Open call for Nordic/ Baltic based artists

The sessions takes place on following Mondays and/or Tuesdays online via Zoom:

21, 28 March 2022, 16–18.30 hrs CET / CEST
5, 11, 19, 25 April 2022, 16–18.30 hrs CEST,
2, 9, 16, 23, 30 May 2022, 16–18.30 hrs CEST,
and 6 June 2022, 16–18.30 hrs CEST

 

We are happy to announce a new open call for the Hjemmefra virtual residency organized by The Union! 

The second edition of the residency invites five transdisciplinary artists from the Nordic region to critically rehearse ideas and practices that foster renewed forms of reciprocity, composting, and commoning as forms of resistance, healing, and de-growth. In the state of crisis we live in, the old cannot die and the new is struggling to be born. Therefore, this collective experience will be informed by the sharing of resources in order to formulate possible futures and to unfold new ecosystems fed by digital resistance and subversive know-how(s). The aim of this series of trainings and rehearsals is to question the existing boundaries between the physical and the virtual, between remoteness and closeness, between art and life.

Thus, the virtual residency will run along 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 proposes to reflect upon the following questions:

• Can we move beyond the making of art objects in order to empower longer transformative processes?
• How can art and life assist each other to disrupt everyday social, political, and economic canons?
• Can we imagine a counter-model to conventional art residency formats that envision organic and dissident infrastructures [to institute otherwise]?

 

Over twelve virtual gatherings led by Barcelona-based artist and researcher Pau Catà, these are collective moments of participation and encounters that aim to punctuate our everyday narratives through (1) creative engagements with archetypes, (2) ritualistic micro-actions and participants’ interventions, and (3) long breaks, unproductive moments, and silences. As well, every two weeks the residency will connect participants with invited guests (TBA) who will nourish our encounters with performative acts and dialogical moments. 

Participating in the residency is open to all engaged in experiments around critical self, communal care, and post-capitalist attempts. The Union do not expect the applicants to make a project proposal in advance or at all; the residency allows new ideas to develop without pressure on the completion of a piece of work or project, rather focusing on the process-oriented aspects of the artistic practice: thinking, practicing, exploring, refreshen, slowing-down and experimenting on issues, challenges, and lifestyles originated since the Covid-19 outbreak.

Practical information
Applications should be sent in via the following form, click here.

Who can Apply?

Artists living in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Artists with collective and collaborative practices are welcome to apply, however, individually.

 

NB!

This residency edition is open only to artists based in the Nordic/Baltic countries

Nordic-Baltic countries are Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. (with the exception of Norway).

* Norway-based artists cannot apply, however, Norway artists based in another Nordic/Baltic country are eligible to apply.

Deadline for Applications: 28 February 2022 at 23.59

Announcement of grantees: 7 March 2022

Number of participants: 5

Participants grant [all selected participants will receive an economic incentive]: 1500 EUR per participant

Location: Online via Zoom 

Language: Second-hand English

Organizers & Participants: The Union, artists Martinka Bobrikova, Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez, and Oscar de Carmen

Facilitator: Independent curator Pau Catà

Observer: Independent curator Håkon Traaseth Lillegraven

Invited guests: TBA

Jury: The Union, Pau Catà, and Stacy Brafield.

If you have any questions, you can contact us via the.union.oslo@gmail.com

 

Team

Pau Catà is an artist, curator and researcher based in Barcelona. He is the initiator of CeRCCa – Center for Research and Creativity Casamarles, an art residency loacted in Llorenç del Penedes (Catalonia). Since 2017 he is also the co-coordinator of NACMM – North Africa Cultural Mobility Map and Platform Harakat. His artistic and research practice centers on epistemic diversity, inventive methodologies, nomadology and chronodiversity. He has recently been awarded a practice led PhD in Art by the University of Edinburgh. https://paucata.cat  /  https://platformharakat.com / https://aneventwithoutitspoem.com 

 

Håkon Traaseth Lillegraven (b.1992) works as a curator and mediator in Oslo, Norway. With a background in film production from Denmark and a bachelor from Central Saint Martins (London, UK) he currently works as Head of Mediation at Fotogalleriet, a small to medium-sized institution in Oslo, Norway, and as a freelance curator for both artist-run initiatives and larger institutions. He is interested in how experiences from art mediation and observation of the social and spatial conditions for the presentation of art can inform and produce less normative and more hospitable exhibitions and art experiences.

The Union. Established in 2020 by Oslo-based artists Martinka Bobrikova, Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez, and Oscar de Carmen, The Union is a new experimental mediation platform committed to experiments in a sociality that goes beyond self-dom by proposing collective ways of living in the world and the art field today. www.theunion.no

This residency edition is made possible with the kind support from Nordic Culture Point.