As part of BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art’s ongoing BALTIC | States residency programme, working with emerging artists and arts organisations from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and the wider Baltic region, BALTIC is pleased to announce a residency opportunity at Nida Art Colony in Lithuania.
The BALTIC | States residency programme enables artists’ research and professional development through a series of supported residencies at BALTIC Gateshead and partner institutions in the Baltic region. The participants are invited to respond to the current shifting geopolitical landscape in Europe and develop work which explores ideas around identity, citizenship and belonging. Participants are encouraged to find points of connection between the Baltic region and the North East of England, building networks with the artistic communities and creating dialogue which transcends borders and geographies at a time of rapid social and political change.
For the second residency in the BALTIC | States programme, BALTIC is collaborating with Nida Art Colony (NAC) to support an emerging artist based in the North East of England (County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside or Tyne and Wear) to spend two months in residence at NAC. The residency will take place from 1 February – 31 March 2020, and will provide opportunities for the participating artist to undertake a period of focussed research and develop new work.
The residency is supported with a £4,000 GBP artist's fee, a travel bursary, and a live/work studio space.
About the Partner Institutions
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art is an award-winning international art space situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead that has attracted over seven million visitors since opening in 2002. BALTIC’s vision is to create exceptional access to contemporary art in a unique setting that encourages and enables learning and transformational thinking. BALTIC presents a constantly changing, distinctive and ambitious programme of exhibitions and events, and is a world leader in the presentation, commissioning and communication of contemporary art.
Nida Art Colony
NAC Residency Programme
The residency programme at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (NAC) grants selected artists the opportunity to live and work in Nida, Lithuania for a period between two and six months. NAC is located in a remote UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by the unique landscape of the Curonian Spit: forest, sand dunes, a freshwater lagoon, and the sea. NAC is a subdivision of the Vilnius Academy of Arts and in addition to the international artist-in-residency programme, it organises educational projects and exhibitions.
The programme has the capacity to host up to five international residents at a time. NAC regularly works with visual artists and researchers who focus on history, ecology and politics, visual culture and interdisciplinarity. The programme is also open to designers, architects, and curators, as well as practitioners working with performing arts, sound, material research/craft, and film. In addition, proposals for a residency by professionals from other fields are always welcome. The programme is predominantly conducted in English.
The programme’s goal is to provide time and space for residents to focus, and through exchange, gain insight, broaden, and diversify the outlook. The programme engages residents in discussions with fellow practitioners, participants in the NAC artistic programme, and the Nida Doctoral School. NAC is collaborating with local cultural institutions and offers the possibility to organise presentations and engage with the educational programme of NAC by conducting workshops at local public schools.
Living and Working Conditions
Each of the five duplex residency studios have 65m2 of total space, and are equipped with basic kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and workspace infrastructure. Additionally, full access is given to the common spaces such as the library and the professional workshop (with laser cutting, wood and metal working tools, plus photo, video and sound equipment).
The atmosphere and life intensity in Nida depend on the season and programme of NAC. There are between 7 and 70 people staying at NAC at all times. From October through April, one enjoys solitude, occasionally accented by art professionals or students arriving for workshops or other activities.
Further information: http://nidacolony.lt/en">nidacolony.lt/en
Deadline for submissions: Friday 17 January 2020, 23.59
To apply please use the submission form to supply the following:
· A short covering statement explaining why this residency opportunity will be of benefit to your practice and an outline of the research you propose (500 words max)
· Your CV including full contact details
· Up to six images of current/previous work
Due to the expected high volume of applications, the successful artist only will be notified by Monday 20 January 2020.
Participants must be available to travel to Lithuania at the beginning of February 2020.