I feel very privileged to have taken part in Proyecto’ Ace’s first online residency – Together Apart.
Group Screenshot
Proyecto’Ace is an Artist-in-Residence International Program founded by Alicia Candiani in 2005, located in the Barrio de Colegiales in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The program acts as both, a platform for production and reflection on contemporary artistic practices and a link between the invited artists and the City of Buenos Aires´ rich cultural community. Through production, research and urban-community intervention residencies, it fosters interrelationships t with other artists and contexts, promoting exchange, discussion, experimentation and collaborative work. At the same time, the program generates and expands artistic-cultural networks at national and international level. (Proyecto’Ace)
The residency consisted of four sets of at least three hour online sessions and one personal feedback session. The programme was focused on the theme of ‘Shelter’ and unfolded over three strands:
- My shelter
- Our shelters
- Future shelters
My reasons for signing up were:
- Connecting with other artists with diverse perspectives
- Feedback from artists beyond my peer group and who don’t know my current work
- Growing my confidence in my work
- Building new networks
I also really liked the philosophy of the residency and ‘ace, which seemed very collaborative and supportive.
Bootcamps are short term, intense training sessions designed to prepare participants for a specific practice. We have defined this ART-bootcamp as a temporary shelter for artistic practices, thinking it as a space for intense learning and exchange. Since it is conformed by a diverse group of artists it is also a good opportunity to work on several artistic, conceptual and social skills through a playful and convivial environment.
We were inspired with the idea of a recreative (Re-Creative) camp, that activity in which individuals have a temporary and transportable on-site residence. The camp has some survival in conditions that are not those of the comfort of the house. Due to the lack of comfort that the camp usually represents, it is recommended exclusively for those people avid for adventure and who can resist the inclemency metaphorically speaking!
Sometimes life presents us with situations that exceed our capacities and COVID-19 is one of them. Today we, as artists, confront having difficulties that can push us to the limit and make us question whether we have the strength and will to keep going. At this point we have two options: let ourselves be defeated and feel like we have failed or overcome and come out stronger. There is a word for this: resilience, which is the human capacity to flexibly assume extreme situations and overcome them. Moreover, resilient people are not only capable of overcoming the adversities that they have experienced, but they go one step further and use those situations to grow and develop their potential to the full. This is our goal, to look for new ways to approach our practice and adapt to these new times. (Proyecto Ace)
The first session was an opportunity for introductions and an overview of the ethos and approach of Together Apart. We were set the first exercise based on the theme personal shelter, which was then presented at session two.
During our introductory session we explored different meanings and philosophies behind the concept of shelter, and it was the notion of ‘nest’ that kept coming to mind for me. I decided to make that the foundation of my piece given that I had a nest that had been dislodged during the recent storms. I have done activities like this before for college and I know one of my weaknesses is overthinking and being too ambitious about what I can achieve in the time. I wanted to keep the concept simple and clear. What emerged was ‘Nothing at all,’ (more details of the project can be seen here).
Nothing at all…
I really enjoyed this first exercise and was pleased that it came together relatively quickly with little difference between my planning sketch and the final photographs. Not least because we had to upload on the Tuesday before the next meeting on the Wednesday which felt like a very short period. I was keen to keep it linked to socio-digital practices so it did not feel like a complete diversion from my developing practice. The feedback I got was also very positive.
Exercise Two: our shelters
We were randomly assigned to groups of three. I was working with two other artists across three different time zones and different languages. We met twice via video link and created a shared folder for uploading joint work. After an initial conversation we brought together some images by association and then worked on compiling a joint piece.
Exercise Three: future shelters
This time we were assembled into new groups, again working across time zones and languages. Following our initial discussion we collated a group of key words which we each responded to individually and then one of the group created a compilation.
Throughout the sessions we were given advice, resources and extensive references from the ‘ ace team. I appreciated the theoretical rigor as much as the introduction to new artists. I also have an extensive list of other sources of artist residencies, which I’m looking forward to following up.
