PERI⧹FERAL

PERI⧹FERAL is a new intensive advanced studies program, organized by the platform einaidea and oriented toward the experimental observation of the city's periphery. Through a transdisciplinary approach and bringing together practices from art, architecture, and ecology, PERI⧹FERAL aims to explore unregulated or vacant, heterogeneous, mutant, or feral areas which reveal some keys to understanding the transformations of contemporary life. The program will offer intensive workshops, lectures, and field explorations, using the outskirts of Barcelona in its multiple manifestations as a case study. The program will also support each student's unique research, providing new perspectives and methodologies for the development of both theoretical and practical projects.

Taking place between April and June 2026, PERI⧹FERAL unfolds over ten weeks and will alternate in-person activities and online presentations, concluding with a symposium and a public exhibition of the participants' final projects. At the end of the course, each participant will receive a Diploma of Advanced Studies issued by Fundació Eina and Eina, Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona. PERI\FERAL is aimed at all those who want to deepen their knowledge of the margins of the city, both from a creative and ecosystemic point of view. Through strategies that connect art, architecture and speculative thinking, PERI\FERAL combines the disruptive methodologies of einaidea with the know-how and research diversity of Eina, Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona.

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As vectors of contemporary urbanity, the suburbs are environments interwoven by mobility and abnormality. They can be defined as informal ecosystems where pollution and self-construction overlap with the infrastructural landscape, housing shortage and the rags of a pre-urban nature. PERI\FERAL focuses on these scenarios, which we can call post-urban, of contemporary life. Specifically, the program wants to explore the artistic and conceptual potential of liminal areas, taking the outskirts of Barcelona as a case study and a testing ground.

On the periphery, the abandonment and precariousness of some places contrasts with the aspirational redesign of habitats a short distance away. The city grows tentacularly, in a non-linear way: with the center increasingly distant, the suburban means less the limit than the subconscious dimension of the city. Vacant lots, industrial warehouses, storage facilities, small natural reserves, residential sprouts, unknown monuments, ring roads, overgrown landfills, resource centers, impoverished housing… Invariant elements of an accidental, fragmentary urbanism, which urban planning has always treated as residual. Portrait of the European city through its rearguards.

The diversity and ambiguity of peripheral spaces makes them periferal. What is peri-feral confers a wildened or untamed dimension to the poorly surveilled spaces of the outskirts. Their ambiguity—between the unbuilt and the abandoned—will foster a series of study exercises spanning architecture and speculative urbanism, collective and site-specific art practices, ecology and sound experimentation. To do so, the program will count on the work of researchers, professionals, and collectives with international experience grounded in local knowledge. Practical sessions, masterclasses, sound workshops, and observation drifts through Barcelona’s periphery will be developed.

From Eina Bosc —Eina's headquarters adjacent to the Collserola Natural Park—, PERI\FERAL will propose dynamics of research and interaction with the city's surrounding landscape and its strata, in order to open up and redefine the present and future practice of each participant. Thus, the program wants to place a clear emphasis on experimentation and practice, punctuated by moments of theoretical synthesis. Four conceptual orientations will define the research within PERI\FERAL:

     _Substructure: we will pay attention to the primary functions of the periphery as a support and machinery for urban centers and residential areas; the suburban as a backdrop for the tertiary world and as an ecosystem that is managed by operators rather than being inhabited by citizens.

     _Auscultating out: activities that will activate typically inert wastelands, empty or barren elements of the periphery, particularly in interstitial and ambiguous zones, whether forests or surroundings of warehouses.

    _Feral contracts: ongoing exercises in diplomacy between species, sometimes through tectonic devices—burrows, dikes, huts, hives—to open or heal channels of relationship between diverse bodies that navigate the outskirts.

   _Impure ecology: study of the spurious life forms that emerge and consolidate in the often-damaged peri-urban biomes: vacant lots, legal or illegal landfills, streams, groves, industrial parks.

