Some territories may find their circumstances different to others with regards to government issued lockdowns and the re-strategising of arts funding. As there’s an uncertainty surrounding when physical art and exhibition activities will take place publicly. Numerous organisations launch online exhibitions and programmes. Wanting to ensure that the authenticity of a project is maintained, and not simply lifted from once part of a physical exhibition platform to now an online one, resulting in a loss of depth, we will look further into commissioning and understanding artist’s needs

The last few months have undoubtedly changed artistic practice. Until now, artists could exist in studio/residency territories, lab’s editing suites, as well as cafes to limit the costs of their activity. Today, during covid-19, an artist could find themselves in a position of struggling, re-strategising or thriving (due to new demand), and considering how they can make work in this time of lockdown. Most of them have been deprived of their working spaces, playing such an important role in their creative process. Many of which may now be facing the challenge of finding their place in the new normal, and shifting their work into their homes. 

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is announcing an open call for proposals for Art House – online residency programme, inviting Polish digital and visual artists to reflect on adapting in the times of the new normal.  For two months, without the need to leave their homes, 20 Polish artists in residence will be developing their artistic concepts for new projects, while consulting mentors who work for top institutions in the world, such as Serpentine Gallery, and V&A.  The mentors will help the artists pave their way to creating a prototype of their work, providing them with their expertise during their biweekly consultations. The mentors are: Sandra Gaudenzi (University of Westminster), Julia Kaganskiy, Maya Dvash (Design Museum Holon), Kay Watson (Serpentine Gallery), Janina Prudenko, Bregje Benecke (International Film Festival Rotterdam), Katharina Meissner (MUTEK), Hussain Currimbhoy, Christopher Turner (Victoria & Albert Museum), and Katrin Bucher Trantow (Kunsthaus Graz).  

ADAPTING IN THE TIMES OF THE NEW NORMAL 

Responding to a loose theme of ‘adapting in the time of the new normal’, this open call invites artists in any discipline to work within the new restrictions in place instigated by Covid-19. 

We invite artists to submit project proposals that either -
- challenge the notion of the theme by responding to it directly through the narrative of your proposed work or
- simply through working within your new surroundings differently to your everyday artistic style.

You may decide to transform your current living/working environment to develop new work in this manner, or you may decide to use this opportunity to respond to the theme directly and temporarily alter your practice direction. In either method, we strongly encourage artists to consider and propose how they may adapt during this time.

The call is open to artists working in the fields of: video art, animation, audio art, performance, 360° video, immersive virtual reality, augmented reality, web-based experience, social media, video games, motion comic, painting, graphic design, sculpture, and design.

The participants will be awarded scholarships of PLN 7,800 gross that will serve both as their fee and/or means to cover the cost of the necessary software, and materials.

The deadline for the proposals is the 31st of May, 23:59 PM GMT+2. The proposals are to be submitted by filling out the form: https://iam.pl/pl/form/arthouse. The candidate is required to accept the Terms and Conditions.  

The application must include:

-  the Artist’s personal data: full name, e-mail address, mobile-telephone number, address of residence..

- description of the project’s artistic concept in a textual form in the English language, not exceeding 5000 characters.

- link to the Artist’s web portfolio

- link to a video recording published online and presenting the artistic-project concept the Artist would like to develop collaboratively with the mentor.

- acknowledgement of having read and accepted these Rules in the submission form.

- selection, from the list available in the form, of 3 preferred mentors with whom the Artist would like to collaborate in the implementation of the Project

- Artist’s motivation to join the programme.

The creative brief is available  here.

The proposals will be measured by the following criteria: the artistic value (innovation, originality), the prospect for project’s development, and its relevance to the main theme, and feasibility of the plan to finish the prototype during the two-month residency period. 

The selected applicants will be announced on the 10th of June by email and on iam.pl

Subject to curatorial selection, a number of the artists in residence will be invited to present their prototypes at this year’s Digital Cultures – Imagined Futures conference.
 

An artist's studio can be considered a space for trial and testing, a space for the behind the scenes of crafting something to be completed, left as a work in progress or simply for generating  ideas. It can exist as a physical territory, fixed in its place, or a transient one that is modelled around the artist’s style of practice. It is primarily a space that meets the artist’s needs.

We are very intrigued in how artists will adapt their practice to consider welcoming different forms of resource, online engagement and user experience, research and archives, developing and editing software and of course moulding their homes into a sub-studio space. 

The partner of the Programme is The Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art.