Hjemmefra #1

Hjemmefra #1

The project is a two-month remote residency program for five Norway-based visual artists, to work as artists in residency from their own home. This low-residency format aims at working with the artist’s life as it is;  no relocation, no change of job, family responsibilities remain almost intact, and community involvement becomes part of the household fabric. The residency will connect participants with relevant professional individuals from Norway and abroad through peer-to-peer sessions.

“Hjemmefra/low-residency program for visual artists”
[*A low-residency program, in this context, is a form of distance artist-in-residency period designed for artists whose work and life demands both a rigorous engagement with an artistic community as well as flexibility, fluidity, and a self-directed approach.]

This residency program is The Union’s latest initiative, and the first fully remote low-residency program in Norway,  to focus on ecologically sustainable solutions to address questions connected to the collective confusion and economic instability experienced by artists during the Coronavirus time; How to make open, inclusive, and flexible home-work models for artists? How could solidarity funding encourage the vitality of Norway’s diaspora of contemporary artists in these uncertain times? How to create creative conditions to face this unstable economic and social situation?, and most importantly, how to foster and maintain the plurality of intellectual and artistic narratives in Norwegian society?

By asking ourselves – as artists and cultural initiators – the above questions, we respond by creating the “Hjemmefra/low-residency program for artists”, a three-month work grant for ten Norway-based artists to work as artists in residency from their own home. As a way to provide insight into the extraordinary situation of being confined to home during the COVID-19 pandemic: Norway is entering phase two of the pandemia, gradually and slowly reopening spaces and public activities. We consider the project to be adaptable, modular and flexible to the situation. Taking in consideration that the next 18-24 months the impact of the virus will be observed in various ways, from the present lockdown to the gradual opening with restrictions and risks of more spikes.

As the weeks go by, the artists will collectively explore the shared challenges of being at home, the frustrations, boredom, anxiety, but also the capacity to reflect, create and connect. This low-residency mode aims at working with the artist’s life as it is;  no relocation, no change of job, family responsibilities remain almost intact, and community involvement becomes part of the household fabric.

A total of 5 artists will receive a monthly grant for three months and will have access to an online work platform for sharing their ideas. The grant is only available for part-time work (50%). In order to safeguard the already vulnerable situation for all artists, The Union proposes a concise and short-time method of assessment of applications in which the artists will not have to invest money nor an unbearable amount of hours into the application process.

The program also aims at introducing experimental peer-to-peer support sessions from local and international (representable of the main demographics of the non-EU artist group in Norway) art agents: Month one;  Peruvian art writer and researcher Miguel A. López. Month two; Kenyan-German artist Syowia Kyambi. In accordance with the thematic of the residency, in which we give the artists the possibility to decompress and to reflect on the already known relationships generated between home (the private) and professional life (the public).

OPEN CALL