Following a call for applications in autumn 2025, we are delighted to announce the artist awarded the Design Ecologies Residency taking place in March 2026. This opportunity was open to visual artists based in Sweden working with questions of ecology, agriculture, food production, rural contexts and community organising. The programme welcomes practices within design, craft and spatial approaches, with a focus on developing and implementing just, circular and sustainable methods.

Alexandra Papademetriou (b. 1994, Athens) is an artist, researcher, and designer based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Working through social engagement and text, her work explores how artistic practices can provide the testing ground for environmental and social change, cultivating a sense of interdependency with the more-than-human. Using shared learning as method, she aims to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogues and collaborations.

Her current research focus is on the subject of degrowth, and specifically how degrowth thinking and strategies can be mobilised within artistic practices to create a more equitable and humane field. Through publications, exhibitions, and workshops, she aims to introduce more people into the degrowth discourse, while also creating spaces for other artists to come together and create strategies for social change.

Alexandra will use her time at Cove Park to (re-)develop The Degrowth Toolbox for Artistic Practices, her ongoing project examining the application of degrowth values within artistic practice.

Design Ecologies is a residency developed from Food Ecologies, a pilot residency exchange programme between Scotland and Sweden. Launched in 2022, Design/Food Ecologies is a partnership between Cove Park and IASPIS, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s international Programme for Visual and Applied Arts.