Türkiye’nin İstanbul dışında diğer kentlerinin ve farkı kültürel yapılarının Avrupa’da tanıtımına olanak sağlamayı ve karşılıklı kültür alışverişini desteklemeyi hedefleyen ”Benim Kentim” projesi, British Council’ın Avrupa Komisyonu Kültürel Köprüler programı kapsamında gerçekleştirilmektedir.

Türkiye ile Avrupa arasındaki kültürel bağları ilerletmeyi planlayan proje kapsamında Avrupa’dan beş saygın ve tecrübeli sanatçı, Türkiye’ye, ülkenin 21. yüzyıldaki kültürel zenginliğini ve çeşitliliğini tecrübe etmek üzere davet edilecek.

Aynı zamanda buna paralel olarak Türkiye’den beş sanatçı da Avrupa’nın ileri gelen kültür kurumlarında konuk sanatçı programlarına katılarak yeni işlerini sergileme olanağı bulacaktır. Berlin, Dortmund, Helsinki, Londra, Varşova ve Viyana’da gerçekleşecek olan programların son başvuru tarihi 21 Ağustos 2009′dur.

Programlara seçilen sanatçılar Eylül ayında gerçekleştirilecek olan 11. İstanbul Bienali sırasında açıklanacaktır.

‘Benim Kentim”, Avrupa Komisyonu tarafından desteklenmektedir ve Anadolu Kültür, Platform Garanti Güncel Sanat Merkezi ile işbirliği içinde British Council tarafından yürütülmektedir.
Başvuru formlarını buradan indirebilir ya da platform@garanti.com.tr adresinden isteyebilirsiniz.

My City
 European Residencies [MCER]


MCER, is a one-off programme to be realized between 2010 and 2011 for enabling visual artists from Turkey to develop their work in six prominent host institutions across Europe through residencies.

It forms part of My City, a new cultural initiative funded through the European Commission’s Cultural Bridges Programme, designed and run by the British Council in Turkey. The programme’s aim is to establish partnerships between artists and institutions in Turkey and Europe.

The My City programme has two strands: MCER and a programme of activities in Turkey around the theme of art in public space, including seminars, conferences and new commissions. Starting in 2009, five artists from Europe will be invited to Turkey to develop a unique work of public art for a specific city in Turkey. The selected cities are Canakkale, Istanbul, Konya, Mardin and Trabzon. Each of these cities has a unique story to tell and this project will give the artists the opportunity to take part in residencies and show their work at some of Europe’s leading cultural venues. The names of all participants will be announced during the International Istanbul Biennale in September.

My City has been conceived by the British Council together with Anadolu Kultur and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center. The project is funded by the European Commission and the British Council.


Goal 

The project goal is to enable visual artists to develop and reflect upon their work in a different European environment and culture. The residency also generates opportunities for making or extending contacts and for exploring and/or developing a new context as well as producing new work.

Who Can Apply?

My City European Residencies [MCER] grants are intended for visual artists. However, artists who are part of a collective or a multi-disciplinary team are also welcome to apply to the MCER.

In addition to work-related criteria, there are a number of conditions applicants must satisfy in order to qualify for a grant. All applicants must be resident in Turkey, and if they are not nationals of Turkey, they must have a valid residence permit. A good command of English and other relevant languages of the place of residence are required.

For precise details of the conditions, applicants are referred to the explanation accompanying the application form. If you require more information please contact: platform@garanti.com.tr.

Selection Process

MCER Applications will be reviewed by a committee of six professionals, including but not limited to curators, who have the experience in international residencies. There will be one representative each from Platform Garanti and the British Council.

The committee will prepare a short-list of three candidates for each institution for which the application was made. The final selection will be made by the European host institutions in consultation with the committee.

Host Institutions

Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw
, Poland is the premier interdisciplinary contemporary art centre in Poland and one of the most vibrant art centres in Central and Eastern Europe. The CCA has been supporting, documenting and presenting art since 1989. The audience consists of professionals, artists, students but also people unacquainted with art on an everyday basis.

