Call for curatorial project and residencies 2020–21

Curatorial Project
The Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art (National School of Art/ENSA) in Bourges is housed in a 17th-century building in the Old Town. Bourges itself is in central France, two hours from Paris. Covering some 7,000 square metres, the school offers its students extensive workspaces plus well equipped technical workshops that are regularly renovated and updated.The School is qualified to award a National Postgraduate Degree in Fine Arts—a Master’s—and its emphasis is on the kind of inventiveness and creativity that are only possible in a setting where interpersonal exchange and ideas are part of the everyday scene; this is a generous, receptive place conducive to artistic encounters and intermeshings. The teaching programme is part of a study and research context whose constantly evolving methods stimulate creative thinking, open-mindedness and discussion, while also sparking students’ curiosity and combining practical applications with critical analysis.

The La Box gallery is one of ENSA’s principal teaching tools. Every year it features artists from France and abroad in ten exhibitions relating to the study programme.For more than ten years now the gallery has entrusted part of its planning to young guest curators. Chosen and monitored by the ENSA teaching team, the curators work on experimental programmes involving the active participation of the students, who thus find themselves in close contact with major figures on the contemporary scene and with the realities of drawing up an exhibition project.

The overall budget for the curatorial project is 25,000 EUR. This sum includes production and transport of works, communication and publishing costs, artists’ travel and accommodation costs and travel expenses for the curator(s), up to a total of 20,000 EUR; plus curator’s expenses up to 5,000 EUR. The curator’s fee will be paid on presentation of an invoice (company registration number required). The project may also include financial input from other private or public sources

Download application form pdf format

The candidature application must be sent by email, in PDF format to curateurslabox [​at​] ensa-bourges.fr before March 31, 2020 midnight
Shortlist of 4 applications: April 2020
Applicants interviewed by the selection committee: May 2020
Initial proposal of a schedule for January/April 2021: June 2020

Residencies 
Each year since 1991 the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art (National School of Art/ENSA) in Bourges, has been providing residencies for young artists, with the financial backing of the Regional Cultural Affairs Office (DRAC) and the Centre-Val de Loire Region.

These residencies are intended to give young artists from France and abroad the opportunity to carry out a personal artistic project connected with the School, its teaching, its students and other external partners.The winning candidates are chosen by a jury comprising one representative each from the Regional Cultural Affairs office, the Centre-Val de Loire Region and the Centre Region Contemporary Art Collection, together with the School’s director, three members of the teaching staff, the La Box team, and an art world personality.

The successful candidate will be awarded a three-month residency during the academic year at a period to be decided on. He or she will receive a grant of 3,000 EUR, a production budget not exceeding 2,000 EUR and a publishing budget not exceeding 2,000 EUR.

Download application form pdf format 

The candidature application must be sent by email, in PDF format, before March 31, 2020 midnight to residencesartisteslabox [​at​] ensa-bourges.fr