Open call to participate in the Ukrainian-Austrian Art Residency (UAAR)

For the first time, Mystetskyi Arsenal and the Austrian Cultural Forum Kyiv present a joint international project, the Ukrainian-Austrian Art Residency (UAAR), aimed at strengthening the international connection between Ukrainian and Austrian artists and supporting them. In 2021, the residency invites visual artists from Ukraine and Lower Austria to participate in the Temporary Un/Availability program.

Digital technology, the proliferation of hybrid images, and the growth of the register of Internet tools have created a foundation for the multiplication of optics and increased the possibilities of the ‘presence effect’. In conditions when the world periodically narrows down to a space of a room, the network becomes almost the only opportunity to go beyond, overcoming time and distance. The residency project aims to identify ways of exploring a place through work with the local context(s).  
The program Temporary Un/Availability focuses on exploring and reconsidering the concept of place in conditions of absence of physical access to it, its memory, historical and social contexts. Artists will analyze how the study of the digital image expands visionary possibilities and provokes the creation of digital poetic language.
The residency will be held in a hybrid format (online and offline) and provides cooperation between pairs of artists from Austria and Ukraine. The result of the project will be an exhibition of participants of the residency in the space of the Laboratory of Contemporary Art Mala Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal.

Timeline and description:
● 1 July — 26 August — online program: presentation of the artistic practice by the participants; dividing into pairs for further collaborative work in the project; lectures from invited artists and theorists; weekly discussions and creation of the project; discussion of the exhibition in LCA Mala Gallery.
● 19 — 23 September — offline program: arrival in Kyiv; meeting with actors of Kyiv cultural scene and visiting artists’ studios; collective discussions of the exhibition; set-up; opening of the exhibition.

For whom:
● Visual artists who work with: video, photography, installation, mixed media, text, use online tools, and digital editors.
● Emerging artists and artists with experience of exhibitions and residencies (middle career artists).
● Artists ready to create a joint project in collaboration with a participant from another country; to communicate online; to participate in group discussions of projects every week; to make a public presentation of the project.
● Residents of Lower Austria or Ukraine.

The residents of the program are provided with travel costs, accommodation, per diem in Kyiv throughout the offline residency period, a production budget for the implementation of the joint project, and an honorarium in the amount of €400. Artists will have mentorship guidance, full access to the space of the LCA Mala Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal, and project production support.
The deadline for the applications is May 31, 2021. How to apply: https://bit.ly/3vvry3z

Ukrainian-Austrian Art Residency is an annual art project organized to strengthen international collaboration between Ukrainian and Austrian artists and cultural actors.
The residency is organized by Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex (Kyiv) and the Austrian Cultural Forum Kyiv in cooperation with the state of Lower Austria, Office of the Government of Lower Austria, Department of Art and Culture.Share: