Writing a Cover (Up) Letter Workshop

WRITING A COVER (UP) LETTER

When writing a cover letter, be it for a job vacancy, a creative residency, or a funding opportunity, we would often, in a way, construct a rather fictive image about ourselves. Behind the overly flattering tone, the listing of knowledge and skills, and the expression of intrinsic motivation is the attempt to cover up the things that we assume should not be disclosed to the other party. When we acknowledge the use of fiction in these letters, we reclaim the power to play with it and make the most out of each application process by the use of storytelling techniques.

In the Writing a Cover (Up) Letter workshop, you will experience the mock version of an application process, specifically in the cultural sector. You will have the opportunity to explore different storytelling tropes and narrative devices commonly used in cover letters, reclaim the fictive nature of these letters by writing one yourself, and break free from the so-called impostor syndrome experienced by many in the creative industry!

Please bring your own laptop if possible, otherwise, a notebook is also fine!

Places are limited, so please e-mail theironingboarddd@gmail.com to sign up

ABOUT THE FACILITATORS:

The Ironing Board is a design-critique-turned-design comedy duo formed by Marta Ríos and Miguel Parrrra. Based in Rotterdam, Miguel and Marta use joke-telling as a method to explore methodologies that play around contemporary standards related to the sharing of knowledge, within and beyond the design field. They believe that these conventions can be reconsidered, and played around with in order to find more cooperative and subversive ways of practising and communicating design. Their work is built through the use of queer tropes, live storytelling and comedy-making techniques, taking the shape of performative lectures, interactive installations, documentary films, and anything weird in between.