January 20–April 1, 2018
Casa de Campo
La Romana Dominican Republic
The Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI) is thrilled to announce its 2018 International Art Residency, in partnership with Altos de Chavón School of Design in the Dominican Republic. In its fourth and most diverse edition yet, the Davidoff International Art Residency welcomes creatives from five continents: artists Candice Lin (USA, 1979), Paul Maheke (France, 1985), Mimi Cherono Ng’ok (Kenya, 1983), and Jan Peter Hammer (Germany, 1970), as well as artist-curator Christopher K. Ho (Hong Kong, 1974) and writer Alejandra Villasmil (Venezuela, 1972). The residency will take place from January 20 through April 1, 2018.
Each participant embraces their respective creative strengths and experiences to actively engage within the social and cultural fabric of the Dominican Republic. Candice Lin (lives and works in Los Angeles) exerts an ethnographic approach and post-colonial critique to her video and sculpture practice. She is planning two projects, a ceramics dialogue with Altos de Chavón students that identifies resource extraction, global trade, environmental and labor issues; and research on the history of tobacco and its link to the birth of virology. Paul Maheke (lives and works in London) plans to embrace Black Caribbean and African perspectives and collaborations toward a new body of work, following his interest in imagining the body as an archive, a cartographic territory grounded in decolonial and emancipatory thought. Likewise, Mimi Cherono Ng’ok (lives and works in Nairobi) will direct her photographic practice toward emotional cartography, focusing on the universality of a felt experience and following her studies throughout the African and European continents. Jan Peter Hammer (lives and works in Berlin) plans to produce a semi-fictional video essay that will elaborate on the complex relationship between the Dominican Republic and its neighbor, Haiti, as well as a series of objects from this research material. Finally, pan-Latin American arts editorial hub Artishock Revisita founder/editor Alejandra Villasmil (lives and works in Santiago de Chile) will develop two workshops for artists and art students while engaging with local institutions and galleries; and artist-curator Christopher K. Ho (lives and works in New York) plans a “Critical Curating” collaboration with the school and the American institutions RISD and MICA where he teaches, which could culminate in a future group exhibition curated by Altos de Chavón students.
“It is vitally important to support local culture and artistic production at the source while strengthening connections within its wider region and throughout the creative world. The participants for this upcoming residency are truly international, with each contributing unique aspects from their respective backgrounds. Keen to immerse among the artistic community of the Dominican Republic, they will find enriching experiences and perhaps new perspectives on their work,” noted Albertine Kopp, Davidoff Art Initiative.
About the Davidoff Art Initiative
Davidoff Art Initiative supports contemporary art and artists in the Caribbean, strengthens art organizations, and fosters cultural engagement between the Caribbean and the rest of the world. It brings opportunity and visibility to the art and culture of the wider Caribbean region, including the Dominican Republic, where much of Davidoff’s production and many employees are based, and extending the company’s long-standing commitment to artistry, craftsmanship, community, and quality.
Davidoff Art Residency is the centerpiece of the Initiative, under which Caribbean artists are selected to work and live in leading residency programs worldwide—from New York to Berlin or Beijing to Bogota and Basel. In 2015, an exchange platform was established as the first group of international artists took up residences at Davidoff Art Studios, in the Dominican Republic’s leading art school of Altos de Chavon. As such, new connections are facilitated, ideas and knowledge shared, and horizons widened through programs that encourage artistic and cultural exploration within new fields and networks.
About Altos de Chavón School of Design, Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic
The Altos de Chavón School of Design is a study center of global impact and a pioneer in the teaching of art and design in the Dominican Republic. Founded in 1983, the school offers degree programs in all areas of art and design in both long and short format: Graphic Design, Fashion Design, Fine Art, Illustration, Digital Design, Interior Design, Photography, Film Production, and Architecture.
