In 2021 yáo collaborative (formerly China Residencies) launched the first iteration of the Digital Diasporas, a distributed, remote residency which gave artists the space to research, cultivate their practice, and convene across borders. Last year’s residents Tian Zhang, Amy Lam, and Casey Tang inspired many generative conversations and long-lasting connections about colonialisms in multiple contexts, sustainability and equity in arts practices, and all the ways in which we (human, non-human, and ecological) coexist in all our relations.
Digital Diasporas was a spacious opportunity for artists to do deep thinking and form cross-border connections without the pressure of producing a final product. This year, the open call returns for a second iteration with an additional residency host in the United States.
The programme seeks artists, collectives, and curators who self-identify and find it useful to gather under a ‘Sino and/or Chinese diaspora’ cohort. This is a time for research, exploration and learning, and for openness to collective, intercultural and cross-border development and research.
The organisers welcome experimental, digital, and/or research-based practices, and people who feel an alignment with and interest in any or all of the host organisations’ networks and programming. They are especially interested in ideas that explore diasporic cultures and spaces, flows of people, goods and capital, alternative community and kin-making, digital cultures, media arts, philosophies of technology and place-making – and any intersections of these.
Digital Diasporas will host:
- One person or collective who self-identifies as Chinese and/or Sino diaspora in or from Australia (citizen or permanent resident).
- One person or collective who self-identifies as Chinese and/or Sino diaspora in or from Canada (citizen or permanent resident).
- One person or collective who self-identifies as Chinese and/or Sino, regardless of what passport they hold or where they reside.
The remote, six-week-long online residency will be facilitated by three host organisations in May and June. Each resident or collective will primarily work with one host organisation in Australia, Canada, or the United States and all residents as a cohort will be in dialogue with one another through convenings. Each resident or collective will be awarded an unrestricted stipend of AUD $10,000 for their participation (CAD $10,000 for the Gendai Resident). Each host organisation will design a programme of remote/online mentoring, networking, research and development for the resident they host. The host organisations are:
- 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Sydney, Australia / the ancestral lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation).
- Gendai (Toronto, Canada / the ancestral territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples).
- Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, USA / ancestral homelands of the Lenape peoples).
