06 Apr 2017

Open call for proposals: Reconstituting Rurality

The discourses around public art have become thickly intertwined with those of cities and urban development. Little of this discourse, however, has addressed the specificities and disruptions presented by the notion of rural publics and rural public spaces. As an artist-run organization, located in rural Sweden, dedicated to long-term, place-based research, Rejmyre Art Lab in collaboration with Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (NAC) invites proposals for the upcoming seminar Reconstituting Rurality. The seminar will convene at NAC over a three-day period and include a combination of presentations and practice-based exercises exploriing contemporary experiments in rural public art. Artists, architects and curators working with developing the notion of rural publics and rural public art are encouraged to apply. Limited funding is available for selected participants from the Nordic and Baltic region via support from the Swedish Institute.

Rural Resistance aims to think the space between the drive towards rural existence in artistic practice and its relationships to other attempts to constitute rural space as a place of retreat, a site for clandestine study and a refuge for resistance movements throughout history.

Application instructions
Potential presenters, please send a short summary (one-two paragraphs) of what you would like to share, how it relates to the seminar theme and the format you would like to do it in (lecture, discussion, workshop, performance etc). E-mail: info@rejmyreartlab.org by April 14th.

For those interested in participation without presentation, please send a short summary of your interest in the seminar theme. E-mail: info@rejmyreartlab.org by April 14th.

Selected participants will be notified by April 17th.

Meals and accommodation for 3 days/nights, with one to two other participants (separate rooms for males and females): 85 €
If you have special requests regarding accommodation contact: julija@nidacolony.lt

Recent graduates from MFA-programs (graduation 2016 or 2017) are also welcome to apply for Rejmyre Art Lab's one week post-MFA workshop in Rejmyre, Sweden: Rural Resistance 5-11 august 2017, which will build on the outcomes of this seminar. For application instructions for the workshop, please visit Rejmyre Art Lab's website.