The RAW:POD Residency Program was a "pop-up" design studio and residency program initiated by the RAW:Gallery of Architecture + Design in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The platform allowed designers to step out of the gallery and into the city, reaching and engaging with a far broader audience. As the 2013 artists-in-residence, the POD studio was used as a springboard to continue ongoing research stemming from Chelsea's architecture thesis, The Modern Maenad. The RAW:POD project was the first major collaboration between Steve and Chelsea, in where EUOI Collaborative was formed.

Modern Maenad RAW:POD was two-fold, beginning with an ongoing interest and investigation of festival in Winnipeg, then extending to a study of large, established city-scale festivals in Europe. The intent was to study similar festivals that occur in very different cultural and geographical contexts to gain a clearer understanding of the infrastructure and staging techniques of each city, and their associated cultural influences, to see if/how any of these techniques could be reappropriated in Winnipeg to help foster a more vibrant and dynamic civic condition.

In anticipation of a month-long study of Carnival in Italy and Greece in February 2014, for Modern Maenad Abroad, the pieces developed during the RAW:POD Residency became part of a collection of masks and costumes that accompanied us on our study. These pieces were developed through drawing, collage and material experiments (the primary material being sculpted and moulded leather), but also through investigations into Manitoba's history and mythology as a means of developing a theatrical and dynamic series of pieces that could be worn as expressive, conversation-starting costumes in Europe.

Modern Maenard RAW:POD afforded the opportunity to explore the act of making in public as a means of engaging with the city and collecting narratives and myths about Winnipeg and its people. After hundreds of conversations, with people curious enough to engage with us and our work, 76 stories were recorded - stories about what it means to be and live in Winnipeg. During this period, each story was considered and themes were extracted to develop character traits used to inform the design and construction of Winnipeg-based costumes.

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project | artists-in-residence program

partner | RAW:Gallery of Architecture + Design