Urban Bodies is an international artistic residency hosted by Spazio13 in Bari, Italy, from 1 October to 27 November 2026. The programme will welcome four international artists and cultural practitioners to investigate the relationship between contemporary migration, urban transformation and the body as a site of memory, negotiation and belonging.
The residency takes place in the Libertà neighbourhood, one of Bari’s most densely populated areas and one of the urban districts with the highest concentration of foreign residents in the city. Libertà is marked by significant socioeconomic fragilities, while at the same time, it is one of Bari’s most dynamic urban thresholds. Urban Bodies starts from the recognition that contemporary Mediterranean migration is entering a phase of increasing intensity and complexity.
The programme will unfold through four phases: territorial research and community encounter; co-creation and design; artistic production; and public restitution. The residency will select four European artists, cultural practitioners, designers and researchers, specifically one profile for each of the following fields:
- performance, theatre, dance, movement, sound and embodied practices;
- visual arts, photography, video, installation, public art and image-based research;
- material design, spatial practices, ecological design, craft and experimental making;
- sociology, urban studies, cultural research, participatory research and socially engaged artistic practices.
The residency will cover subsistence, accommodation, transport related to mobility and programme activities, as well as the spaces, technologies and materials needed to develop the work.
