“How can a program be created from a debt without being limited by it?” It was with this question that Brazilian researcher and curator Ariana Nuala approached their residency at AIR-M Ebenböckhaus in Munich. Building on their research project “MATAMUSEUMATA,” which investigates museums through the historical violence they inherit and the relationships between memory, territory, and power, Nuala expanded this line of inquiry in Munich to include the factory: a place where light emerges in the history of modernity and which, at the same time, shapes the landscape itself.

During Nuala’s residency, they visited museums, factories, and spaces dedicated to the relationships between art, industry, and memory; engaged in mentoring sessions with Haus der Kunst curator, Lydia Antoniou; and met with a diversity of Munich’s artists and curators through studio visits and encounters. In addition, they presented their research in an Open Studio event at Ebenböckhaus, and went on a research trip to the Biennale in Venice.

Nuala also visited the BMW Recycling and Dismantling Centre during their stay, which offered exciting insights into materials, processes, and circular practices that will form an important source of inspiration for their upcoming projects.