Residencies are among the few places left where artists can escape the pressures of the market, devote time to themselves, engage the other and sally forth for research and experiments that do not happen in their daily studio practice. Although the phenomenon of artistic residencies started more than one hundred and fifty years ago with an aim to escape the routine, the facet of escape is still one of the most important raison d`être for residencies. The location (remoteness and exoticism), travelling, and hospitality are therefore the focus of discussion on the present and the future of residencies. What does it mean nowadays to be physically and mentally remote? What are advantages and disadvantages of residencies located in naturally, politically or socially exotic places? How close are such residencies to cultural tourism hubs?

Main Topics:     
REMOTENESS – escape, exotic location, cultural tourism, hospitality.
RESIDENCIES’ ROLE – level of engagement in the resident’s life, in the local community, in the art world, in the education and (artistic) research community; reputation and influence, models and ethics of host-guest or curator-artist relationship, diversity of artistic production or residency results, evaluation of results.

Next to the above this Res Artis Regional Meeting will:
-          Expose a rather unknown region – former Soviet Union – to its Nordic partners and participants from other parts of the world;
-          Provide learning opportunities for emerging residencies and discussion opportunities to experienced residency operators;
-          Involve artists who have rich residency experience as critical evaluators;
-          Offer more time to interactive exchange and less time to panel presentations.

Target groups:
The meeting is open to Res Artis members and non-members, i.e. present and potential residency operators from:

-          Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
-          Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)
-          Eastern partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine)
-          Nordic countries (Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden)
-          Russian Federation

The acceptance of registration will be prioritised to representatives from the above-mentioned regions but is not exclusive to those. Financial support will be offered to selected participants from Central Asia, Eastern Partnership Countries and Russian Federation.

The Res Artis Regional Meeting Vilnius-Nida is organised by Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts in co-operation with Res Artis and Arts Printing House.

Contact:
Res Artis, [email protected]
Nida Art Colony of the VAA, [email protected]