Group Discussion 7: Residencies: disaster or blessing for artists and the visual arts?

(as proposed by Janwillem Schrofer, Rijksakademie, The Netherlands)

moderator: Edit Molnar, Director of Contemporary Image Collective (CiC) in Cairo

This session will explore the positive and negative impact that residencies can have on artists’ work and career path.  While the cultural exposure and professional networking that result from the residency experience is highly sought-after by artists, some voices have expressed reservations.  These critics fear that careers based solely on residency participation can risk a continuous state of geographical and cultural nomadism.  The result is an over-dependence upon contextual factors and a lack of stable artistic development, rendering the interaction between the artist and the host culture markedly one-sided and ultimately inert.  Residencies which produce hyper-journalistic work which simply documents the socio-political context of the host society are one of the less desirable outcomes of this dynamic.  How can the residency experience play a significant role in an artist’s career while avoiding the pratfalls of uprootedness and superficial cultural reflection?

Statements for Discussion

1. Is it important for artists to participate in residency programs? Why? What is the explanation for the emergence of professional residency artists that travel from residency to residency? Did we create a new career path?
   

2. Residencies can give stimulus for experiment and production. Mobility constitutes one of the conditions for professional development of artists and organizations.
   

3. Within residencies, artists can establish a certain independence, creating an interface between the mental studio and the dynamics of art market(s).
   

4. What problems emerge when mobility is at the epicentre of an artist’s work?
   

5. Residencies increase tendencies for dependence on external factors (superficial sources, curator as 'regisseur', power play of residencies and their supporters, financial vulnerability).
   

6. Increasing mobility and 'nomadism' cater for a hype of journalistic / semi-documentary art.
   

7. Mobility risks creating a situation where the artist is isolated on a local level, both in the host country and at the place he or she comes from.
   

In order to ensure lively debate and leave room for in-depth discussions, we will be limiting the number of people per group to a maximum of 15 participants. We therefore invite you to send us an email stating what sessions you would like attend by March 17. Places will be available on a first come first serve basis.