A new edition of Spark Narration
Designers, artists, journalists and researchers can sign up for a new edition of Spark Narration.
Are you a designer or artist with an interest in social issues? Or are you a journalist curious about the possibilities of design and art? Spark Narration by ACED and VersPers guides and facilitates productions that are characterised by an interdisciplinary approach to design and journalism. The theme for this year's edition is Suriname in Amsterdam-Noord.
General Introduction
Because of the extensive and diverse possibilities offered by the combination of art and journalism, Spark Narration presents the opportunity to pioneer at the intersection of art and journalism.
In times of continuous media innovation, we see a unique challenge to ensure the complete representation of society - gender, age, sexual orientation, different expertise, racial, cultural, religious, political, and all other forms of human diversity - in the media. How can we implement diversity and inclusion in relevant media projects? How can diversity inspire media innovation to a broader public debate?
Theme: Suriname in Amsterdam-Noord
Amsterdam-Noord is raw, industrial, village, multicultural, established, and emerging at the same time. A Lab Amsterdam offers us the physical place; a laboratory for creatives who are socially involved and connected by nature. From there we start the search for Suriname in Amsterdam-Noord.
“My parents were not allowed to live in the Van der Pekstraat in Amsterdam-Noord in the 1970s,” wrote Miguel Heilbron, founder of The Black Archives in De Correspondent during the month of undisclosed history in 2017. The generation Heilbron writes about grew up in the Bijlmer, or what is now called Zuidoost (South-East). That is also the first association in the city, the connection between Zuidoost and Suriname is widely known. But what about North?
Who are the people who did it differently back then? Who settled in North eventually? How did life go for them? And who moved to North later? Which creatives, cooks, politicians, neighborhood fathers and mothers, and entrepreneurs combine these backgrounds? This theme has many aspects and divergent angles for creative research and expressions. The Spark Narration collective will work on this in the coming year, to tell new stories about integration and to enrich the historiography of Amsterdam.
Lectures, workshops and advice
Alice Wong is a story designer and tutor at MA Information Design at Design Academy Eindhoven. Her research focuses on understanding our perception of reality. She translates complex information into elaborate, shareable stories. Her main area of interest is at the intersection of biographical documentary, media and social phenomena.
Isaura Sanwirjatmo is a visual artist of Surinamese Dutch descent. In her work, she experiments with new forms of storytelling, with the ultimate goal of making different worlds tangible for the public and making unequal structures in our society visible. Her work is at the intersection of fiction and non-fiction and is a mixture between documentary, internet culture, and performance.
Procedure
- Designers, artists, journalists and researchers can sign up for Spark Narration. You can register via this form until October 1, 2022.
- During a matchmaking event in October (date to be announced) at A Lab, all candidates are united in teams that represent artistic and journalistic expertise.
- The teams are invited to submit their research question and concept proposal.
- The three teams with the best, most feasible concept will receive 6500 euros (incl. VAT) to transform their concept into a production during a period of six months (November 1, 2022 - April 30, 2023).
- To proudly announce the results of the Spark Narration, a public event will be organised at A Lab in Amsterdam in the second quarter of 2023.
General information
- The open structure of Spark Narration offers space to work on a self-formulated research question within the overarching theme (Suriname in Amsterdam-Noord).
- The three selected teams will get a workplace full-time at A Lab from November 1, 2022 - April 30, 2023, with a minimal attendance requirement of two days per week.
- Spark Narration offers professional guidance. The teams receive coaching (art, design, journalism and entrepreneurship) during the process.
- Both Dutch and English participants can join.
- The focus is on the realisation of experimental productions in which relevant social issues are investigated and communicated by combining journalistic and artistic expertise.
Spark Narration is an initiative of ACED and VersPers in collaboration with A Lab. The program is supported by a grant from Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst.
