09 May 2017

Open Call ENGAGE Public School for Social Engagement in Artistic Research

Open Call ENGAGE Public school for Social Engagement in Artistic Research
OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS AND FOR CULTURAL AND SOCIAL MEDIATORS / CITY MAKERS
curated by Viafarini, in collaboration with BASE - A place for cultural progress

For further information and to confirm your interest please write to archivio@viafarini.org Fabbrica del Vapore, with documentation about your research.
Object: ENGAGE Public School
DEADLINE for application: 30 June 2017

ENGAGE is a training and research program, addressed to Italian and international artists, inviting them to spend a period of one week residency / workshop in Milan between 9 - 20 October 2017, in dialog with local social and creative mediators, aiming at researching and experimenting innovative ways of interaction between art practices and social sphere.

ENGAGE relies on the collaboration of organizations for intercultural dialogue and cooperation as Sunugal (Milan); the open call is communicated thanks to leading European and international institutions in the field of contemporary arts and culture – Futura Projects (Prague), Kooshk Residency (Tehran), Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Amsterdam), Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart), Delfina Foundation (London), Residency Unlimited (New York City), ISCP International Studio & Curatorial Program (New York City).

ENGAGE is a Public School, an educational format already tested at an international scale, based upon the horizontal and non-hierarchical interaction between artists, community and cultural mediators, encouraging communities to take part in the planning and reconfiguration of the urban environment, so as to create new knowledge and networks of collaboration.
ENGAGE project is based upon the role of artist as driver for social innovation and socially engaged practices, able to foster intercultural dialog, mutual understanding and social inclusion among people from different cultures and backgrounds in Europe.

The Public School invites 10 artists whose practice implies interaction with urban communities, as well as research-based practices studying contemporary collective imaginaries. We look for artistic practices interested in understanding the implications of the great change under way: from an artistic as well as social, political and anthropological point of view. The selection take into account the ability of the artist to foster communication between diverse fields of knowledge: from science to religion, from economy to politics, so as to overstep the self-reference of art-based discourse, aiming towards the creation of alternative models of public action.

The project aims to the creating new strategies capable of making visible and intervening in issue linked to transcultural dialogue and social and urban exclusion and vulnerability such as:
_ gender oppression;
_ racism and xenophobia;
_ discrimination and oppression based on religious belonging

ENGAGE Public School is also looking for 20 Milan-based cultural mediators / city makers, able to bring to the working committee the needs expressed by their respective urban communities. The Public School let the artists work according to the brief for social interaction presented by the mediators, who facilitate the dialog between artists and local communities.

The one week Public School workshop, that takes place in a week between October 9-20 2017 in Milan, is coordinated by PhD Simone Frangi, Viafarini chief curator.

The workshop allows to gather proposals for artistic interventions for the City of Milan, to be taken into account for possible production in the following months.

ENGAGE Public School covers costs for accommodation, food, and workshop tuition through dedicated grants.

_ During October and November 2017 artists draft proposals for artistic interventions to be realized in Milan, according to the needs expressed by local communities during the workshop;
_ From December 2017 until April 2018 ENGAGE evaluate the possibility for the proposals to be produced;
_ In May 2018 all the interventions and proposals are part of a show to be inaugurated at BASE, Milan.

For further information and to confirm your interest please write to archivio@viafarini.org with documentation about your research.
Object: ENGAGE Public School