RECLAIMING POST-INDUSTRIAL FUTURES is a multi-residency programme exploring forgotten industrial heritage sites in Romania as places for collaboration and community building.

Who can apply: Interdisciplinary artists, architecture historians, architects/landscape architects, anthropologists, community organisers

Eligibility: citizens or permanent residents from the Czech Republic, Italy, UK, France, the Netherlands,
Poland, Spain and Romania

Period of residencies: two (2) weeks at various dates between July and August 2025

Place of residencies: post-industrial cities across Romania

Follow-up meeting: 2 days in autumn 2025 (TBD), Bucharest

Submission deadline: 27 April 2025

About the Project

RECLAIMING POST-INDUSTRIAL FUTURES is a multi-residency project designed and developed by EUNIC Romania.

It involves eight cultural institutions operating in Romania – each engaged in supporting one residency.
British Council
Czech Centre
Embassy of the Netherlands
French Institute
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 – PhD, President & Founder of Ideilagram Association, Co-Founder of Planeta Petrila Association, Co-founder of the Architecture Office Ideogram Studio, Lecturer at Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning Bucharest, Department of Theory and History of Architecture.

Situating industrial heritage
Industrialisation has profoundly shaped most Romanian towns and cities and has been present in all aspects of urbanity. After 1989, most industrial sites were shut down and brutally cut off from the cities. Former workers were left behind, and the towns’ morphologies were left with voids, affecting social and urban life. The former industrial facilities form a new type of cultural landscape—made of buildings, people and their stories—which is increasingly silenced and hidden in an invisible layer, soon to be replaced.

Smaller towns face an even more of 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:

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 by the Danube
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.

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.

LEARN MORE HERE

*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 tamina.bojoanca@britishcouncil.org