Special Themed Residency Programs
Applications are processed and selected in the order in which they are received. Day of the Dead: Speaking, Tasting, Creating
Arquetopia Location: Puebla, Mexico
Duration: 2 weeks – Program Dates:
October 20 to November 3, 2025; October 26 to November 9, 2026
Why is the concept of death so integral to our understanding of our experiences? From its profound implications with collectivity, to the grief experienced when losing loved ones, death has consistently been a central question in our shared history. In Mexico, the annual festivities of Day of the Dead occur at the end of October and the beginning of November symbolizing the culmination of the maize cultivation cycle, and the temporary return of deceased relatives and beloved individuals to Earth.
The Immersive Learning Program: Day of the Dead focuses on the significance of the Day of the Dead as a cornerstone of national identity, rooted in indigenous wisdom, and explores its impact on the development of Mexican modern art, as well as its transformation into a secularized element of popular culture. The program examines the performative nature of rituals in Mexico, with a particular focus on the mortuary celebrations. Within the context of this national holiday participants will engage in practical Spanish language lessons, culinary exploration, and hands-on art learning fostering a multidisciplinary approach encompassing art creation, culinary arts, and linguistic practice. Moreover, the program prompts critical inquiry into themes of eternity, nationalism, and identity, challenging preconceived notions surrounding death as a national symbol and questioning its portrayal as a morbid facet of identity construction.
The Arquetopia Immersive Learning Program is a 2-week intensive experience designed to provide competitive professional opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists, curators, art historians, and students aged 20 and above from around the world. This distinctive program offers critical perspectives on the representation of death in Mexico as a foundational element of national identity. By delving into the myths surrounding its origins, the program offers participants a nuanced understanding of the Day of the Dead celebrations. Its objective is to equip participants with the analytical tools necessary to comprehend the performative nature of these rituals, exploring intricate facets such as emotional portrayals, material culture, and the evolving historical significance of death. Participants will also have the opportunity to contextualize their own artistic practices by learning papier mâché techniques directly related to the creation of ofrendas (altars), which are central to the celebration of the Day of the Dead.
PROGRAM INCLUSIONS
This 2-week program includes 8 hours of instruction in Day of the Dead ephemeral art techniques, including paper, installation, and the edible dimension of the altar; as well as an exploration of José Guadalupe Posada’s imagery. Participants will have the opportunity to join guided tours and visits to prominent museums in Puebla, altars, graveyards, or relevant sites. Alongside these artistic endeavors, attendees will engage in 12 hours of Spanish language lessons, divided into 6 hours of grammar and 6 hours of immersive on-site language practice. They will also embark on food tours, a total of 4 hours, to savor the culinary delights of the region and spend 6 hours on academic visits to museums, altars, graveyards, and other relevant sites. Furthermore, participants will benefit from 2 hours of artistic mentoring sessions. Activities are designed to promote intense creative work and artistic dialogue; therefore, artists are expected to allocate self-directed studio hours as part of their weekly schedule. Reading materials are provided in English and workshop instruction is in Spanish.
- Each resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique
Accommodation:
- Furnished, private bedroom
- 24-hour access to the kitchen for participants to prepare their own meals; meals/food are the participants' responsibility
- Wireless Internet
- Use of Arquetopia’s common spaces including outdoor terraces
- Shared, serviced (single) bathrooms with modern fixtures and showers
- Housekeeping
Studio Workspace:
- 24-hour access to large and bright, shared art studio with generous natural light
- Personal workspace with large table and wall space
- Some tools provided
- Materials and supplies for the instructional course provided
- Materials and supplies for extended project production are not included but are available for purchase locally
DURATION / TIME PERIOD
Session is 2 weeks, October 20 to November 3, 2025.
PROGRAM TUITION INFO & APPLICATION DEADLINES
E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for tuition info and application deadlines for this program.
TO APPLY
Click here to apply for this instructional program.
