Open call for citizens’ initiatives of African Origin for the Grigri Pixel programme, which will be held at Medialab Prado and in Espacio Vecinal Arganzuela from 2 to 14 October 2017.

ABOUT GRIGRI PIXEL

Grigri Pixel is a programme of residencies, meetings and workshops devoted to the creation of magical objects in urban spaces based on collaborative practices and digital manufacturing strategies from the African continent.

Grigri Pixel’s aim is to reconnect the African and European experiences of city-building, with the aim of posing common questions that can showcase synergies, points of intersection and differences in regard to practices and processes of care and maintenance in public spaces in the two territories.

The initiative operates through the creation of alliances with local spaces and communities in participating cities for the purpose of organising workshops to experiment with the collective construction of public copyright street furniture elements.

Grigri Pixel aims to build a network of initiatives from the African continent via the participation of some of their stakeholders in the production and design of street furniture for citizen spaces associated with the project. Grigri Pixel showcases and intertwines innovative and transformative initiatives to construct a network of contemporary urban spaces which enables us to identify and highlight the guidelines and codes that govern these initiatives, and their ability to create urban spaces for diverse and multicultural citizens.

After the initial phase in February-March 2016 at Medialab Prado, the experience continued in Dakar at the fifth edition of the Afropixel Festival. It will carry on in Casablanca (Morocco) in July 2017. Later this year, in October, the second edition of Grigri Pixel will be held at Medialab Prado (Madrid), featuring a production workshop organised in collaboration with Espacio Vecinal Arganzuela. The initiative has also been invited to Barcelona, where a production workshop will be organised in collaboration with HANGAR and Taula Eix Pere IV, entities which are based in the neighbourhood of Poble Nou.

ELIGIBILITY

The open call is aimed at organisations or collectives with a background in the area of open and collaborative culture and the promotion and creation of networks of collaboration and citizen innovation in their local settings.

Initiatives that apply to the open call must complete the form provided below and attach a document (with a maximum of 1,200 words) containing the following information:

-Description of the initiative that the applicant is part of
-Aims of the initiative the applicant is part of
-Communities that the initiative works with
-Objectives during the applicant’s stay in Madrid

DESIGN & PRODUCTION WORKSHOP

The design and production workshop will be held from 2 to 14 October 2017 and it will be hosted by Medialab Prado and Espacio Vecinal Arganzuela.

During the workshop we will foster teamwork. From the earliest phases of development and design up to the manufacturing and installation of the gris-gris, we will aim for active participation and proactive suggestions by all parties involved. To this end, the Grigri Pixel team will put forward various organisational dynamics to facilitate collective involvement which incorporates local residents from EVA who wish to join the workshop.

It will not be necessary to have expert knowledge on construction or electronics in order to participate in the workshop; said workshop will be organised on an inclusive basis, to incorporate the different know-how of the people who take part.

In addition to the production workshop, over these two weeks a programme of parallel activities will be held, such as discussions, presentations, seminars and micro-workshops open to the public, serving to complement, strengthen, broaden and disseminate the project.

The organisers of Grigri Pixel will make a digital platform available to the work groups, as an open repository where projects, documentation and the final prototypes can be stored with the aim of promoting the creation of networks and encouraging a shared space that ensures dissemination and enables replication of this material.

MORE INFORMATION

Should you have any questions or require additional general information, please write to: grigripixel@medialab-prado.es
medialab-prado.es