RESIDENCIES

During the project lifecycle, a number of residencies were envisaged to be organized and implemented across the countries of the consortium. 

Residencies took place: 

  • in Italy, where participants visited high and low pastures, walked across the mountains, attended dedicated lectures by specialists in the area, and were guided across the surrounding landscapes (natural and built), as well as offered the opportunity for site-specific investigations, 
  • in Spain facilitating empathic and sustainable art creation through training with vulnerable groups for social inclusion and change,  
  • in Bulgaria, where the residency focus has been given to the creation of a performative story, focusing on artists’ own resilience and sustainability, and 
  • in Greece, and particularly in Vorres Museum, taking advantage of its natural environment (a paradigm of Mediterranean gardening redefined in the light of climate change and sustainable approach). 

During each residency, participant artists gave a two-hour presentation of their work to the public and students on the last day of the residency.  

The residencies offered the artists the chance to work with international collaborators (curators, cultural professionals) and make new work at their equipped venues. The residencies will culminate in the host partner presenting the work to the public. 

The residents have been selected through an open call

EMPACT Artistic Residencies: Meet the Artists!

Ana Pečar

Ana Pečar’s video-based practice revolves around intangible, subtle, yet expressive scenes of nature. Spanning installations, photographs and ambient interventions, Pečar works to offer contemplative spaces, buffered from the outer fast pace world.

Andria Zachariou

During the residency Andria Zachariou intended to work based on the walks in Italy and collect the memories of it, resulting in creating art directly inspired by the significant walks around the landscapes. Andria did an installation with the natural materials collected.

Mirian Kolev

Mirian Kolev​ residency project envisaged field recordings of the general sound background characterizing the area and specific sounds from the environment. As a final result, Kolev resented both a sound installation and a live musical performance.

Lea (Evangelia) Petrou

During the residency, Lea Petrou intended to investigate the natural, geographical, historical, social, and political characteristics of the Taleggio Valley in Bergamo and incorporated different materials and techniques, like drawings, writing, collage, embroidery and interviews, based on walking techniques, in order to create a series of imaginary maps of the Valley.

Kaja Rakušček

During the residency, Kaja Rakušček​ took Taleggio valley as a case study, focusing on air and the locals’ relationship towards it; and initiated conversation about the air that they breathe and how it affects them. This resulted in a sound installation showcasing different conditions that can arise from breathing polluted air.

Venelin Shurelov

Venelin is inspired by the notion of walking (as art) as a means of exploring the relationships between time, distance, geography, and scale. He stats “I am curious about the local specifics of the place. I believe that aesthetics is a social event rather than a visual one.” The media that Venelin used is video, performance, drawing, custom electronics.

Alva Moca

During the residency Alva Moca​ painted/printed with the sun as a tool and produced a portrait of our civilization for an unknown and unfiltered look through a list of characters on the edge of the human, in a society paradoxically more inhuman. From the technique of cyanotype and screen printing, Alva’s work arises from the observation of the reality that surrounds him.

Veredas Lopez

“Within this universal greenhouse, marked by multiple crises and war conflicts, the small bubble that she managed to control was the germ of the project. A bubble that encompasses her daily routine, her fears, her questions, her secrets… The chosen title, Eshora, focuseed on the importance of ACTION.”

Andrea Davanzati

During the residency Andrea Davanzati​ planned to celebrate the structural geometry of animals such as insects and bird nests and introduced the nature in its construction, built using natural wood or stainless steel or other materials.

Dimitris Savva

Dimitris Savva​ accomplished a live-electronics performance “Watering” that explored the impact of underwater sound pollution on aquatic species. The project featured live water sounds and underwater recordings from Sozopol’s seas and rivers.

Giulia Pellegrini

Giulia Pellegrini​’s work titled Benthos (o bentos, from ancient Greek βένθος, «depth»). Her work talked about the Black Sea, its marine ecology (now threatened by the degradation of its biodiversity and habitats) and how we can preserve it. The aim is to bring this environment back to life.

Konstantinos Kotsis

During the residency Konstantinos was interested in investigating and focusing on the challenges that Madrid is facing considering the public space in terms of accessibility, inclusivity and communal spirit, pointing out the relationship between human and non-human entities and the bodies of water within the urban environment of the Spanish capital.

Margherita Isola

Artist and performer of Mediterranean origin, trained in contemporary dance, since 2007 she works as a visual artist mixing different practices and media: textile art, embroidery, performance, dance, collage, installation, public art and community works. Isola addresses issues related to feminism, migration, capitalization of Gaia, in order to rethink new forms of coexistence and interconnection.

Rebecca Sforanzi

Rebecca explored the local territory and traditions through walks, interviews, sound mapping, drawings, and videos. The community had the opportunity to create an (im)plausible local constitution that takes into account the rights of nature and its needs and desires about the society.

 

12-days Residency for five artists 

Italy 

Nature, Art & Habitat Residency 

4 July – 15 July 2023 

12-days Residency for three artists 

Greece

The Vorres Museum

31 July – 11 August 2023 

12-days Residency for three artists 

Bulgaria 

National Academy for Theatre and

Film Arts “Kr. Sarafov” 

26 August – 6 September 2023 

12-days Residency for three artists 

Spain 

Espacio Rojo 

18 September – 29 September 2023