The 2024 Winter Residency in Madrid and Marrakech

IDSVA is heading to Madrid and Marrakech soon!

The Madrid residency centers on the question of Spanish colonialism and the modern history of conflict against fascism and the struggle for liberation fought by intellectuals and artists, of which the painting Guernica by Picasso constitutes the most iconic memorial.

The recently established Marrakech residency adds yet another important link to IDSVA's Topological Studies program. The Moroccon perspective points toward the Muslim conquest of Spain, the European colonization of Africa, and the African Diaspora that follows. Moroccan scholar and IDSVA Visiting Faculty Ilham Ibnou Zahir will lecture in Marrakech on the topic of Muslim culture, philosophy, and architecture.

At IDSVA, the Topological Studies program takes current students through a series of international residencies from one historic site to another during the three-year course of study. The residencies are to be experienced as successive historical strata that set up a three-level (topological) critique. Each site is looked at as a key intersection between art and ideas, considered in terms of, 1) historically designated period; 2) contemporary situation as an extended moment in the site’s historical development; and 3) topological relation of each site to one another (inter-textual critique).

Learn more about the Topological Studies program and other aspects of the IDSVA PhD program here.