COLLEMACCHIA

Residency dates:Sun 23 – Sat 29 August 2020.
Apply by: midnight Wednesday 15 April 2020.

This group residency has been devised by The Museum of Loss and Renewal in partnership with artconnexion, Lille. The Museum of Loss and Renewal’s curators are Agents of Change / Agents de Changement with artconnexion in 2020-2021, working with the organisation to stimulate its evolution through key concerns such as a renewed dialogue between artists, citizens and society. The Group Residency is a means to collectively investigate and reflect on a site and to present its conditions and possible futures, resulting in public exposition. 

The residency is offered for creative practitioners working in all creative disciplines and for those who have a strong interest in the investigation of site. Applications from other fields where site is used to develop, document, explore, explain, interrogate, plan and propose such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, geography, geology, geotechnology, history, landscape design and writing are welcomed. 

FOCAL POINTS OF THE RESIDENCY

- Creative practices
- Interdisciplinarity
- Technologies
- Co-learning
- Individual practice
- Collective platform for encounters
- Experimentation
- Site in flux
- Future 
- Humanity and nature
- Exhibition and seminar outcomes
- Outcomes presented internationally

APPROACH

The group residency will provide a partially-structured and hands-on programme to enable residents to develop their skills and understanding of how to investigate site as part of a creative practice and for public presentation. The residency experience is designed to stimulate new ways of thinking and experimentation through production, research, co-learning and presentation. Residents will work collectively and individually. The residency is devised around the idea of ‘people, place and time’ and the programme will be situated in and around the municipal community of Filignano, Italy. Structured around a set of innovative co-learning modes, participants will investigate the location that comprises of a cluster of contemporary villages, residing amidst Samnite and Roman settlements, all accessible by foot. 

In addition to each resident’s individual work, there will be a final outcome in the form of an exhibition at artconnexion, Lille curated by The Museum of Loss and Renewal, with a related thematic seminar at the University of Lille, France in 2021.

The aim of this residency is to investigate the site collectively, focussing on issues including history, humanity and nature, land-use, labour, economy, the socio-political and climate crisis in order to imagine its future role. A central concern is how creative practices can present new ways of imaging and shaping our future worlds in the face of multiple crises, whether ecological or existential. Of immense historical importance since pre-Samnite times, the area and its people has been defined by two world wars and waves of migration caused by economic poverty. The landscape presents the evidence of this activity, as contemporary citizens attempt to reinvigorate their community while experiencing the effects of an aging population, the introduction of new community members due to international refugee and migrant crises, increasing depopulation in the region resulting from lack of employment and the subsequent re-wilding of the terraced landscape, and climate crisis.

Alongside individual practice, the residency will have a focus on co-learning and knowledge exchange, creating opportunities to learn from each other. An emphasis will be placed on ‘banking’ knowledge, with participants contributing to an emergent, guided situation based on a number of operating principles. A series of group sessions supported by specific co-learning models will enable you, without hierarchies, to explore your own practice and the residency’s focus: ‘Counter-mapping’ (guided on-foot exploration of territory), ‘Slow Siting’ (24 hour clock replaced by a new method of sharing and understanding site), ‘Micro-Macro’ (close-looking at resources to interpret nature and man’s impact) and ‘Storytelling’ (custodian of local museum, architectural historian) will focus on attention to detail and the residency location’s place in and relation to the wider world. Value will be given to the individual knowledge and experience of each resident in sessions that gather and ‘think-with’ modes of working in contemporary practices. By producing collectively the residency will investigate why it is necessary to identify, activate and actualise diverse publics for contemporary art locally, regionally and internationally. The Residency Programme will be facilitated by Amanda Crabtree (cultural producer and researcher, director of artconnexion) and Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen (artists, educators and curators of The Museum of Loss and Renewal; residents of Collemacchia). 

By presenting and discussing key subjects such as experimentation (focused and embracing possibilities of failure), analogue-digital relationships, methods and approaches for investigating site, and modes of public presentation, we aim to facilitate an ongoing creative dialogue between making and being while immersed in the stunning environment of Collemacchia’s mountain landscape itself.

Opportunities for participants to share work in progress will happen throughout the residency, enabling conversations and peer support. Surrounding this loose structure, there will be time to develop your own work and to experience the local environment.

LOCATION

The residency is located in Collemacchia, a small village within Italy’s National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, a protected area of exceptional significance and beauty. Engagement with the natural world begins on the doorstep and the mountainous landscape offers an excellent environment for reflective practice. The ancient, undisturbed and extensive terrain holds a rich and complex history visible in the area’s architecture, customs, agricultural lands and forests. The area is sparsely populated by villages that are largely trilingual Italian-French-English due to the large community of emigrants who continually move between European nations, stemming from economic migration dating from approx. 1850. The village has been home to Tracy Mackenna’s family for centuries and the curators of The Museum of Loss and Renewal foster strong links with the local community which is highly supportive of the Residency Programme.