As an experimental platform at Eina Centre Universitari, einaidea challenges the edges of both the academic realm and creative disciplines, articulating an urgent need to redistribute knowledge and agency through its programs. In line with this stance, PERI⧹FERAL mobilizes blocks of poetic-political possibilities within a situated framework: the program aims to become, during its duration, a community from which to inhabit the city’s margins, process its forces and tensions, rethink our modes of agency, and generate new strategies for production, creation, and construction.

Structure and format

With branching and vascular aims, the PERI\FERAL program for Spring 2026 offers an intensive ten-week advanced diploma, followed by the public presentation of the project. During the training period, moments of individual and mentored research will alternate with moments of knowledge sharing by leading creative agents and researchers. These will guide collective exploration processes in the territories surrounding Barcelona.

With each invited practice, PERI\FERAL will explore multiple formats that will assemble, overlap, and challenge one another. The program will feature the collaboration of David Bestué, artist, curator, and writer; Jordi Colomer, artist, co-founder of La Infinita (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat) and co-curator of einaidea's Ambushes program; Patricia Dauder, artist; forty five degrees, architecture and research studio (Berlin); Lara García Díaz, researcher and designer; María García Ruiz, artist and researcher; Sunny Graves, sound artist and music producer; Mathias Klenner, artist and architect; Caterina Miralles, artist and architect; Mireia Molina Costa, artist and editor at einaidea; Joan Rieradevall, ecologist and professor at the Chemical Engineering Department and main researcher at Sostenipra—research group at Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambiental (ICTA)—at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; José Luis Uribe, architect, filmmaker and professor at the Architecture School of Universidad de Talca (Chile); and Manuel Cirauqui, curator, writer and director of einaidea.

PERI\FERAL will run for ten weeks, spread over three and a half months, from early April to mid-June 2026.

The program consists of four modules, each corresponding to a different working modality:

• Module 1: Molecular Sessions
  Period: 2 weeks, 7-16 April, 2026
  The format will be hybrid, simultaneously in-person and online, to facilitate participation for those who wish to attend in person or follow the sessions remotely. This module prepares the ground for both project development and the intensive workshop phase. The Molecular Sessions will alternate between lectures, masterclasses, listening exercises, and afternoon viewings, led by international studios in architecture, ecology, art, and urban planning.
  Speakers: forty five degrees, Lara García Díaz and María García Ruiz, Caterina Miralles and Mireia Molina Costa, Joan Rieradevall, José Luis Uribe, and Manuel Cirauqui, together with other speakers whose participation will be announced soon.
   
• Module 2: Research and Project Development (I)
  Period: 2 weeks, 20-30 April, 2026
  This phase aims to identify and define each participant's unique projects. Each participant will be offered two personalized mentoring sessions, in which the einaidea teaching team will provide insights and connections to facilitate and improve the ideation and direction of each proposal. The projects should take shape in the following weeks, in preparation for their final presentation in June.
  Mentoring/Support: einaidea team and members of the PERI\FERAL teaching team. The tutors of this phase will be determined based on each participant's profile
   
• Module 3: Intensive Workshops
  Period: 4 weeks, 4-29 May, 2025
  Over four weeks, the intensive workshops will explore diverse approaches to peripheral areas, using artistic perspectives and methodologies, in varied locations on the outskirts of Barcelona. The duration of each workshop will vary depending on the invited instructor, ranging from one to four days. Each instructor will focus on a specific peripheral area, developing their workshop between that area and Eina Bosc. Their perspectives will be highly diverse, as are their individual trajectories, although they will share the common thread of artistic experimentation and research applied to specific projects.
  Instructors: David Bestué (4 days), Jordi Colomer (4 days), Patricia Dauder (3 days), Lara García Díaz and María García Ruiz (3 days), Mathias Klenner (1 day), Sunny Graves (1 day)
   
• Module 4: Research and Project Development (II) + Public Presentation
  Period: 2 weeks, 1-16 June, 2026
  Over these two weeks, the aim is to intensify each participant's research and provide support to help them fully develop their proposals, in view of their public presentation as projects, prototypes, theorems, or fictional scenarios. The conceptual formulation and/or prototyping of the project will take place in a specific location on the outskirts of Barcelona, as its experimental context.
  Mentoring/Support: einaidea team and members of the PERI\FERAL teaching team. The tutors of this phase will be determined based on each participant's profile.

