Open call for Re–Directing: East Curatorial Residency and Seminar “Designing Futures”

Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art and Biennale Warszawa invite professionals such as curators, organizers, researchers and art managers to apply for a one-month-long residency.

The Re–Directing: East is a peer-learning workshop, a curatorial seminar, extended site exploration and a research opportunity for a group of six individuals working together with the teams of U–jazdowski, Biennale Warszawa and local actors. The participants are expected to share their experience and understanding of respective artistic and socio-political contexts and to actively participate in the discussion on alternative models of the transnational collaboration as a form of practicing planetary commons. We’d like to widen our political imagination, formatted by both neoliberal TINA ideology, identity politics and right-wing politics of memory, and speculate about the possible future relations between the former Eastern Bloc, Middle East and North African countries, focusing rather on the commons, than on the cultural differences, discussing possibilities of creating alliances and forms of solidarity beyond the framework of nation-state. This curatorial residency is a platform for developing a possible working collaboration with U–jazdowski, Biennale Warszawa and other parties concerned in the years to come.

The residency will be devoted to work with curators and experts on a project of a new transnational institution, which would transgress the international initiatives based on the concept of nation states (such as the UN) and think about new models of representation and new democratic, equal and ecological futures. In the beginning of the residency the participants will take an active part in the transnational assembly in the frames of Biennale Warszawa, where they will give individual presentations.

The month-long residencies:
June 2019

Submission deadline:
January 6, 2019

The results will be announced by:
January 28, 2019

Selection will be based on the professional excellence of the applicant’s work, the relevance of past projects and interest of the applicant in relation to this year’s topic of the seminar and their one-page paper proposal – a draft of the presentation that aims to project an institution of the future and/or to propose a new, speculative model of relations between Central–Eastern Europe and Middle-East and North Africa.

We strongly encourage curators and researchers based in and/or working in the North African, Middle Eastern and Arab countries to apply.

Due to the programme agenda, aimed at creating collaboration opportunities, applicants must have sufficient command of English to communicate with the U–jazdowski’s and Biennale Warszawa’s staff as well as other residents and to take an active part in the public programme. 

What we offer:
–Individual living space connected with working space
–A grant of 3200 PLN
–Reimbursement of travel costs
–Customised programme of lectures, presentations and study visits in and outside Warsaw
–Admission to the Biennale Warszawa and U–jazdowski programme
–The possibility to take an active part in the Biennale Warszawa 2019 transnational assembly
Please note that we do not cover visa fees or insurance costs connected to visa applications.     

How to apply:
Please send an electronic version of your application in one document to the following e-mail: opencall [​at​] u-jazdowski.pl —preferred format: pdf (in English).

The application document should include:
1. professional work experience in the form of a portfolio containing descriptions of up to five projects
2. a cover letter
3. a paper proposal (max. 300 words), outlining the presentation which will be developed by the applicant prior to the residency and presented in the frames of the transnational assembly about future relations between Central–Eastern Europe and MENA region, which will happen in the beginning of the residency as a part of Biennale Warszawa.
4. your CV.
Please label the portfolio as follows: your surname_your name_application.pdf.