The a-i-r programme, created in 2002 in the frame of the CCA international activity, is an extension and a complement of the ongoing dialogue between artists from around the world. The small scale of the a-i-r laboratory has allowed for an individual approach to each visiting artist by working in close dialogue with a curator. The CCA is interested in both site-specific projects and further work on projects initiated before arrival. The institution encourages an exchange between artists from different cultures and the local milieu. Publications (artist books, posters, catalogues) created during the residency stays at a-i-r laboratory are of great importance.

Presentations of the visiting artists’ works are incorporated into the CCA’s programme of events in the form of lectures, screenings, discussions, exhibitions and performances. Artists are encouraged to work in public space.

Workrooms are designed both for artists using traditional techniques and for those employing new media. There is a bedroom, a kitchen, a studio and a film workshop equipped with a camera, microports, lighting and editing computers at the disposal of the residents. Furthermore, a-i-r laboratory residents can benefit from the CCA’s technical background, library, reading room and videotheque.

Gasworks: Exhibitions, International Residencies & Studios, London
, UK
Founded in 1994, Gasworks is an art organization located in a three-story Victorian building in South London, between Vauxhall and Oval underground stations. It houses 12 artists’ studios – of which nine are rented by London based artists and three are dedicated to residencies – and offers a programme of exhibitions and events, artists’ residencies, international fellowships and educational projects.

Gasworks focuses on visual arts practice in its broadest sense, working discursively with UK-based and international artists to facilitate the development of their work. Gasworks’ programme is committed to providing a responsive context and to disseminating critical practices to a wider audience. Gasworks is part of the Triangle Arts Trust, an international network of artists and organisations.

As part of the My City programme, one Turkish or Turkey-based artist will be selected for a residency and a solo exhibition at Gasworks in Spring 2010. The residency will take place between 1 April and 30 June 2010, offering the selected artist a studio at Gasworks, accommodation and living expenses. The exhibition will open at the end of the residency, on 25 June 2010 and remain open for seven weeks, until 15 August 2010.

The artist will receive pastoral and curatorial support from both the residencies coordinator and exhibitions curator throughout the period of residency at Gasworks. The exhibition will be the result of a dialogue between the artist and the two curators and is expected to start prior to the residency period.

DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service, Berlin
Dates 3 months in the first half of 2010
The Berliner Künstlerprogramm was found in 1963 by the Ford Foundation as an artist-in-residence programme. In 1965 it was taken over by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst/German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). As part of the My City programme, the Berliner Künstlerprogramm is offering a three month residency in Berlin in the first half of 2010.

The aim of this programme is to promote an exchange of experience among artists and to foster their involvement with current cultural issues in other countries. Through numerous internal meetings and projects which are carried out in the DAAD Gallery or in cooperation with other cultural institutions, the Berliner Künstlerprogramm aims to establish contacts with local artists and personalities involved in Germany’s cultural life.

With their expertise, the visual arts team of the Künstlerprogramm will support the selected guest artist to realize a project developed during his/her stay in Berlin (for example a new piece, an exhibition, a public work, a publication etc.). In Berlin, the guest artist will have the opportunity to continue his/her work undisturbed and to participate actively in the city’s cultural life.

Visual artists who live and work in Turkey are encouraged to apply. They should be at the beginning of their career or not yet be widely internationally known. The invitation is issued in conjunction with a grant that allows for an adequate standard of living. It also includes a furnished apartment and a production budget. Artists who accept the invitation take up permanent residence in Berlin for the duration of the Berliner Künstlerprogramm grant.

Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
, Austria
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna has been a leading European training centre for artists for more than 300 years. The Academy offers a renowned team of professors in the arts and cultural studies department, including Pawel Althamer, Sabeth Buchmann, Martin Beck, Monica Bonvicini, Diedrich Diederichsen, Harun Farocki, Marina Grizinic, Matthias Herrmann, Tom Holert, Dorit Margreiter, Marion van Osten, Daniel Richter, Constanze Ruhm, Amelie von Wulffen, Heimo Zobernig and others. Theory and practice are regarded as necessary for the transdisciplinarity that is a common agenda in the arts and theoretical research. Disciplines such as painting, photography, sculpture, video, digital media, sound, film, conceptual art, performance, art in public space, gender studies, postcolonial studies, philosophy and aesthetic theory, art history are, among others, to be found at the Academy.