FACILITIES

Residents are accommodated in two recently renovated, comfortable houses situated a couple of minutes walk from each other. Houses have fully equipped kitchens, bathrooms, sitting rooms etc. A variety of bedrooms are available. Central heating. Internet throughout. Cleaning is included in cost. Group Residencies are fully catered by our wonderful cook, with an emphasis on local produce.

Studio space is located in two buildings, situated a couple of minutes walk from each other; recently renovated, and include indoor and outdoor making spaces, and desk space. Internet throughout.

FACILITATORS

The residency will be lead by Amanda Crabtree and Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen.

Amanda Crabtree co-founded artconnexion in 1994, an international organisation based in Lille, France which has produced an extremely diverse and highly influential series of contemporary art and educational projects. With its credo ‘only connect’, the organisation has a unique interest in creating connections between artists and their audiences. artconnexion produces citizen-lead commissions based on a protocol designed to enable those confronted by questions that society raises, or local development issues to take the initiative of associating with an artist via the commissioning of an artwork. The organisation has implemented over thirty major commissions in various domains such as heritage, social, medical, education and environment. Amanda also directs the Master's programme 'Art & Society' (University of Lille) which focuses on the production of contemporary art works within the museum context or as part of the public realm. 
https://www.artconnexion.org

Tracy Mackenna (Prof Emerita; SCO-IT) & Edwin Janssen (Dr; NL) are the founders and co-curators of The Museum of Loss and Renewal. Their collaborative art practice is a creative and discursive site where production, presentation, exchange, co-learning and research meet. The Museum of Loss and Renewal’s key areas of focus are social relationships, the way places are inhabited and how personal objects reflect who we are. Tracy & Edwin work with international partners to devise and present multifaceted exhibition projects that address issues of societal concern such as well-being, aging, end of life and sustainability. Tracy and Edwin are highly experienced, award winning educators who have devised and lead multiple group learning projects situated within the international museum and gallery sector, and higher education.

RESIDENCY FEE

The Residency Programme is operated on a non- commercial cost covering basis, and is financially supported by The Museum of Loss and Renewal in order to keep fees low. The residency fee is €930 (Euro), to be paid by the artist. This fee includes accommodation in a variety of spacious rooms with full board (3 meals each day). Ingredients are mainly locally sourced and meals are prepared by our excellent cook, Alessandra. Special diets can be catered for.

A deposit of €310 (Euro) will be required within three weeks of accepting a place on the residency. The remaining balance of €620 (Euro) is payable six weeks in advance of the residency start date.

You will be responsible for funding and organising your own travel, your own insurances and any visa requirements particular to your country of origin. Detailed travel information will be supplied (closest airports Naples, Rome), and collection/drop-off at a local train station will be arranged.

We do not have external funding for this project, so regret that we are unable to offer assistance with fees, flights, production costs or other subsistence. Typically, successful applicants source funding by applying to their national arts funding bodies, personal fundraising, or through academic institutional support. Formal letters of invitation can be provided to assist in this process.

Residency dates: Sun 06 – Sat 12 September 2020.

Apply by: midnight Monday 04 May 2020.

This group residency has been devised by The Museum of Loss and Renewal in partnership with Amsterdam-based The Future Publishing & Printing. It is offered for creative practitioners working with printed matter and publishing as an artistic practice and for those who have a strong interest in this area.

FOCAL POINTS OF THE RESIDENCY

•    Publishing as an artistic practice 
•    Independent publishing: possibilities and limitations
•    Collective knowledge
•    Materiality and form 
•    Individual practice
•    The book as a platform for encounters
•    Redefining the framework: from book to publishing
•    The art book versus the artist’s book
•    Natural environment of exceptional significance
•    Published outcome
•    Outcome presented internationally

APPROACH

The group residency will provide a partially-structured and hands-on programme to enable residents to develop their skills, and understanding of artists' publications and publishing. The residency experience is designed to stimulate new ways of thinking and experimentation through production, research, learning and presentation. Residents will work collectively and individually. The residency is devised around the idea of the book as a platform for creative encounters. By listening, looking and making residents will investigate image, text, typography, object and context relationships. In addition to each resident’s individual work, there will be a final outcome in the form of a collective publication with ISBN that will be published by The Museum of Loss and Renewal and presented at international events. The publication produced from last year’s residency was launched at the Printing Plant Art Book Fair in Amsterdam, and the group residents’ work will be featured this year by offline residency partner MAP magazine.

The aim of this residency is to provide a supportive and stimulating environment to develop your production skills and knowledge of artists’ publications, printed matter and publishing as an artistic practice. Alongside individual practice, the residency will have a focus on knowledge exchange, creating opportunities to learn from each other.

A series of group sessions supported by specific learning models will enable you, without hierarchies, to explore your own practice and the residency theme PLACE, PEOPLE and TIME: publishing as an artistic practice. ‘(Semi)Public Confessions of Guilty Pleasures’ will ask ‘what is your relationship to books and publishing?’, ‘Narrating the work of others’ will explore medium versus message, and ’24 hour book’ will enable the creation of a book from concept to physical object. 

