Deadline: September 17, 2014
Nida Art Colony
Taikos str. 43
LT-93121 Neringa
Lithuania
“Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context” is a seven-week Artist Fellowship Program at NIDA Art Colony that looks at genealogy, or the epistemic context within which bodies of knowledge become intelligible and authoritative, as a point of departure in art production. It is aimed at any art or cultural production that exists within or in reference to social forms of resistance that coalesce in opposition to hegemonic structures. This could include sculpture, video, installation, public art, site-specific work, interventions, post-studio art, discursive formats, performance, queer/feminist or postcolonial work, and any other cultural production that does not take for granted or erase knowledge of the institutional container which frames art, discourse, and the legitimization of knowledge.
It is comprised of three modules: (1) A Geneaology of the Participant, (2) Law as Raw Material, (3) Foucault Lab. There are two components to the artist residency: one is the artist’s individual studio practice. The second is a think tank consisting of readings, presentations, discussions, performances, and text jams related to the three discursive modules, culminating in a group exhibition at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania, the largest museum for contemporary art in the Baltic States and the home of the Baltic Triennial, as well as a public presentation/series of panel discussions (created by artist residents) at the Reading Room of the Contemporary Art Centre.
Five to eight artists will be selected for the “Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context” Fellowship Program, each of whom will receive a 600 euro stipend, free housing, travel expenses to and from the NIDA Art Colony, and a small exhibition production stipend. “Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context” Fellowship Program will take place from November 1–December 19, 2014 and is curated by Andrea Liu. The exhibition at Contemporary Art Centre will take place from December 4–21, 2014.
Module 1: A Geneaology of the Participant attempts to unpack the different strands of polemics surrounding the notion of “activated spectatorship” in participatory art practices.
Module 2: Law as Raw Material conceptualizes law as an unstable field of contending epistemic claims and asks how art can suffuse or destabilize legal norms.
Module 3: Foucault Lab looks at the shift from a concept of power as external spectacle to power as an ongoing, pervasive violence.
Guest speakers:
Chto Delat (Russian art collective)
Jonas Staal (Dutch visual artist, founder of New World Summit)
Milo Rau (Swiss theater artist, founder of International Institute of Political Murder)
Julian Stallabrass (Marxist art critic, author of Art Incorporated and High Art Lite, Art History Professor at Courtauld Institute of Art, London)
Simon Sheikh (Program Director of Goldsmiths MFA Curating Program, Researcher at Former West)
NIDA Art Colony is located on a breathtakingly scenic peninsula of the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. NIDA Art Colony consists of five two-story (65 square meters) residences, equipped with individual artist’s studio, bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette for each artist. Find out more about the physical accommodation of the residency and take a virtual tour of the commodious artist studios, living spaces, and state of the art facilities of Nida Art Colony.
“Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context” is open to visual artists from any country working in any medium (i.e. installation, video, experimental pedagogy, post-studio practice, sculpture, performance, intervention, public art, sound art, etc.). It is also open to performing artists, theorists, and art writers. Queer artists whose work engages queer theory or issues are encouraged to apply. For details on how to apply, please see application instructions here.
The “Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context” Fellowship is not a pedagogical program, but a non-hierarchical platform for cross-pollination of ideas. The three discursive modules are merely “prompts” or catalysts for discussion. Though the conversations may begin with these topics, they may not necessarily end on them. Applicants will be selected based not only on their work and exhibition history, but their imbrication in and commitment to sociopolitical issues outside of “art proper,” their capacity to engage with theory and their potential to be dynamic actors in an experimental intellectual environment.
Collaborative teams can apply, with the understanding that only one stipend, one studio, and one living space will be allotted per collaborative team. Artists with activist backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Deadline: September 17, 2014
Contact for Skype interview: September 19–20, 2014
Final decisions: September 21, 2014
“Counterhegemony: Art in a Social Context” Postgraduate Artist Fellowship Program is conceived and directed by Andrea Liu.
