Open Call II CraftWork Festival 2026 II 2-4.12.2026.

As part of the CraftWork 4.0 All framework, we invite you to join Soft Systems, an intensive interdisciplinary workshop that explores the intersection of code and cloth. 

Irish and Dublin-based artis James Early will join the team od Stanišić Atelier in Sombor for a one-month residency. His work emanates the notion of constructive deconstruction inherit to the artisanry of stained-glass. His work delas with: “wide ranging themes of power, societal imbalances, religion, politics and ultimately, the inhumanity of man. His artworks are a visual meditation and reflection of these themes”.

Through the preparatory stages and conceptualization of this residency stay James and Aleksandra Stanišić established vivid communication and got acquainted with each other’s professional and family history – they both come from a long line of stained-glass makers.

Together they will work on developing a paravane piece influenced and inspired by street art, graphic design, digital art, and heritage objects in Serbia (glass collection from the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade, street-urban scene, monuments of WWII). The expected result will fuse the digital tools and the hand-made, craft-based execution.

The final piece will be exhibited in the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade in December 2024.

James Early

James Earley lives and works in Dublin. His artistic practice draws from street art, graphic design and passed down knowledge of stained glass making. His signature is the visual deconstruction of form, carefully constructed in new symmetry and balance. James’s pieces are made through application of digital tools in service of analogue artworks, “he embraces technology to create complex, layered, highly charged compositions”. In 2020 and 2019, he exhibited his work at “VUE, RHA” in Dublin, “Art on Paper” in New York, “Venice Glass Week”, “Seattle Art Fair” and “RHA Annual Exhibition” in Dublin. James was awarded the Business to Arts, Best Use of Creativity in the Community Award in 2019.

Web: https://www.jamese.ie

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/james_earley/

Atelier Stanišić

Atelje Stanišić (Stanišić Atelier) is the oldest still operating stained glass workshop in Serbia. Established in 1908 in Sombor by Milan Stanišić, it has for five generations been the home of stained-glass production, decorating buildings in Serbia and abroad. Today, the four-people team in its workshop creates new and restores old works under the mindful eye of Aleksandra Stanišić. Aleksandra’s daughter Ena Borovac seems to be the next in the line of “glass lovers”, knowing the craft and thinking of new understanding of the technique and its possibilities in contemporary terms.