Switzerland

The Embassy of Foreign Artists, a residency programme in Geneva, is launching a series of calls for themed projects, open to all types of practice. There are three themes artists can apply for: 'Art and Citizenship: Looking at the world with a critical eye', 'Art and Science: Exploring scientific issues through art', and 'Art and Stories: Giving form to archives'. Residency periods are available in blocks throughout 2021, lasting three or six months.

To contribute to the ongoing prominence of Amazonian female art in the international context, CULTURESCAPES in partnership with Festival LABVERDE is offering a three-month residency in Basel, Switzerland, between August and October 2021. Female and LGBTQIA+ artists from different fields and cultural backgrounds who are from the Amazonian Region (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guianas) and have a solid level of English are welcome to apply.

Connect South Africa will grant a funded residency to one artist from Switzerland and one artist from Southern, East or West Africa, with residency activities split between CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva and the array of optical and radio astronomy observatories across rural and urban South Africa. Connect South Africa invites submissions from artists with a distinct interest in an interdisciplinary approach, and a keen engagement with scientific thinking and fundamental science.

The tri-continental project ‘Quilombo’ will involve an exhibition, a three-month residency in two Swiss cities, and the production of a catalogue. Activities take place in summer/autumn 2021. Individual or two-person applications are welcomed from Congolese, Brazilian and Swiss artists, and are open to all disciplines that imbue a research-based practice.

Over the course of 2021 & 2022, the Sommerakademie Paul Klee (SPK) programme involves selected residents in public lectures, closed-door seminars, and access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and technical support at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB) – but also teaching opportunities in the form of workshops at the HKB. This call is addressed to applicants residing within an approx. 1000 km radius of Bern for in-person participation, or anywhere in the world for digital participation. Europe-based applicants with an international/migrant background are particularly encouraged to apply.

LABOR, an ephemeral urban laboratory, is calling for proposals for BIVOUAC. Selected artists will work to produce a project at La Rasude, a central district in Lausanne that is currently closed to the public. The call is open to professional artists but also to architects and anyone concerned in their professional field by urban development. On-site work is scheduled to take place 1-31 May 2021 ahead of public events 4-27 June 2021.

Organised by the free dance scene in Freiburg, LABORMANIFEST will run 23-27 March 2021, with a programme including professional training sessions, opportunities for artistic exchange, sharings of work in progress, a series of labs, and a final panel discussion. Artists from Basel, Freiburg and Strasbourg can apply to participate in the exchange.

Artists of any nationality or creative discipline are invited to submit a project proposal involving research and production phases during a two-month residency at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva. The artist will also have the opportunity to expand their research and test its applications during a one-month residency in Barcelona. Individuals and collectives may apply for the residency, which will take place in 2021.

Fabrik Burgdorf and the city of Burgdorf run an annual artist-in-residence programme. Each summer an artist – from Switzerland or abroad, no age limits – can spend 2 to 3 months at the Fabrik. The residency is mainly for visual artists, but artists from other (‘silent’) disciplines can also apply.

The Jan Michalski Foundation lies at the foot of the Swiss Jura Mountains in Montricher. Its residency programme is open to all types of writers engaged in literary creation. While they give priority to writers and translators, the Foundation are also open to any other disciplines as long as writing is at the heart of the project. Stays in the Jan Michalski Foundation can be granted for individual projects or projects in pairs, and can last two weeks, one month, two months, three months or six-months. The next wave of residencies will begin from February 2021. Applications are open internationally. Deadline: 14 September 2020.