Public Event: Symposium
Period: Two days, 16-17 June, 2026
The public presentation of the proposals developed by each participant of PERI\FERAL will take place at the end of this period, in the format of a symposium—with an exhibition component which may be added depending on the space, project types, and overall budget. Over two days, the PERI\FERAL symposium will include project presentations by participants, presentations by members of the teaching team, and one or two keynote lectures by internationally renowned guests. The symposium will also take place during the peak dates of Barcelona's designation as World Capital of Architecture 2026, enhancing its visibility.

Calendar and locations

The PERI\FERAL program will run from 7 April to 17 June, 2026.

The workshop phase will take place from the start date until 17 April, with the following two weeks dedicated to research and development (R&D) of each participant's final project. The Intensive Workshops will take place between 4 and 29 May, Monday to Thursday, from 3:30pm to 8:30pm. The main workshop venue will be Eina Bosc (Carrer del Bosc, 2, 08017 Barcelona), near the Collserola Natural Park in Barcelona. Many of the workshops will include outings and visits to places in Barcelona and its surrounding area. The second R&D phase will take place between 1 and 12 June. This will be followed by a week for completing projects and/or preparing for the symposium, which will take place on 16 and 17 June.

In addition to attending the seminars, workshops, and conferences that make up the program, participants will also have access to Eina Bosc’s specialized workshops, including the modelling and prototyping workshop, the graphic creation workshop, and the Media Lab, allowing material and in situ exploration of the research generated in each session. All resources of Eina, Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona, including study rooms, workspaces, and the library, will be available to PERI⧹FERAL participants (with reservation where necessary) throughout the program.

Prices and registration

Registration for the PERI\FERAL program costs 1,860€.

Various payment options and discounts are available for Eina alumni (Bachelor's, Master's, and Postgraduate degrees), participants in previous einaidea programs (Ambushes, workshops, and seminars), and active members of the Barcelona art community. The full program fee does not include expenses such as local accommodation or additional costs like books, materials, and/or self-produced projects. However, the organization will provide support where possible to facilitate the stay and work of participants traveling from outside Barcelona.

The Eina Foundation will offer two scholarships to participate in this program free of charge, based on a combination of inclusivity and excellence in practice. Anyone wishing to apply for a scholarship must indicate their interest at the beginning of the registration process and justify their eligibility (situations of social vulnerability, exclusion, disability, and/or precariousness). To this end, the einaidea team will contact each applicant directly.

Applications and selection process

The application period for the PERI\FERAL program is open from 1 September, 2025, and will close on 15 March, 2026.

Those interested in participating in PERI\FERAL must submit the following documentation by 11:59pm on the deadline:

• A portfolio in PDF with a maximum of 5 projects, each with approximately five images and a brief description of maximum 100 words per project, in an extension of not more than 10 pages in total.
• A motivation letter justifying the interest in the program with a brief reflection on the applicant’s own practice.
• A CV gathering present and past experience, exhibitions, presentations, publications, as well as languages and additional skills.

Application dossiers must be sent to einaidea@eina.cat, attaching the required documentation via links to external servers such as OneDrive, Google Drive, WeTransfer, or Dropbox.

The results of the application evaluation will be communicated to applicants within three weeks.

If applying for one of the scholarships, and in order to learn more about each applicant's background and/or situation, the Advisory Board may request a virtual interview with prior notice.