‘Visual Dialogue’ and ‘Slow Looking’ will focus on attention to detail. An underlying theme of ‘Micro-Macro’ will connect the group to the residency location and to the wider world, in consideration of what one brings from a place and what is subsequently left in a place. Sessions will be facilitated by Vincent Schipper (Studio The Future / The Future Publishing & Printing) and Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen (artists, educators and curators of The Museum of Loss and Renewal; residents of Collemacchia) who will provide practical and theoretical mentoring. The residency will have an offline engagement with international relevant experts and like-minded initiatives that will provide bespoke content, expanding the residency in time and space.

You will explore various approaches to publishing as an artistic practice from historical and contemporary perspectives. By presenting and discussing key subjects such as analogue-digital relationships, platforms available to independent-publishers, small presses, artists’ groups and collectives we aim to facilitate an ongoing creative dialogue between making and discussing while immersed in the stunning environment of Collemacchia’s mountain landscape itself.

Opportunities for participants to share work in progress will happen throughout the residency, enabling conversations and peer support. Surrounding this loose structure, there will be time to develop your own work and to experience the local environment.

LOCATION

The residency is located in Collemacchia, a small village within Italy’s National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, a protected area of exceptional significance and beauty. Engagement with the natural world begins on the doorstep and the mountainous landscape offers an excellent environment for reflective practice. The ancient, undisturbed and extensive terrain holds a rich and complex history visible in the area’s architecture, customs, agricultural lands and forests. The area is sparsely populated by villages that are largely trilingual Italian-French-English due to the large community of emigrants who continually move between European nations, stemming from economic migration dating from approx. 1850. The village has been home to Tracy Mackenna’s family for centuries and the curators of The Museum of Loss and Renewal foster strong links with the local community which is highly supportive of the Residency Programme.

FACILITIES

Residents are accommodated in two recently renovated, comfortable houses situated a couple of minutes walk from each other. Houses have fully equipped kitchens, bathrooms, sitting rooms etc. A variety of bedrooms are available. Central heating. Internet throughout. Cleaning is included in cost. Group Residencies are fully catered by our wonderful cook, with an emphasis on local produce.

Studio space is located in two buildings, situated a couple of minutes walk from each other; recently renovated, and include indoor and outdoor making spaces, and desk space. Internet throughout.

FACILITATORS

The residency will be led by Vincent Schipper and Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen.

Vincent Schipper is co-founder of Studio The Future / The Future Publishing and Printing. Studio The Future is an experiment-focused and independent publisher based in Amsterdam. It was founded in 2013 by Vincent Schipper and Klara van Duijkeren, each of whom has a broad background in architecture, urbanism and artistic research. Their purpose is to give small and/or experimental ideas that could have a large impact, an opportunity to communicate through the print medium. Breaking away from the current idea of publishing and returning it to the more classical meaning of ‘making ideas public’, they create space and possibilities for a range of alternatives to emerge and enter our everyday discourse. By initiating, collaborating and co-creating, The Future publishes ideas through installations, exhibitions, research, artist residencies and events which inevitably lead to printed matter - books, magazines, pamphlets and such like. Though based in Amsterdam, they collaborate and distribute internationally.
http://printthefuture.nl

Tracy Mackenna (Prof Emerita; SCO-IT) & Edwin Janssen (Dr; NL) are the founders and co-curators of The Museum of Loss and Renewal. Their collaborative art practice is a creative and discursive site where production, presentation, exchange, co-learning and research meet. Publishing is a core component of their artistic practice. The Museum of Loss and Renewal’s key areas of focus are social relationships, the way places are inhabited and how personal objects reflect who we are. Tracy and Edwin work with international partners to devise and present multifaceted exhibition projects that address issues of societal concern such as well-being, ageing, end of life and sustainability. Tracy and Edwin are highly experienced, award winning educators who have devised and lead multiple group learning projects situated within the international museum and gallery sector, and higher education.

RESIDENCY FEES

The Residency Programme is operated on a non- commercial cost covering basis, and is financially supported by The Museum of Loss and Renewal in order to keep fees low. The residency fee is €930 (Euro), to be paid by the artist. This fee includes accommodation in spacious twin rooms with full board (3 meals each day). Ingredients are mainly locally sourced and meals are cooked by a local chef. Special diets can be catered for.

A deposit of €310 (Euro) will be required within three weeks of accepting a place on the residency. The remaining balance of €620 (Euro) is payable six weeks in advance of the residency start date.

You will be responsible for funding and organising your own travel, your own insurances and any visa requirements particular to your country of origin. Detailed travel information will be supplied (closest airports Naples, Rome), and collection/drop-off at a local train station will be arranged.

We do not have external funding for this project, so regret that we are unable to offer assistance with fees, flights, production costs or other subsistence. Typically, successful applicants source funding by applying to their national arts funding bodies, personal fundraising, or through academic institutional support. Formal letters of invitation can be provided to assist in this process.