Practices of care

AIR Wro and K.A.I.R. Košice Artist in Residence invite visual or interdisciplinary artists, based or coming from Wroclaw or Lower Silesia region to take part in the three-month residency in Košice, Slovakia.

From February 5 to March 5, we invite you to submit your projects around the theme of practicies of care that explores how care is enacted, expressed, and institutionalized in different contexts. Residency aims to encompasses a wide range of formal and informal practices that promote a holistic perspective and contribute to the well-being and support of individuals, communities, and the environment.

Through the lens of contemporary art, the project focus to stimulate discussion about the values, ethics, and structures underpinning different care practices and their interconnectedness.

We would like to ask artists, curators, or researchers to analyze the present situation, think about the future, and address one of the following issues through visual arts or their overlap into scientific disciplines, sound art, new media, literature, or performance:

Rediscovering slowness: In today’s fast-paced, performance-focused times, and meeting goals and the needs of others, one often forgets to take care of oneself – returning to oneself can be seen through the magnitude of time. By rediscovering slowness, we can fully experience our being, identity, and perception of the body and physicality through everyday experience, interaction with the world around us, interpersonal relationships, and memory.

Coexistence: The global crisis appeals to building and supporting future relationships, connecting individuals, and caring for loved ones, social groups, and communities. The issue of protecting the human rights of all without distinction, including LGBTQ+ people, is coming to the fore to empower minorities, improve their self-image, and expose the stereotypes that are still present in the minds of a significant proportion of the population.

Common experience: We are all experiencing the personal and emotional impact of a common global crisis (ecological, economic, social, etc.). Many of us share feelings of fear, anxiety, and vulnerability. Shared experience is a reasonable basis for togetherness, a mutual search for solutions, and an appeal for change in times of crisis.

Care of the planet and non-human beings: What can we do to improve this world and the future of the planet? How can we draw on historical facts, context, and experience? What do scientists and scholars tell us? To find solutions, we must try to understand nature again. One of the ways is through the so-called queer ecology, which aims to break the binary and change the way humans interact with the external environment. Queer ecologists strive for a world in which human and nonhuman beings are less divided and more intertwined and interdependent than ever before.

WHAT WE PROVIDE:

accommodation in a shared apartment
studio space
a fee of 600 € (gross) per month
a production budget of 400 €
reimbursement of the travel costs (the most favorable connection) up to 200 €
curatorial support
connection with the local cultural scene
production and PR support

WHAT WE EXPECT:

participation at the Meet & Greet event to get in touch with the local audience
one individual presentation, lecture or workshop during the residency
final presentation of the outcome at the end of the residency
artist speaking fluent English

Make sure you are able to spend at least 80% of your residency time here in Košice.

HOW TO APPLY?

Fill the ELECTRONIC FORM in English, in which the following documents are required:

applicant’s CV (specifying the details of an artistic career)
portfolio (max 10MB, where the candidate’s interests and research topics are clear)
statement of interest (max 300 words)
short description of the project you’d like to work on (up to 1000 characters)

Applications are filled out through an electronic form, which can be submitted until March 5, 2024. For consultations, possible questions (Q&A) and concerns, please send an email to: airwro@instytutkultury.pl.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

During the selection process, the jury will give priority to the artists who:

are active; even students can apply if they are already active in their practice;
reflect one or more topics of the KAIR project in their application;
are based or coming from Poland; they do not need to be citizens of the country but do have to be established on the local scene.

RESIDENCY PERIOD:

The residency will be realized within the period April – June 2023 (the date of arrival is variable).

APPLICATION DEADLINE:

Selection results will be announced on the 16.03.2024 at the latest.

Committee: representatives of the AIR WRO (Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka, Karolina Jaworska), representatives of K.A.I.R. (Petra Sedlák Housková, Tatiana Takáčová, Monika Pádejová), external curator Erik Vilím.

ABOUT HOSTING PARTNER:

Košice Artist in Residence is an international residency program for artists from all over the world and all artistic disciplines and expressions. KAIR strongly focuses on creating international cooperation between Slovak and foreign artists and art organizations. Since 2011, artists have had the chance to work in the inspiring environment of Košice’s singular cultural surroundings, realize art projects, collaborate with the agile local art scene, and present themselves to the local and national public. In recent years the residency program has focused on connecting individuals and sharing the responsibility to the world during a common global crisis (environmental, political, economic, social, etc.). The program aims not only to analyze the current situation but to look critically at its consequences and the near and distant future. KAIR also provides opportunities for Slovak artists to travel for residencies in cooperation with its partners. The residency program offers two separate studios approx. 20 m2 in size, suitable for visual artists, and they are connected to the Šopa Gallery, where the residency activities in Košice will take place.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/KosiceArtistInResidence

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kair.residency/

CONTACT AND FURTHER INFO:

airwro@instytutkultury.pl

AIR Wro‘s:
Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka: + 48 799 041 119,
paulina.brelinska@instytutkultury.pl

Karolina Jaworska: + 48 508 491 809,
karolina.jaworska@instytutkultury.pl

KAIR’s:

Petra Sedlák Housková: petra.houskova@kair.sk