projects which are dedicated to children, marginalized social groups and treatment of socially-engaged themes through the creative process. The concept of the program is still “open-ended”, meaning that the participants are not expected to complete their projects during the stay, but to use the time spent in Sweden for the development of projects relating to these fields.

At the same time, Josefin Vargö (http://josefinvargo.com), designer dedicated to projects dealing with food, will be staying in Belgrade, as well as furniture designer Julia Gamborg Nielsen (http://www.juliagamborgnielsen.com). Josefin Vargö is based in Stockholm where she attended Konstfack. She develops new platforms, ephemeral experiences, places and objects. She is also the co-founder of the platform for experience design Underverk (http://underverk.in/), with clients such as Nike, Roskilde Festival and Byggstudio. Julia Gamborg Nielsen is a furniture designer who looks for inspiration in natural forms which are often applied to the identifiable items of practical use. Her growing up in Asia and Africa is clearly reflected through the specific aesthetics of organic ornamentation.

We congratulate the selected participants from Serbia and are looking forward to hosting the Swedish designers in Belgrade, who will also take active participation within the educational program of the Nova Iskra. An integral part of the program-at-large – Create in Residence – is the exchange of writers and cartoonists in association with the literary festival Krokodil.