ease artist venturing labs: crete 2026-2027

Photoworks, in partnership with EASE (Entrepreneurship, Art & Science for Environmental Sustainability) and PicturingClimate.org, are inviting proposals from UK-based artists who are interested in working collaboratively with climate researchers, artists and entrepreneurs, publicly and across disciplines.

The labs will take place in a variety of locations from UNESCO geoparks and Minoan palaces to underground rivers, earthquake-lifted harbours and mountain sanctuaries. Each lab brings together five UK artists, and local Greek participants alongside climate scientists, archaeologists, geologists and community partners to work side by side on the ground. Each lab day typically moves from morning fieldwork, afternoon Assemblage Mapping and discussion, evening presentations and reflection. There are five labs in total, covering five distinct landscapes and research areas.

This is not a residency in the conventional sense. It is a sustained experiment in how art and science can think together about climate, landscape and deep time — and in what happens when a small group of practitioners is put in the same rooms, caves and fieldwork sites for seven days and then allowed to imagine exciting ways to communicate together.