Joya: AiR + Mater

The collaboration between Joya: arte + ecología / AiR and Mater is grounded in a shared interest in material. It brings together Joya: AiR’s distinct environmental and geographical context with Mater’s conversational, material-focussed approach. The week-long residency will offer time and space to work, as well as talks, direct encounters with landscape, and a collaborative workshop. 

This residency is curated by Maddie Rose Hills: artist and founder of Mater. Mater is a research and publishing platform founded by Maddie Rose Hills, exploring materials through commissioned writing, interviews, exhibitions, and podcasting. Bringing together artists, geologists, architects, curators, ecologists, gardeners and writers, Mater investigates what draws makers to particular materials, the stories materials hold, and how they shape our lives.

Application deadline in 22nd June 2026. For more information, terms and conditions, and to apply, please head straight here

To celebrate and give more information as we open applications for the residency, we recorded a special episode of The Mater Podcast, in conversation with the foudners of the residency:

Listen on all podcast apps to "Joya: AiR Residency with Simon and Donna Beckmann"

Programme Outline:

31 October — Arrival Residents arrive and settle into accommodation and studio spaces. Participants are asked to arrive by 16:00.

At 18:30, an informal introductory talk led by  Mater founder Maddie will introduce the thematic framework of the residency, outlining the relationship between material practice, landscape and ecological thinking that underpins the programme.

Dinner at 20:30.

1 November — Landscape, Material and Context At 10:00, Simon Beckmann co-founder and curator of Joya: AiR will give an introductory presentation situating you within its environmental, geological and cultural context, followed by a guided walk through the surrounding landscape and an introduction to the work of  Material Cultures. Together these sessions will frame the residency’s engagement with material research, land use and site-responsive practice.Duration approximately four hours.

At 18:30, the first artist presentations will begin, providing participants with the opportunity to introduce their practices, methodologies and current research interests within an informal group setting.

Dinner at 20:30.

2 November — Workshop and Exchange During the afternoon there will be a 2 hour collaborative workshop led by Mater. The session will explore approaches to material inquiry through conversation and interdisciplinary exchange.

At 18:30, the second series of artist talks will continue.

Dinner at 20:30.

3–6 November — Studio Residency These days are dedicated to independent studio practice, reflection and informal discussion. Participants will have uninterrupted time to develop work, research ideas and engage with the landscape and wider residency context.

Artist talks will continue on the evening of 3 November at 18:30.

On 6 November at 18:30, the residency will conclude with a shared evening of readings, offering participants the opportunity to reflect on the week.

Dinner each evening at 20:30.

7 November — Departure Residents check out by 11:00.

Joya: arte + ecología / AiR is an independent interdisciplinary residency and curatorial platform located within the Parque Natural Sierra María–Los Vélez in northern Almería, Andalucía, Spain. Founded in 2006 by artists Simon and Donna Beckmann, Joya: AiR has hosted more than 3,000 artists, writers, musicians, dancers, curators and researchers from across the world working across contemporary practice, ecological inquiry and material research.Situated within a semi-arid mountain landscape shaped by agricultural histories, water scarcity and processes of depopulation, Joya: AiR operates as both a residency context and a long-term experiment in sustainable cultural production. The project functions entirely off-grid through integrated solar energy, water management and ecological land stewardship systems developed over more than twenty years of continuous occupation and adaptation.Joya: AiR supports practices that engage critically with landscape, material process, environmental systems and site-responsive forms of knowledge. The programme combines studio practice, field research, communal exchange and sustained engagement with place, understanding landscape not as backdrop, but as an active ecological, material and conceptual condition.The collaboration between Joya: AiR and  Mater emerges from a shared interest in material thinking, interdisciplinary dialogue and environmentally situated practice.

Mater: publishing project and podcast Mater: Instagram

Shared evening meals are prepared at Joya: AiR using seasonal, locally sourced, home-grown and plant-forward ingredients wherever possible. Long communal dinners form an important part of the residency structure, creating space for sustained conversation, critical exchange and informal discussion between participants from different disciplines and backgrounds.

Meals reflect Joya: AiR’s wider ecological approach: low-impact living, attentiveness to place and a close relationship between landscape, food systems and everyday practice.

Application deadline in 22nd June 2026. For more information, terms and conditions, and to apply, please head straight here