Open call for artistic residencies Kaunas Tel-Aviv

Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 (Lithuania) in cooperation with Liebling Haus – The White City Center (Tel Aviv) is delighted to announce an open call for artistic residencies in modernist cities.

We invite you to submit your application for a short residency dedicated to the form of contemporary artistic interposition for listed cultural heritage sites. The projects will be presented in Kaunas in the frame of „MoFU”, and in April, Tel Aviv, within the frame of the exhibition „Architecture of Optimism: The Kaunas Phenomenon, 1918–1940”.

Kaunas and Tel- Aviv share modernism as a building style used to establish the city in the early years of formatision. Modernism is one of the most powerful avant-gard cultural stories related to migration, colonialism and the search of identity through art and architecture in the world. It continuously provides new, often not yet implemented opportunities for the formation of, local cultural identity and a sustainable approach of living in the city while creating an opportunity for a critical intercultural dialogue
Many of today’s modernist objects remain at “crossroads” due to aggravation, neglect, or other factors, and should be acknowledged again in order to be maintained for future generations. As our cities are subject to development pressures and challenges, sustainable development provides for the preservation of existing resources.

Kaunas-Tel Aviv cooperation addresses these challenges of protecting the global modernist heritage while anancing the global knowledge in the field:
– Promote Urban heritage, including its tangible and intangible components, in order to constitute a key resource in enhancing the liveability of urban areas
– modernist architecture often lacks recognition or attention for the value of historic buildings and favor for the newly built;
– involvement of community owner and users – modernist cultural heritage sites are often privately owned and therefore a bottom up sustainable approach of colatavating heritage values is essential for their preservation.

This residency aims to strengthen the narratives of the Lithuanian and Israeli modernist heritage as a medium of collective heritage, in order to reflect upon their current contemporary significance to the global community through site specific artistic interpretations.

We are looking for multidisciplinary artists whose projects would be based on locally conducted artistic research, leeding to a site specific interpretation of the cultural heritage in Kaunas and Tel Aviv. The project should promote a holistic and sustainable approach and question the importance of modernist heritage to the current and future generations.

The participants of the program should be carrying out artistic research related to one of the modernist buildings or sites located in Kaunas and Tel Aviv, while involving the local community, modernist property owners, experts and professionals in the field of cultural heritage and, last but not least, the general public. It will be required of them to develop an artistic interpretation of the modernist object, which would instigate a discussion accompanying the programme and the project itself.

Methods: Co-creation / inclusion of resident and local community (inhabitants of certain area of the city) in creation of new artworks and actions / research of local history, stories, legends, public spaces and memories, living archive / integrating and disclosing common European topics of modernist heritage and its contexts / active and passive interventions into public and/or private spaces / discuss and act in public.

Artists applying for the international residency in Kaunas or Tel Aviv will be required to obtain the following criteria:
– to develop an art work inspired by the Liebling Haus – White City Center (Tel Aviv) and House of Jewish organisation “OZE” (Kaunas);
– English language skills;
– to be able to produce [conduct] their artistic research between 1st May and 30th July 2021 on site for at least 7 days;
– to produce and subsequently present the said art work in a screening / exhibition in Kaunas / Tel Aviv.

The organisations commit to:
– An artistic fee of 1000 € (including VAT)
– Covering accommodation and travel expenses
– Ensuring an agreeable creative climate for a new production based on artistic research of the local context and collaboration with local researches and communities
– Boosting the visibility of guest artists and their professional achievements by including their projects into a bigger event – the final exhibition in Kaunas during the opening of European Capital of Culture in 2022; later (May 2022) – in Tel Aviv
– Promoting the project locally and internationally

Submission deadline will be the 21st of February 8 pm CET. You can submit your proposals here.
Please include in your application:
– CV
– Artistic portfolio
– Visual documentation of your work (PDF, 10MB max)
– Project proposal
– Additional visual documentation (3 photos/pictures/sketches max – optional)

Timeline:
21/02/21: deadline for submission
12/03/21: announcement of the two selected artists.
01/05/21-30/07/21: residencies
January 2022: final exhibition and publication

FAQ can be found via this link.