Open call for Residencia Epecuén XVII, a site-specific art program based in the province of Buenos Aires.
Epecuén is an Argentine village founded beside the Epecuén Lagoon, known for its saltwater with healing properties. In 1985, the lagoon completely flooded the town, submerging it for more than 20 years and giving rise to a landscape of white ruins.
Since 2017, Residencia Epecuén has taken place there — a program for artists, curators, and researchers aimed at offering a creative and reflective space for the production and development of work in dialogue with this territory.
This edition will be curated by Helena Lugo —director of Terremoto. Her proposal explores the relationship between the desolation of the landscape and the collapse of meaning. The ruins of Epecuén are not merely remnants; they are active forms of world decomposition: structures that surrender, languages that fall silent, and orders that crack.
The research begins with history and oblivion to reflect on the end of worlds — not as catastrophe, but as moments when structures dissolve, vanish, or are seized, and yet precisely through that, make room for new ways of imagining. In the space between salt, water, and collapse, the project seeks to invoke alomancy —a divinatory practice using salt— as a poetic gesture to activate interrupted memories, propose alternative sensitivities, and envision possible futures.
This collaboration is part of the Ñandú Fellowship, a program that seeks to create lasting ties between Residencia Epecuén and international platforms, fostering artistic exchange and strengthening networks among artists, curators, and communities.
The program is open to artists from all disciplines, as well as researchers and curators interested in site-specific practices.
Open call until August 10, 2025: