OPEN CALL for Marginal Storytellers >>> The Urban Green Blueprint

We seek 3 creators (journalists, storytellers, videographers, or content producers) to join The Urban Green Blueprint, a transdisciplinary research project exploring the relationship between small urban green spaces and city inhabitants. The goal is to document the project’s evolution through a personal lens, turning raw research and field-data into engaging narratives and public-facing knowledge. Application form: https://forms.gle/RtngwyeuKBNfVaFw6 Research focus: Urban Ecology, Biodiversity & Citizen Science

Location: Romania, Bucharest

Duration: May – September 2026

Application deadline: May 15, 2026

Fee: 3000 RON (before taxes)

Overview

The Urban Green Blueprint explores the vital role of “block gardens” as critical centers for ecosystem and human health. Developed by Marginal in partnership with the Institute of Biology Bucharest, the project transforms scientific data into interactive artistic experiences, aiming to inspire community action and support green policy-making.

We are looking for 3 curious minds to document the dialogue between our team of 4 artists (Andrei Raicu, Lorena Cocora, Sabina Suru, Westley Hennigh-Palermo) and 4 researchers (Roxana Nicoară, Andreea Ciobotă, Mihaela Ciobotă, Mihai Stoica). We aim to move beyond traditional archiving and toward process journalism - capturing the raw, subjective, and often invisible journey of transdisciplinary collaboration. Apply until May 15th: https://forms.gle/RtngwyeuKBNfVaFw6

Research Context

Urban green spaces in Romania, often maintained by passionate residents, face challenges like “landscape amnesia” and a lack of public engagement in scientific research. The project investigates concepts such as dark diversity (species compatible with an ecosystem but absent due to anthropogenic reasons) and the more-than-human perspective on urban living. By shadowing researchers in botanical and ornithological field work, the selected creators will document how scientific rigor meets artistic intuition to address the climate crisis at a local scale.

Collaboration format

The documentation process will take place between May and August 2026, following the project’s key stages:

• Immersion & Field Work: Shadowing artists and researchers during site visits to block gardens and laboratories.
• Development: Creating engaging content (video, audio, or text) that reflects the evolution of the artistic prototypes.
• Delivery: Final materials are expected by August 15, 2026*, to be showcased alongside the project’s public interventions.

Participant Profile

We are looking for individuals with a background in journalism, communication, researchers or visual arts, who have a keen interest in environmental issues and interdisciplinary storytelling. We are not looking for a technical archive, but for subjective and personal lenses that can translate the complex art-science dialogue into engaging narratives. We encourage you to propose your own way of communicating these processes, moving beyond simple data visualization towards knowledge production.

Possible directions include:

• Gonzo & Process Journalism: Unfiltered field diaries or first-person essays that document the lived experience of the collaboration. We are interested in the “behind the scenes” of the research—from the raw interactions, capturing how dark diversity or waste theories are debated and felt.
• Ecomediality & Social Storytelling: Native video content (Reels/Video-journals) that explores the relationship between city inhabitants and their gardens. You can document the scientists’ field work or the artists’ experiments, transforming technical data into high-impact micro-documentaries about our more-than-human neighbors.
• Visual Narratives & Photo-reporting: Investigative photography or visual essays that capture the hybrid aesthetics of the project. Focus on making the invisible visible—from the fragility of endemic species to the way technology mediates our perception of the urban landscape.
• Audio Diaries & Sensory Archives: Podcasts or “raw” interviews taken on-site, in the gardens or during the development of sound installations. We seek to capture the live dialogue between researchers and artists as they navigate ecological complexity and the challenges of landscape amnesia.

How to apply

To apply, please fill in the application form, providing:

• A short bio/CV highlighting your previous experience.
• A brief proposal describing your chosen format and how you envision documenting the project – You can propose a project that follows a single artist’s journey, a specific research duo (artist-scientist), or creates a broader narrative across multiple participants.
• A 1-minute video introduction – giving you the chance to put a face to the proposal and tell us what makes your perspective engaging and why you want to join this project.

What we provide

• Financial support: A fee of 3.000 LEI (before taxes);
• Full access: Direct contact with the artists, researchers, and scientific infrastructure (Institute of Biology, field sites;
• Mentorship: Support from the Marginal team

The selected artist will be announced by May 20, 2026.

If you have questions about the call, please send an email to: change@marginal.ro.

