OPEN CALL
for the FLASH Virtual Residency: Absence & Presence
The Finnish Light Art Society FLASH invites you to apply for a five day artist residency that takes place via virtual interactions June 8 - 12 2020. The residency is free of charge and does not offer stipends or compensations for the artists. The application period begins May 15 and ends on May 25 2020. The selected artist will be informed on June 1 2020.
Send the applications with the headline FLASH VIRTUAL RESIDENCY to valotaiteenseura@gmail.com
As COVID19 moves across countries, cities, communities and homes leaving people separated, distanced, numbed and derived from their ordinary actions new states of being in the world take shape. Perceptions of what used to be, what is right now and what is to come are dynamically defining our lives in new ways.
FLASH Virtual Residency picks up on the dichotomy of absence and presence. We examine how absence, the state of being without the things that we used to know and navigate from, affects us. And we explore how presence, the state of being and existing in the current moment, fosters new awareness and creates value in new ways.
How does the premise of absence and presence redefine us and create new windows of opportunities and new meanings? How does the absence of physical companionship, the lack of gatherings and social activities affect our sense and acts of community? How does the absence of the physical places that we used to go to, the presence of touching, sensing and dealing with everyday objects that used to make up our everyday lives influence the way we work with materiality? And how does the scarcity of real life (interactions), human gestures and physical co-existence of people impact the way we work with interactivity?
These are the underlying questions that 3 international curators reflect upon as they put their individual curatorial practices and knowledge into play and guide the participants through current topics that are intrinsically linked to the topic of absence and presence - community, materiality and interactivity.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
The residency aims to create an online platform and practise of sharing, artistic research and public inclusion. The residency does not aim at a finished artwork at the end, but rather on the real-time presence, inspirational process and social sharing between artists, curators and the public. The outcome of the residency is the documentation of the discussions, public video streams and artistic prototypes and ideas in the form of a website.
The selected artists are expected to share their ideas, journals, texts, sketches, interviews and live-streams in the FLASH Virtual Residency website and for use in the publicity material for FLASH (non-commercial). The selected artists must consent to being recorded for future documentation purposes.
ELIGIBILITY FOR THE RESIDENCY:
Artists and creatives interested or working in light art from backgrounds such as, but not limited to: visual arts, music, theatre, dance, film, writing, design, photography, digital/interactive art, gaming, fashion, and architecture. The residency will be conducted in Zoom video conferencing in English. The letter of intent attached to the application should list the ways your work can contribute to the outcome of the residency, the web-site (in the form of sketches, journals, texts etc).
The residency is aimed at artists already working on an artwork of their own. In preparation for the residency the letter of intent should contain a description of the artwork(s) or project(s) the artist wants to focus on during the residency and how the works relate to the themes of the residency.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE RESIDENCY:
Over the course of the week, the artists will have several online sessions a day with the curators, the other residents, the guest lecturers and the public. The aim of the discussions is to open up the dichotomy of Absence and Presence from multiple points of view and to start addressing it with artistic practise. All the discussions and lectures will be documented and published on the FLASH Virtual Residency web-site.
The residency is scheduled as a full-day, morning to late afternoon residency (daily schedule TBC). The days revolve around a relaxed schedule of morning coffee, lectures, discussions, individual working time workspace visits, curatorial talks and evening tea.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO APPLY?
- A project or an artwork already started and in the process, that you want to focus on during the residency
- a computer with a webcam and microphone
- internet connection
- the Zoom application (free, get it here https://zoom.us/download)
THE APPLICATIONS SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
In one pdf-file max. 10 MB:
- your contact information (name, address, email, phone, website)
- letter of intent explaining why you are applying and a description of the artwork or project that you would like to focus on during the residency, as well as the ways you plan on contributing (sketches, journals, texts, etc.) to the outcome of the residency (the web-site)
- brief informative CV (max. 1 page)
- portfolio
Send the applications with the headline FLASH VIRTUAL RESIDENCY to valotaiteenseura@gmail.com
ABOUT FLASH
The Finnish Light Art Society FLASH was established to promote finnish light art and artists & designers in Finland and internationally. The association organizes exhibitions, education and other events, informs about important issues and takes a stand on topics related to the field of light art. A long-term goal is to set up a center of light art in Helsinki.
More information from the FLASH Virtual Residency website:
https://flash-virtual-residency.webnode.fi/
The residency is supported by AVEK https://www.avek.fi/
