March 3, 2025
RECERCA APLICADA #MODES DE CERCA
Termini d'inscripció: 3 – 30 de març 2025
The experimental audiovisual platform Hamaca, in collaboration with Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE), opens the third research call on audiovisual archives aimed at EQZE alumni (students who graduated between 2019 and 2024) from any nationality, age, and specialization. The goal of the call is to support research related to the current state of audiovisual archives, in dialogue with Hamaca's device and/or archive.
The 2025 edition proposes applying research to the field of archive navigation, in order to devise potential search, suggestion, or exploration modes to stimulate user interest and improve catalog accessibility. Taxonomic or thematic itineraries, digital mediation modes, and/or exploration proposals from historiographical, political, experimental, playful, or speculative perspectives are some of the possible developments of this project. The result will be a text and outline that develops the research and justifies the proposal, with the possibility of being integrated into the search engines of Hamaca’s web platform in the near future.
This collaboration will involve the support and follow-up of Hamaca's technical team and web developers to assess the feasibility of its implementation.
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A navigation project?
Generally, users who access the Hamaca archive can be divided into two groups: those who specifically know what they are looking for (a piece, an author, a tag...) and those who come to explore. Imagining the diversity within this second group – people interested in experimental audiovisuals who want to spend time discovering pieces, people who are unfamiliar with this field or the archive and want to explore it – we are asking ourselves what navigation logics the web catalog could offer to accompany the visit. How could it be timely, adaptable, educational, or enjoyable?
The variety of streaming platforms and audiovisual catalogs that currently exist offer a wide range of examples: the collections or the appetite test of Filmin's recommender, the algorithm-based suggestions of Netflix, the thematic curated packs developed by Hamaca in the past, mood-based suggestions from the Lucid app, taxonomy and search engines for similar catalogs like RAAN or LUX, the weekly highlights from bookstores or libraries... Hamaca is in the process of designing and developing its next web version, and now is the time to imagine search, suggestion, or exploration methods that could be implemented.
The new website implements a new, more complete taxonomic system, which determines filters for advanced search mode (intended for those who are clearer about what they are looking for). This call is aimed at developing ideas for search in exploration mode and can be approached from perspectives – historiographical, aesthetic, political, experimental, playful, or speculative – in line with the interests and research lines of the alumni. The ideas should be justified under criteria of accessibility, artistic interest, and interest for navigation from a digital perspective of cultural mediation. The ideas, completely free in format and themes for the presentation of applications, should later be developed in relation to the technical possibilities of the platform and should be solutions with the potential to sustain themselves over time without the need for significant investment of resources or budgets. For this, the selected person/team will work alongside Hamaca’s technical team and the web development team to assess the feasibility and ways in which these ideas can be technically and visually materialized (programming or graphic design knowledge is not required, but development of navigation experience sketches will be necessary). The selected person/team will have access to a prototype of the future website and a document that includes the future taxonomy of the archive for the development of their project.
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The purpose of this call is to create a working space and critical thinking around phenomena and policies of the archive that need to be addressed, thought about, and conceptualized in the present in an applied way. This grant aims to support projects developed by emerging generations who are thinking about and working with video archives. All of this with the intention of nurturing, making visible, and valuing contemporary thought around archival processes in the audiovisual field, in relation to the device and/or the Hamaca collection.
The economic allocation is €1,000 gross.
The result in text and outline will be published on the Hamaca platform and disseminated through the channels of both organizations.
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Aimed at alumni of Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (students who graduated between 2019 and 2024, from any specialization track). Applications can be submitted either individually or collectively.
Resources provided by the grant
- Unlimited access to the Hamaca archive and special conditions to participate in activities organized by Hamaca during the research period
- Online working sessions with the technical team
- Guidance and mentorship during the project’s development
- Publication and circulation of the resulting work
- Layout and translation into Catalan
Commitments
- The selected person/collective commits to attending (online) and actively participating in the accompanying sessions between April and September. A calendar dedicated to the meetings/work sessions will be agreed upon, and it will be scheduled in the morning, depending on the availability of all participants.
- The final result must be newly produced. It may derive from an ongoing project as long as it brings a new critical layer or phase in relation to the context of this call, it is an unpublished contribution, and it is not being considered in any medium or format. It can be submitted in any language as long as it includes a Spanish translation provided by the author.
- The grant covers the fees for the selected person/collective but does not include production, travel, or additional resources.
Calendar and deadlines
- Application for the call: from March 3 to 31
- Publication of the selection: April 11
- Structure/index of the work: May 20
- First draft: June 25
- Final article submission: September 15
Economic allocation
€1,000 gross. Payment subject to installments (70% at the start and 30% after the final submission) via invoices issued to Hamaca, with the corresponding deductions, before June 1, 2025.
To apply for the grant, individuals/collectives must complete this APPLICATION FORM. Name and surname(s) of the applicant; contact details of the applicant or representative of the collective; bio and/or CV; links to previous works and/or projects (between 2 and 5); abstract or proposal for the research related to the thematic line of the call; any other relevant information (maximum 800 characters).
Evaluation criteria
- Quality, originality, solidity, and interest of the proposal. We are looking for interesting, fun, pedagogical, diverse, and critical proposals. They can reference existing proposals and adapt them to the Hamaca archive, or invent entirely new ways of suggestion and exploration.
- Research trajectory.
- Motivation to participate in a work team; willingness to listen and collaborate.
- Knowledge of the medium and the Hamaca archive.
- The project must be free of any intention to promote intolerance, patriarchal conceptions, or discrimination based on skills, ages, genders, nationalities, race, religion, sexuality...
The selection jury will be composed of the Hamaca technical team and two professors from Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola.
Participation in this call implies acceptance of its terms and the jury's decision.
→ Application form
→ Check the result of the 1st Call: Habitar el gesto, by Milagros Valerio
→ Check the result of the 2nd Call: A taxonomic review from queer collectives, by Julia Cortegana
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