PRACTICES OF CARE / Open Call / Residency dedicated to the artists from the worldwide

KAIR Košice Artist in Residence is launching an open call for a three-month residency dedicated to professional artists from around the Globe that deal with the theme of care and how it is enacted, expressed, and institutionalized in different contexts. The residency aims to encompass 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.

Period of the three-month residency: July – September 2024 

Applications deadline: June 9th

Results of the open call: June 14th

Theme: Practices of Care

Through the lens of contemporary art, the project aims to stimulate discussion about the values, ethics, and structures underpinning different care practices and their interconnectedness. We are seeking artists who reflect at least one of the following issues through the visual arts or their overlaps into the scientific disciplines:

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. 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 Earth? 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.

General Eligibility

Professionals with a sustained practice in contemporary visual arts or related areas.

There is no age limit.

ABOUT KAIR

KAIR Košice Artist in Residence is an international residency program dedicated to artists worldwide 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 public. In recent years, the residency program has focused on connecting individuals and sharing responsibility with the world during a common global crisis (environmental, political, economic, social, etc.).The residency program provides a cozy two-bedroom apartment, two separate studios, approx. 20 m2 in size, suitable for visual or interdisciplinary artists, and they are connected to the Šopa Gallery, where most of the residency activities will take place. 

Website: kair.sk

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

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

The residency offers:

• free accommodation in a shared apartment
• free studio space
• a fee of  500 € (gross)
• connection with the local cultural scene
• curatorial, production and PR support

The expectations from the artists:

• participation at the Meet & Greet event to get in touch with the local audience
• one individual presentation, lecture, or workshop during the residency stay
• final studio presentation of the outcome at the end of the residency 

The application form must include three documents in English and PDF format:

• CV
• portfolio where the candidate’s interests and research topics are clear (max. 10 pages)
• cover letter (please describe your motivation and project proposal relevant to the theme of the open call)

>>>>>TO APPLY, PLEASE FILL OUT THE REGISTRATION FORM<<<<<

Comittee: representatives of KAIR (Petra Housková, Tatiana Takáčová, Monika Pádejová), external curator (Erik Vilím)

Contact and further info:

Petra Housková / petra.houskova@kair.sk