Certification

Participants will receive a diploma from Eina University Center for Design and Art in Barcelona, as well as a detailed certificate from the Eina Foundation, which will include a certified report on the activities carried out, the workshops attended and their responsible parties, and the tutorial interactions that accompanied participation in the program

Who it is for

All participants who successfully complete the PERI\FERAL 2026 program will receive a Diploma of Advanced Studies from Eina, Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona. They will also receive a certified report from the Eina Foundation, detailing the carried out activities, the attended workshops and their responsible parties, and the tutorial interactions that will have accompanied their participation in the program

What you will learn

Each participant of PERI\FERAL will receive an Advanced Studies Diploma from Eina, University Center for Design and Art of Barcelona, affiliated with the UAB. Participation in this program enables participants to acquire fundamental skills to research, conceptualize, outline, and produce critical and/or innovative projects in contemporary creative practice, taking the contemporary city—understood as a space radically transformed by new infrastructures (information, mobility, logistics) and new ways of inhabiting and producing in these environments—as their site of inscription and application.

The PERI\FERAL program initiates observation dynamics aimed at understanding the potential of spaces that lie outside the center of contemporary global cities, and its transdisciplinary approach seeks to generate a wide diversity of perspectives while equipping each participant with insights they would not have encountered by following the professional path predetermined by their original discipline. PERI\FERAL’s multiplicity of formats is designed with the same objective: to energize each student’s potential to individualize their proposals and their approaches to each project. On the other hand, attendance at seminars, classes, and hands-on workshops led by faculty whose backgrounds are no less diverse and always international is aimed at naturally fostering relationships and opportunities for knowledge sharing and collaboration among students, participants, speakers, and guest practitioners.

Thru its various teaching formats (Workshops, Molecular Sessions, and Recaps), PERI\FERAL will foster collective theoretical and practical learning dynamics. Personalized support for each participant will be a key aid in developing an experimental project that is methodologically and conceptually well-grounded, whether it is practically or theoretically oriented, thereby facilitating its subsequent public presentation. Thus, this program will enable participants to develop the knowledge, strategies, and skills to carry out research, formulate original art, architecture, and design projects, as well as critical reflections in essayistic or pedagogical formats.

Each participant in PERI\FERAL will receive tailored support and specific references based on their profile, background, and interests, enhancing their ability to tackle and carry out creative projects of various kinds: visual art, social and/or site-specific practice, performance, architecture, writing, sound and audiovisual art, among others.

Professional opportunities

PERI\FERAL equips its students to collaborate with creative agencies, studios, and organizations on urban innovation and cultural transformation projects. It is also presented as a valuable tool for applying theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of education, research, and teaching. Having gained familiarity with a wide range of project types, each participant of PERI\FERAL will enhance their ability to lead and/or coordinate research teams and projects; work in various areas of cultural management and perform critical and curatorial tasks; assume leadership roles in contemporary art and/or design thinking and creation projects; coordinate content and develop educational, research, and cultural programs; participate in innovation initiatives at research or cultural institutions and in R&D&I programs across the cultural industries; etc.

Additionally, the program aims to nurture, strengthen, expand, and contextualize the work of individuals who identify as artists, art and/or design researchers, architects, designers, philosophers, curators, critics, educators, etc., in order to improve and grow in the evolution of their practice.

Professional opportunities for PERI\FERAL is situated in fields such as:

• Independent artistic practice
• Management and curatorship in museums, foundations, art centers, and galleries
• Exhibition curation and cultural programming
• Consulting on cultural projects in public spaces
• Criticism and essay writing on art and design
• Management and programming of cultural centers and citizen-oriented organizations
• Journalism and cultural communication
• Teaching in the field of art and contemporary esthetics
• Doctoral studies in the various fields of knowledge linked to the program: Fine Arts, Design, Architecture, Urban Planning, Art History, Philosophy, Humanities, Ecology, among others.