The motherland of street art, your favorite daily updates, check the latest walls, exhibitions, books and much more. The world is one.
the street is our gallery
The motherland of street art, your favorite daily updates, check the latest walls, exhibitions, books and much more. The world is one.
B#Side War invites local and international practitioners and thinkers (such as artists, writers, performers, curators, researchers, cultural managers, and academics), for a one week retreat on
the Carso Upland, providing them with the opportunity to research and develop individual or collaborative projects that engage with the cultural, social, political, and environmental memory of
the iconic Carso landscape.
Within the logics of the European symbolic geography, the Carso Upland figures as a natural border with the Balkans, and more generally with the “Eastern World” since the Middle Ages and
the Colonial Empires. It was subjected to barbarian invasions, and later marked a watershed with the Ottoman empire. It functioned as either an ambiguous, transitional zone or a battlefront between civilizations. The Carso Upland was in fact the last piece of the Western world, until it was militerialized during the cold War.
Due to its history and strong aesthetic landscape (evocative atmosphere, carso soil, windswept trees, cotinus shrubs or smokebushes, and red and orange foliage), the Carso Upland
represents an iconic site that is connected in the collective imaginary of Italian people to a painful past, which yearns to be revised through new perspectives. Located on the border between Italy and Slovenia, the Carso Upland is a site where the histories and collective memories of various ethnic groups, including Slovenian, Italian, Istrian, Bosnian, and Serbian, are entangled. The area of the Carso Upland has been severely damaged by the XX century conflicts (the
inhabitants are used to saying that the red leafs which are typical of its shrubbery are in fact “painted by the blood that was spread here”). An emblematic landscape, on the one hand, and virulent articulations of identity, on the other, have characterized the area, instigating many
questions regarding identity, cultural citizenship, and linguistic and cultural hybridity.
B#Side War has always focused on artistic and experimental interventions that explore the strong symbolic power and significance of contemporary arts to probe the depths of our
individual and collective consciousness, dissolving the trauma of war (which is silently and unknowingly transmitted from generation to generation) and bringing us into contact with the human experience of those who lived through the conflict. This residency is driven by a central ethos to establish a dialogue between residents, local and international artists and curators, who are willing to explore the potential of the Carso Upland as a site of creative cultural production,
while particularly highlighting the intellectual and aesthetic dynamics of the divergent cultural experiences present within the site. The residency functions as a setting for knowledge sharing that invites thinkers and practitioners to collaborate and develop artistic, social and/or community-based projects, exhibitions, writings, and other outcomes.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES AND SPECIFICATIONS
● The residency will take place from 21st of July to 28th of July (we expect to welcome the participants Sunday the 21st, in order to start active work on the 22nd).
● The residency is open to national and international thinkers and practitioners who are willing to immerse themselves and explore the region’s social and cultural landscape.
● For the application, prospective residents are asked to send a CV and their portfolio.
They are further encouraged to specify whether the intended outcome of their proposal is oriented towards a production-based project (installation, land art, film, exhibition), or whether they intend to create another specific outcome (talk, workshop, seminar, writing
etc).
● Application has to be sent to: [email protected]
● The cost of participation is €300. Housing and flights are excluded, however we will provide assistance in terms of housing and transportation.
PROGRAM
21st July: Welcome party in the evening.
22nd – 26th: A range of activities are organized for participants, such as artists studio visits, meetings and discussions with fellow curators, museum directors, and cultural agents that represent the area, as well as visits to the historical sites, important land art installations and galleries.
27th July: Participants are invited to organize a small event to share their insights.
28th July: An organized visit to the Venice Art Biennale (participation is optional).
You may consider a modest donation — however much you can afford, when it comes from the heart, it’s the kind of gesture that makes us warm with appreciation.
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