
RECLAIMING POST-INDUSTRIAL FUTURES is a multi-residency project designed and developed by EUNIC Romania. It involves eight cultural institutions operating in Romania:
- British Council
- Czech Centre
- Embassy of the Netherlands,
- French Institute in Romania
- Italian Cultural Institute
- Cervantes Institute
- Polish Institute
- Fundația9
EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture – is Europe’s network of national cultural institutes and organisations, with 39 members from all EU Member States and associate countries.
The project was framed by this consortium of European partners, in collaboration with curator Ilinca Păun Constantinescu.
Who can apply: interdisciplinary artists, architecture historians, architects/landscape architects, anthropologists, community organisers
Eligibility: citizens or permanent residents from: Czech Republic, Italy, UK, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Romania
Period of residencies: two (2) weeks at various dates between July to September 2025
Place of residencies: post-industrial cities across Romania
Follow-up meeting: September 20-21.2025, Bucharest
Submission deadline: 27 April 2025
Situating industrial heritage
Industrialisation has profoundly shaped most Romanian towns and cities and has been present in all aspects of urbanity. After 1989, the majority of the industrial complexes was shut down and was brutally cut off from the cities. Former workers were left behind and the towns’ morphologies were left with voids, affecting social and urban life, since then.
The former industrial facilities form a new type of cultural landscape – made of buildings, people and their stories – which is more and more silenced and hidden in an invisible layer, soon to be replaced. Smaller towns face even more so an existential crisis, as magnetism exercised by the big and prosperous cities makes us forget or disregard their sometimes extraordinary heritage and livability.
But as it happens in history, a crisis can be a source of creation. Neglected buildings, people that lost their former role in the social hierarchy, abandoned urban spaces seem to all be negative aspects. This situation however calls for a shift in the narrative and the rediscovery of existing, often unused values that can add value to urban life.
Although it may not be obvious, these towns are sometimes surprisingly rich, not only in terms of built heritage and history, but also in terms of social networks. In the absence of top-down concerns (with few exceptions), bottom-up initiatives shed new light on the existing reality and work directly with the local communities that are trying to redefine their role.
In recent years, a solid network of such initiatives has taken shape in Romania.
RECLAIMING POST-INDUSTRIAL FUTURES is a project that works with various representative former industrial sites and communities, giving a birds-eye view on the local diversity and astonishing nature:
- ORAȘUL VICTORIA – a garden-city built from scratch in the 1950s;
- REȘIȚA – the oldest steel industry since the 18th century;
- DROBETA TURNU-SEVERIN – an unused 19th century Shipyard next to a Roman site;
- CÂMPINA – the world’s most modern pre-WW1 refinery;
- TURNU MĂGURELE – a Danube port town laid out after a 1836 urban project;
- PETRILA – the oldest mining site in the Jiu Valley;
- And the hidden industrial layer of central BUCHAREST.
The project is an invitation to explore the vacant and impressive industrial built heritage and the potential of these monumental hollow shells. Their spectacular spaces and the collective stories of work and life are still strongly connected, so this is also an invitation to connect to local initiatives and communities and to contribute to their town`s future.
It is an invitation to explore diverse histories and cultural landscapes, to meet local organisations active in the fields of architecture, urban strategy, history and art.
Conditions of the Residency:
The residency covers travel costs from the selected applicant’s country of residence (up to 500 Euro), accommodation within the premises of the host organisation and some meals, a fee of 700 EUR and a 300 EUR production budget.
The programme encourages and assists the insertion of the artist into the everyday life of the town.The host organisation will provide mediation and knowledge of the local context, connect the resident with the local community, document the process of the residency and share available resources for research. Communal meals will be organised on occasion.
Only individual applicants can apply.*
*Duos may apply, but the amount allocated per residency will remain unchanged, as mentioned above.
In addition to the participation in the residency, the project also covers the costs of the selected applicants to attend the follow-up meeting, which will take place in Bucharest, Romania, in September 2025.
Eligibility and Criteria:
The applicants must be citizens or permanent residents from the following countries: Czech Republic, Italy, UK, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain and Romania.
Each residency space is targeting applicants from one country and will select one participant. Bucharest is the only city that will host two residents from two different countries. Please check the list of host organisations and the country eligibility.
We encourage applications from practitioners with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and artistic approaches: interdisciplinary artists, architects/landscape architects, historians, anthropologists or community organisers with a minimum of 5 years of experience in their respective fields. Please check the eligibility of applicants for each host organisation.
We are particularly encouraging to apply the practitioners who showcase an ability to work collaboratively and flexibly across disciplinary boundaries; have practices aligned to ecological and sustainable principles of thinking and working; ground their work on decolonial and critical perspectives that acknowledge the interdependencies of different life forms; have experience or interest in working in post-industrial contexts.
We celebrate talent from all backgrounds and we welcome applicants of all ages, genders, and diverse linguistic, cultural, and minority backgrounds, including those from underrepresented communities and people who identify as disabled, neurodivergent or have long-term health conditions.
The resident must stay for the entire residency period (between 10 to 14 days) within the time span proposed by each host organisation.
The resident must organise one public event during the residency (workshop, discussion, gathering, cooking session, or any other type of public format) that will take place in relation to the local community or the residency space. The costs of the event will be supported from the production budget. No other outcome is expected.
The resident will be expected to keep a journal in any type of format: texts, audio-visuals, objects, drawings, sketches, new works, or others. The documentation of the project will be made public.
The resident must be available to join the follow-up meeting in Bucharest, in September, and engage in the planned events by sharing the learnings and outcomes of the residency.
How to Apply:
Please apply to the residency by filling out this application form in English by the latest Sunday, April 27th, 2025, 23:59 CET.
After the representatives from the Reclaiming Post-Industrial Futures project and partnering institutions have evaluated the applications, there will be a round of interviews with shortlisted candidates taking place online between 12 and 15 May 2025.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process by 16 May 2025. All applicants will receive an answer by email, but due to limited resources, we are unable to give individual feedback.
*Please be aware that you need a google account to fill out the google form in order to apply to the residency program.
If you have any questions please contact us at tamina.bojoanca@britishcouncil.org.