*If the proposed documentation project is long-term and requires extended observation, the final delivery can be extended until the end of October, provided that a significant partial delivery is completed by August 15. Cultural project co-financed by The Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN)
The project does not necessarily represent the position of The Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.

We seek 1 artist to join the second edition of Otherwise Residency, a practice-based research residency program engaging with environmental issues, at the intersection of art, science and policy making, to develop a project starting around anthropogenic methane fugitive emissions within Romania’s energy infrastructure. Application form: https://forms.gle/UUYvYhFQkD516aqE8 Research focus: Anthropogenic Methane Fugitive Emissions
Location: Romania, Bucharest & selected field sites
Duration: ~3 weeks, June – October 2026 – exact period will be decided together with the selected artist
Application deadline: April 15, 2026

Overview

Otherwise Residency brings together contemporary art, scientific research and environmental activism, in a shared space for rethinking how knowledge is generated, circulated, and felt across disciplines. Developed by Marginal in partnership with the Institute of Biology Bucharest and 2Celsius, the residency creates the framework for a sustained dialogue between artistic practice and scientific investigation, focusing on ecology, the climate crisis, and the complex interdependencies that structure the more-than-human world. We are looking for one artist to join the Otherwise second cohort, for a practice-based artistic research residency, focusing on anthropogenic fugitive methane emissions within Romania’s energy infrastructure. The selected artist will work alongside the experts from Clean Air Task Force and 2Celsius, expanding raw thermographic data and/or spectrophotometric data from satellites and aircrafts into sensory or conceptual narratives. The residency aims to move beyond data visualization, and toward knowledge production, looking into societal implications of leaky infrastructure and environmental policy making.

Scientific Context

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) over 80 times that of CO2 on a 20-year horizon. Romania, as one of the EU’s largest oil and fossil gas producers, possesses a legacy infrastructure prone to significant fugitive emissions – unintentional leaks from valves, connectors, and abandoned wells. Recent campaigns by CATF and 2Celsius have utilized Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) to make these invisible emissions visible. To ground the artistic research in technical reality, applicants are encouraged to review the following studies:

• “2020 Global Methane Budget shows methane emissions heading in the wrong direction with fossil fuel and agriculture sources leading the way”, Climate Clean Air Coalition;
Desroches-Touchain, Ariane.
• Desroches-Touchain, Ariane. “Making Methane Visible: From Local Leaks to EU Regulation”, Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (Autumn 2025), no. 11. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi:10.5282/rcc/10033;
Daniel Zimmerle, Timothy Vaughn, Clay Bell, Kristine Bennett, Parik Deshmukh, and Eben Thoma,
• Daniel Zimmerle, Timothy Vaughn, Clay Bell, Kristine Bennett, Parik Deshmukh, and Eben Thoma, “Detection Limits of Optical Gas Imaging for Natural Gas Leak Detection in Realistic Controlled Conditions”, Environmental Science & Technology 2020 54 (18), 11506-11514, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c01285;
Kuhlmann, G., Stavropoulou, F., Schwietzke, S., Zavala-Araiza, D., Thorpe, A., Hueni, A., Emmenegger, L., Calcan, A., Röckmann, T., and Brunner, D.: “Evidence of successful methane mitigation in one of Europe’s most important oil production region”, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5371–5385, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, 2025.

Residency format

The residency takes place between June 1st and September 20, 2026, with a public showcase in Bucharest in October 2026 (date to be confirmed). The residency is divided into 4 stages:

• immersion (~1-2 weeks) / in situ -> the artists shadow the researchers in their daily work to understand and discuss research hypotheses, scientific and societal implications, measurements and work processes etc.
• conceptualization (~1-2 months) / online -> artist returns home and crystallizes an artistic research hypothesis, in contact with the researcher(s).
• experiment (~1-2 weeks) / in situ -> artist returns to Romania/Bucharest to test the hypothesis with the researchers, spend time together in the field and clarify the creative direction, and collaborate in planning the artistic prototype.
• open-ended production (artist studio) -> once the concept has been clarified, a prototype of an installation, a proof of concept (etc.) happens, in preparation for the exhibition. Being a rather short program, we don’t expect an elaborate work, but rather a prototype or a lens into the process, research and collab methodologies.

