Circolo Scandinavo is happy to have the opportunity to offer 5 grants in the frame of ‘Retake a place, reuse a space’, a one-year cultural project supported by Kulturkontakt Nord. Through a collaboration with Stalker, a collective practice based in Rome, Circolo Scandinavo invites Nordic artists and researchers to join local inhabitants, artists, architects, and experts, for a collective exploration of unused or abandoned urban sites in Rome, the Eternal City.
The project aims to create connections between the specificity of the local situation and a global context from an ecological, social, cultural, and economic point of view. Artistic processes will be at the centre of a collective exploration producing interdisciplinary connections and allowing for unexpected meetings and new perspectives on crucial global challenges.
The residency is part of the local cultural project La Zattera (The Raft) and the Scuola di urbanesimo nomade (School of Nomadic Urbanism), led by Stalker and part of the cultural season of the City of Rome. Participants from both the Nordic region and Italy will have the possibility to develop artistic projects and knowledge building, with a focus on the reuse of existing urban sites, in parallel with the activities offered by the cultural programme of La Zattera. Spaces for work and study will be available at Circolo Scandinavo and Noworking, a studio managed by Stalker in the neighborhood San Lorenzo.
The situation of Rome will be used as a starting point because of its specific long history of reusing urban heritage, from monuments and historical events to small pieces of marble spolia in a church wall or ruins turned into parks and artificial landscapes. The project is a collaboration between Circolo Scandinavo, Stalker, South Iceland Biennal and Umeå school of architecture/UMARTS. Several collateral activities will take place on South Iceland and Umeå in 2022.
The residence will be organised in order to allow all participants to follow all restrictions and regulations linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and for all events cautionary measures will be taken by the organisers to avoid the circulation of the virus.
The residency will last 6-8 weeks, running 23 October - 18 December 2021.
Expenses paid by the residency:
- Travel costs (one trip in economy class max 400 euros).
- Accommodation (single room in a shared apartment in proximity to the central areas where exploration will take place).
- Grant of 1500 euros/artist (or group of artists).
- Production costs decided together with organisers based on preliminary detailed budget and in relation to a shared global production budget
Artists and researchers born and/or living and/or working in the Nordic region can apply. Applicants can apply individually or collectively. In case of an application by a collective, the fee will be shared by the members of the group.