IMMERSIVE LEARNING PROGRAM #2:
Botany and the Mapping of Ignorance
Arquetopia Location: Puebla, Mexico
Duration: 2 Weeks — Program Dates: Flexible
The knowledge of plants in the Americas, deeply rooted in non-dominant epistemologies, offering a different approach to the notions of wellbeing by putting an emphasis on the relationships we establish with the environment. Drawing on diverse knowledge systems and native practices, herbalists cultivate a profound understanding of the interconnectedness between humans and the natural world. However, the historical relationship between plants and “Empire” has left a complex legacy, marked by the exploitation of botanical resources by colonial powers for economic gain and geopolitical control. This exploitation has often led to the erasure or marginalization of autochthonous knowledge via the prioritization of pharmaceutical interests over plant-based remedies. Moreover, agnotology, the study of culturally induced ignorance, highlights how knowledge about plants and their properties have been manipulated or suppressed to serve political, economic, or ideological agendas. Arquetopia Immersive Learning Program navigates a space where the pursuit of holistic practices intersects with efforts to decolonize healing practices, notions of the body and challenge dominant capitalistic paradigms of knowledge production and dissemination. Through reclaiming and revitalizing ancestral wisdom, helps identify diverse sources of knowledge to aid in the promotion socio-environmental justice and fostering a deeper connection with the diversity of environments.
The Immersive Learning Program: Botany and the Mapping of Ignorance is a 2-week intensive experience designed to provide competitive professional opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists, curators, art historians, and students aged 20 and over, from around the world. This distinctive program offers critical perspectives on non-dominant epistemologies and the diverse uses of plants. By delving into the complex relationship between plants and "Empire" and its legacy of colonial exploitation of botanical resources for economic gain and geopolitical control, the program challenges the notion of "traditional knowledge" versus science. It scrutinizes this dichotomy as a system that centers exploitation through the erasure of indigenous knowledges, while also reevaluating the concept of "the natural" to understand relationships with ecosystems as a complex symbiotic network.
The objective of the program is to equip participants with the analytical tools necessary to understand the concept of interspecies kinship and the ethical questions related to life, while introducing them to the knowledge of local plants from Mexico, their historical significance, and their complex uses. Participants will also have the opportunity to contextualize their own artistic practices by learning about herbalism and the uses of native plants, which are central to understanding non-dominant epistemologies. Through this interdisciplinary approach, the program fosters a deeper understanding of the intersections between art, culture, and local knowledge, inviting participants to engage critically with their creative practices within broader socio-environmental contexts.
PROGRAM INCLUSIONS
This 2-week program encompasses a comprehensive structure aimed at enriching participants' understanding of herbalist techniques and local plant knowledge, including their historical significance, all approached through the lens of agnotology. Participants will engage in 8 hours of instructional sessions, complemented by guided tours and visits to prominent botanical gardens, markets, and local stores in Puebla.
In addition to these immersive learning experiences, attendees will partake in 12 hours of Spanish language instruction, comprising 6 hours of grammar and 6 hours of immersive on-site language practice. Cultural tours, totaling 4 hours, will provide further insights into the local flora, with academic visits to gardens, markets, and relevant sites. Furthermore, participants will benefit from 2 hours of artistic mentoring sessions tailored to their creative development.
Activities are thoughtfully designed to foster intense creative work and artistic dialogue, with participants expected to allocate self-directed studio hours as part of their weekly schedule. Reading materials are provided in English, while workshop instruction is conducted in Spanish, ensuring a rich and immersive learning experience for all involved.
- Each resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique
- Furnished, private bedroom
- 24-hour access to the kitchen for participants to prepare their own meals; meals/food are the participants' responsibility
- Wireless Internet
- Use of Arquetopia’s common spaces including outdoor terraces
- Shared, serviced (single) bathrooms with modern fixtures and showers
- Housekeeping
- 24-hour access to large and bright, shared art studio with generous natural light
- Personal workspace with large table and wall space
- Some tools provided
- Materials and supplies for the instructional course provided
- Materials and supplies for extended project production are not included but are available for purchase locally
DURATION / TIME PERIOD
Sessions are 2 weeks. Dates are not predetermined but are proposed by the applying artist.