Artist Profile

We are seeking a mid-career artist with a demonstrated interest in interdisciplinary research, irrespective of artistic practice or medium, critically engaging with ecological complexity, situated ontologies and wicked problems. The artist must be able to travel to Romania and participate in site visits to oil/gas fields and compressor stations, for a minimum of 2 weeks during June-September 2026 (exact calendar to be decided after selection, with 2Celsius & CATF team).

For the application process, please fill in the form, including a CV, motivation letter describing how you envision your contribution to the research, 1-minute video introduction, and portfolio. No project proposal is required at this stage. We expect the selected artist to develop it after the immersion stage, with support from the curator and research team.

The selected artist will be expected to participate in the field work alongside 2Celsius & CATF and contribute to the research processes, hold an artist talk, develop a new artwork for the exhibition, as well as write a reflection paper about their research methodologies and results.

What we provide:

• Financial support: stipend – 3000 eur; production budget – TBD; we will separately cover travel (within Europe), accommodation and per diem.
• Access to OGI (Optical Gas Imaging) footage and equipment, and scientific datasets from CATF/2Celsius.
• Curatorial and technical mentorship from the Marginal team.
• Logistical support for field research within Romania.

The selected artist will be announced by April 22, 2026. If you have questions about the call, please send an email to: change@marginal.ro Cultural project co-financed by The Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) The project does not necessarily represent the position of The Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.

We’re looking for 10 inspiring projects engaging with post-energy practices: What happens to our creativity when we switch from the infinite plug to a permacomputing perspective? For decades, we’ve built art and technology on the myth of a bottomless grid – hidden wires, invisible server farms, and the illusion of frictionless power. Application form: https://forms.gle/F6bNbCxrfx91SXYF8 UNPLUGGED? is a hybrid (online-offline) sharing practices and applied research framework for artists and technologists, facilitated by Marginal (RO) and V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media (NL), and supported by Projekt Atol (SI).

UNPLUGGED? is an invitation to question and ground our use of technology. As we move away from the Electric Utopia – solving the energy crisis through technological breakthroughs -, and toward a post-energy reality that challenges the socio-economic metabolism demanding infinite growth, we must ask: how can human consumption behaviours adapt to the natural metabolism of our planet?

The Challenge: Designing for the afterglow

We are seeking 10 research projects that operate within a finite energetic framework. Projects that stop dreaming of infinite energy and explore new ways of computing and implementing technology. Projects that question whether a smart city is really that intelligent if it cannot survive a power cut. Projects that explore how AI can remain functional while following permacomputing principles.

We are currently preparing to apply to AFCN (the main national cultural funding program in Romania) to make the Unplugged? project plug into reality. Therefore, although we are optimistic about securing the necessary funding, we will be able to confirm the project for certain by mid-June (full timeline below).

Format

• 6 weekly online collective meetups;
• 1 week (September 2026) of sharing practices and co-creation in Bucharest, Romania, ending with a public showcase event;
• Everyone will be invited to give a mini-workshop to share knowledge with the other participants, write a short reflection paper on the topic, and participate in a podcast/ radio show while in Romania.

Financial support

• Stipend: 1500 Eur (before taxes) – pending financing of the project by Romanian grants (see timeline).
• Production budget – based on production plans discussed individually.
• Travel, accommodation, and per diem for the week in Romania.

Timeline

• 9 martie – open call deadline
• 20 martie – confirmation of pre-selected artists
• Mijlocul lunii iunie – confirmare finanțare proiect-cadru
• Final iulie – întâlnire de lansare a proiectului (online)
• 3, 10, 17, 24 și 31 august – Sesiuni online
• 21-25 septembrie – co-creație și sharing practices în București, România
• 26 septembrie – eveniment public de prezentare la București

Who can apply?

The call is open to young/ emerging artists, technologists, and designers based in Europe who work at the intersection of art and technology.
Our goal is to assemble a diverse group consisting of both local and international participants.

Application & Procedure

Applications can be submitted via the linked Google form: https://forms.gle/F6bNbCxrfx91SXYF8 no later than March 9th.
The application includes a short project proposal (max. 200 words), a 1-minute video about the project, and a CV & portfolio.
The selection committee consists of members from Marginal, V2_, and Projekt Atol.
Duos and groups can apply collectively, but they will receive 1 stipend, and we will cover travel costs for 1 person.

If you have questions about the call, please send an email to: change@marginal.ro