Cross-Cultural Collaboration

Cross-Cultural Collaboration

Collaboration between African Artists and European Artists

Art is dynamic. Art heals, connects, and evolves.

Art gives humans a sense of community and belonging. We at .Lab believe deeply in these values as well as in decentralization and diversity! We are experimenters within a digital environment and explore its enormous possibilities. Such possibilities of artistic collaborations can redefine the art world–they go against individualism and the glorification of the isolated artist. At .Lab we harbor principles of creativity through community; we want to kindle conversations and inspire dialogues. This is why we created this project, Cross-Cultural Collaboration (CCC).

For each open call, we invite one European artist and one African artist, specifically from countries with a shared colonial past, to collaborate artistically. The choice of pairing countries with a colonial history aims to ignite meaningful conversations. The historical entwinement also provides a common ground for the artists to start their projects. Both countries (and the selected artists) will often share the same language, contributing not only as an aid for connection but also as a tool for creation.  

For our second open call, we are looking for one German artist and one Namibian Artist. The artists are chosen individually by a jury of team members at .Lab. During the month of June, these artists will get to know each other through online meetings and activities mediated by a third party. And eventually, they will start creating an artistic project. The outcome of this collaboration is open-ended–it could produce an online exhibition, a presentation, or whatever the artists feel is appropriate for their work. 

We intend to support artists and create connections and learning opportunities in our shared, safe environment. We will achieve this by preserving and empowering the voice of both artists’ perspectives while engaging in global and intersectional discourses. This might seem like a challenge, but opportunities such as this have the potential to create significant discourse. The team at .Lab will mediate and help the artists work through the issues and conflicts that might come from virtual and geographically distant interactions. By connecting artists from these two continents, we are sparking interesting conversations and paving the way for a more unified future. 

Guidelines

• Must be a citizen and resident of Germany or Namibia.
• There is no age limit.
• Visual artists, new media artists, multidisciplinary artists, curators, etc. are all encouraged to apply.
• Must have access to a computer and internet.
• Must be available to attend virtual meetings with guest faculties, mentoring sessions, daily check-ins and activities. The participants are asked to submit materials weekly, documenting works in progress for our various social media channels.
• Each participant is expected to be prepared to dedicate time each day for research and creation. The participants must be in close contact to think and create a project around the artistic aspects and concepts that tied their work.
• Though not required, we highly recommend joining .Lab’s Discord server.

Remuneration:

• The selected artists will each receive a stipend of €600
• The work of the participants will be visible across .Lab’s platforms

Applications should include the following:

• Why do you want to participate in this collaboration, what are your intentions, and proposals on how you would like to participate in a collaboration? (max. 4000 characters)
• Examples of your work with appropriate captions (title, place, material, dimensions as appropriate). These can be images or links to online sources. (max. 10 MB)
• Biography (max. 1000 characters)
• Profile photo (max. 5 MB)
• Contact information (name, email, phone, website and home address).

Please note that any kind of hate speech and discriminatory content will not be tolerated.

The deadline for applications is May 18th, 2022. Selected artists will be announced and contacted via email by May 23th, 2022.

The selection committee is composed of the .Lab team.

Fill out the application OR send all the required information to crossculturalcollaboration.ccc@gmail.com

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the application or the project, please contact us at crossculturalcollaboration.ccc@gmail.com