Open call: artist in residence

Eight locations. Eight research teams. One global conversation about plastic, healthcare, and what comes next 

About the ATSU artist residency 

As part of After the Single Use (ATSU), eight artists will be selected (one per research location) to join the local research team for a residency period between March-May 2027. This is a research-embedded residency, not a production residency: the focus is on curiosity, exchange, and process. Artists will have the time and space to engage deeply with the research, bring their own perspective and practice to bear, and explore what emerges. 

Artists are not expected to illustrate or communicate the research. They are invited to work alongside it — to observe, question, and respond in whatever way feels true to their practice. The aim is a genuine exchange, in which both the artist and the researchers come away with new ways of thinking. 

Artistic works in progress will be presented locally at or near the end of the residency period, and the artist will contribute to the ATSU online exhibition after completion of the residency, featuring the results of all eight residencies worldwide.

Location specific calls

Baltimore: OPEN CALL (.pdf)  
Dakar: OPEN CALL ENGLISH (.pdf) / OPEN CALL FRENCH(.pdf)
Edinburgh: OPEN CALL (.pdf) 
Geneva: OPEN CALL ENGLISH (.pdf) / OPEN CALL FRENCH(.pdf)
Hyderabad: OPEN CALL (.pdf) 
Oslo: OPEN CALL (.pdf) / OPEN CALL NORWEGIAN(.pdf)
Tanzania (multiple sites): OPEN CALL (.pdf) 

Goroka: Open Call will launch later. Stay tuned! 

Additional information 

Terms & Conditions: PDF 
Selection Criteria: PDF 

How to apply 

Fill in this Form
Please read the location-specific call for the site you are interested in before applying. 

Duration:
One month full time OR up to three months part-time March-May, 2027  
(see location-specific call for details) 

Fee: 
Every location has an artist fee and materials budget  
(see location-specific call for details) 

Application deadline:   
23 October, 2026 

Response timeframe:  
You will receive a response to your application before 20 December, 2026  

About: After the Single Use

If the world's healthcare sector were a country, it would rank 5th in global carbon emissions. A significant portion of these emissions come from single-use plastic medical products like syringes, surgical drapes, and diagnostic devices, all designed for disposal. These materials emit toxins and greenhouse gases when burned, leak microplastics and chemicals when landfilled, and pollute marine environments, with direct and indirect effects on human health. After the Single Use (ATSU) is a five-year research project asking: how did we get here, and what would it take to move healthcare towards a circular economy of reuse? 

Led by the University of Edinburgh, UK and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the project brings together historians, anthropologists, and public health researchers across eight countries (India, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Senegal, Switzerland, Tanzania and USA) to examine the history, present, and future of single-use medical plastics. 

Driven by the belief that understanding this crisis requires perspectives beyond research alone, each research unit will host an artist in residence. The eight residencies are independent but connected: selected artists will have the opportunity to meet online and exchange with other artists in residence at the other seven sites, and all eight residencies will contribute to a shared international online exhibition. 

The artist in residence program is coordinated by NOBA (Norwegian Bio-Art Arena), Vitenparken, Norway on behalf of the After the Single Use collective. If you have questions about the open call reach out to info.noba@vitenparken.no 

Who we're looking for

We welcome artists from any creative background — visual art, performance, sound, film, photography, installation, writing, design, socially engaged practice, or any combination. We are looking for artists who are curious, self-directed, and comfortable working in an unfamiliar environment. 

You do not need prior experience of working with researchers or scientists. What matters is that you can articulate why this residency interests you, and that you are genuinely open to engaging with the research — not just its themes, but its specific questions and methods. Priority is given to artists based locally or in the same country as the research site. 

You might be a good fit if you: 

• are drawn to questions of health, waste, material culture, or environmental justice 
• can work independently and take initiative with your are interested in how knowledge is made
• in archives, in fieldwork, in communities are open to process-led work without a pre-determined outcome 
• are comfortable with ambiguity and willing to learn 
• are based locally in one of the eight locations 

Contact for questions about residency: info.noba@vitenparken.no 

After the Single Use is funded by the Wellcome Trust. The residency programme is coordinated by NOBA — Norwegian BioArt Arena (Vitenparken, Norway) on behalf of the After the Single Use collective.