We are excited to announce that we will be commissioning four researchers and art writers to explore historical or new connections between crafts, technological innovation and/or environmental issues in the South West Asia and North Africa region, through the work of one of the international artists participating in our project 3oubour: A River Between Mountains across 2025\. co-published between the Arab British Centre and Esmat Publishing List.

This work is being commissioned as part of our project 3oubour: A River Between Mountains. The project invites artists to critically consider the concept of technical knowledge and innovation, not just as something which always has to be ‘new’, but also as existing within the realm of inherited and locally bound practices that go back several centuries, and how these revelations could illuminate ways of being, sustainable thinking and collective acting in-between local and global contexts.

Building on the themes of the project in tandem with the interests of the artists taking part, we invite short pitches for ideas which pull out interesting stories about a craft and its links to art history, industry & technology, colonialism, and/or ecology & climate change in the region. You can read more about the artists, and access resources regarding the residency at the end of this call out.

You will be able to write your final piece from September 2025 onwards, exploring the work of the artist, the craft they are working with, and how it connects to your theme.

The commissioned essays will be published in a book which will be released in 2026\. If chosen, you may be invited to participate in online or in person events related to the publication. The participation in at least one event is included in the £150 fee.

  
The artists have taken part in an online residency with a range of disciplinary speakers from both Fez and the wider region, and during a one-month residency in Morocco in September 2025, the artists will work alongside expert artisans from the city of Fez to make new commissions. They will then showcase their work in Fez and London.

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