As part of the My City programme, this residency provides accommodation in the heart of Vienna, next to the Museumquartier (MQ) and the Academy. The apartment (89m²) has two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. The resident will have access to the labs and studios, ranging from drawing, printing and painting to photography, sound, video, digital media, performance and as well as the libraries. The Academy is interested in applicants with a strong international track record.

FRAME, Finnish Fund for Art Exchange, Helsinki

FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange provides services and acts as an expert body in international exchanges relating to the visual arts. FRAME, established in 1992, works within the Finnish Fine Arts Academy Foundation and is primarily funded by the Finnish Ministry of Culture.

FRAME currently collaborates with HIAP (Helsinki International Artist-in-residence Programme) for artists’ residencies. HIAP offers a residency on Suomenlinna island from for a period still to be negotiated from Spring 2010 onwards.

Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) Dortmund & Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany
As part of the MyCity programme, one Turkish or Turkey-based artist will be selected for a residency at Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund in spring 2010. The residency will take place between 1 April and 30 June 2010, offering the selected artist a studio at Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund, accommodation and living expenses. The residency takes place in the context of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010.

Hartware MedienKunstVerein and Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund are inviting visual artists exploring the artistic, creative and critical potentials of digital and electronic media to apply for the residency. However, media art is not understood as a technical genre. Rather, it is the topical and conceptual discussion of our contemporary world based increasingly on media and technological structures that makes for the contemporaneity of media art.

Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV)
Founded in 1996 in Dortmund, Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) serves as a platform for the production, presentation, mediation and contextualisation of contemporary and experimental media art. Since 1996 HMKV has realized over 70 exhibitions, film and video programs, workshops, lectures, symposia, performance programs and conferences at various venues in Dortmund (currently in the PHOENIX Halle, a spectacular 1895 factory hall measuring 2.200 square meters belonging to the giant former steel production plant of hoenix-West) as well as in other cities in Germany and abroad. Among the 40 exhibitions of the last thirteen years there were seminal projects such as „Reservate der Sehnsucht“ (1998), games. Computer games by artists“ (2003), „History Will Repeat Itself“ (2007/2008) and „Anna Kournikova … Art in the Age of Intellectual Property“ (2008). Through its strong commitment to the field of media art over the past decade HMKV has developed into a unique institution in Germany. HMKV’s exhibitions are characterised by their broad definition of media art and by positioning media art in the context of contemporary art. HMKV’s activities have received international recognition. In 2007 and 2008 HMKV has been nominated for the ADKV-ART COLOGNE Award for Art Associations. HMKV hosts since 2000 the grant program of the State of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) for media artists (f) from NRW. Since 2006 HMKV functions as the branch office of Medienwerk NRW which will host the International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA) RUHR 2010.

Künstlerhaus Dortmund
Since 1983 the artists’ organization Künstlerhaus Dortmund has been a non-profit space for contemporary and experimental arts. It is a place for all kinds of contemporary visual arts: Painting, sculpture, graphic as well as photography, film, video, installation and new
media. This spectrum can be found in the working fields of the members as well as in the group exhibitions, organized by the members exclusively for artists who are not members of the Künstlerhaus. By focusing on contemporary and experimental art, especially young, not
yet established artists are supported. In this way, the Künstlerhaus enriches the cultural scene of the city of Dortmund – consisting of museums and galleries with their economic interests, featuring mainly solo exhibitions – in a unique way. The Künstlerhaus creates free space for arts, offers optimal working conditions for artists from Germany and abroad and attempts to reach the interested public through direct and personal mediation. The Künstlerhaus frequently serves as a workstation for international guests to realize new and site-specific work. The interdisciplinary orientation of the Künstlerhaus Dortmund creates a constantly growing network of contacts to various national and international cultural institutions. Since 1993, the association “MeX” for experimental music is a continuous guest in the basement for intermedia and experimental sound projects. In addition, the Künstlerhaus cultivates the contact to the Hartware MedienKunstVerein, also located in Dortmund.