Click here to apply for this instructional program.
Unmaking Power, Remaking Worlds
Arquetopia Locations: Puebla, Mexico / Oaxaca, Mexico / Cusco, Peru
Duration: 2 Weeks — Program Dates: Flexible
The theme of Unmaking Power, Remaking Worlds frames this two-week guided art program. It speaks to the process of critically dismantling inherited structures of power—those embedded in artistic practices, materials, and histories—while imagining and constructing new cultural possibilities. This theme guides the residency, inviting participants to reexamine their creative processes in relation to broader cultural and social dynamics, and to envision ways of inhabiting the world otherwise.
At Arquetopia, we conceive cultural ecosystems as living networks—dynamic spaces where culture, knowledge, and productive sectors intertwine critically and ethically. Culture is not limited to artistic creation; it is also about how we understand and share knowledge. It embodies the structures that have shaped technologies and ways of knowing, woven into daily practices and the productive life of communities.
This program is designed as an active cultural ecosystem where art, knowledge, and community practices intersect to foster new ways of thinking and creating. Rooted in situated knowledge, it emphasizes reciprocity and collective learning, inviting participants to recognize local knowledges as living technologies that shape how we inhabit and transform the world. By linking academic and community spaces, participants experience how culture not only sustains history but also becomes a force for social transformation.
Participants engage in academic visits, site-based mentoring, studio practice, and collaborative sessions with local institutions such as ARPA BUAP. The program integrates reflection and action, moving between guided research, direct encounters with the local context, and structured critical dialogue.
A central component is the Movilizatorio, an experiential format developed by Arquetopia. Here, participants walk through the city and its cultural fabric, transforming the territory itself into a classroom. The Movilizatorio connects cultural and productive sectors, activating knowledge in motion and highlighting everyday practices as sources of innovation, ethical reflection, and collective learning.
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Week 1
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Arrival and Mapping: Orientation and contextual mapping of the cultural ecosystem.
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Academic Visits: Guided explorations introducing historical and contemporary perspectives.
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On-Site Mentoring: Individualized sessions connecting practice to local knowledge.
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Movilizatorio: A dynamic, community-centered dialogue space activating cultural and social knowledge.
Week 2
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Studio Work: Time dedicated to advancing participants’ projects while engaging with critical perspectives.
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Academic Visits: Further contextual encounters with local institutions and knowledge bearers.
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On-Site Mentoring: Individualized sessions connecting practice to local knowledge.
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Movilizatorio: Collective closing through shared discussion and reflection with the community.
COMMUNITY COMPONENT
The program emphasizes not only individual artistic growth but also collective processes of learning. Through the Movilizatorio and the Open Process (PUEBLA ONLY) session with ARPA BUAP, participants engage in dialogue with local communities and institutions. These encounters encourage participants to rethink artistic practice in relation to broader cultural and social contexts, nurturing reciprocity and shared responsibility.
Duration: 2 weeks
Minimum: 2 participants
- Each resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research resources, project guidance, and critique.
Accommodation:
- Furnished, private bedroom
- 24-hour access to the kitchen for participants to prepare their own meals; meals/food are the participants' responsibility
- Wireless Internet
- Use of Arquetopia’s common spaces including outdoor terraces
- Shared, serviced (single) bathrooms with modern fixtures and showers
- Housekeeping
Studio Workspace:
- 24-hour access to large and bright, shared art studio with generous natural light
- Personal workspace with large table and wall space
DURATION / TIME PERIOD
Sessions are 2 weeks. Dates are not predetermined but are proposed by the applying artist.
Click here to apply for this instructional program.
