Curated by Anca Rujoiu, Akademie Schloss Solitude together with ARC Bucharest invites artists and collectives to foreground the relational quality of solidarity. With Solidarity is a verb, we strongly encourage practitioners to shape a continuous production of relation grounded on common differences. While projects can inhabit the web as a space to practice solidarity, this open call encourages in equal manner initiatives that unfold on a local or translocal dimension beyond the screen, whereby the interconnection between off- and online should be taken into account.

General Idea

In multifarious ways and different economic and political circumstances, artists and cultural practitioners have imagined and shaped modes of connectivity and togetherness. Our present and future hinge on collective action and assumed interdependence between and beyond places, between and beyond humans. The restrained mobility and the prolonged state of stillness we are experiencing on a planetary scale provide the impetus to reconfigure and construct new alliances from below, thus moving away from financially viable networks shaped by the market. This open call foregrounds the relational quality of solidarity, its ability to articulate politics and construct collective agency as a necessity of now. New and existing artist collectives, practitioners across the fields of art, design, writing, and performing arts invested in collaborations and collective approaches are invited to submit proposals.

Solidarity as a verb is situated in the realm of doing and imagining. First, this understanding acknowledges that one cannot take for granted forms of relationality and pre-existing communities; we need to continously construct and sustain them. Solidarity as such is always intentional and process-oriented. Historically, solidarity embodied colonial attitudes, it has been idealized and limited to prerequisites of sameness and identification. Shifting from a shallow understanding of »global sisterhood,« feminist thinkers reclaimed solidarity as a continuous production of relation grounded on common differences and politics of location. »The most principled way to cross borders« (Chandra Mohanty), solidarity can account for significant similarities while intensifying encounters with contextual differences , have a political basis rather than strictly biological or national, remain attuned to one’s immediate locale while reaching outside. Lastly, solidarity as a verb entails a definition of solidarity as an inventive practice (David Featherstone) that can shape unexplored ways of relating and expand the boundaries of a community with whom we stand in solidarity. In times of severe state and military control, artists have circumvented limitations of resources and mobility and stretched their locality through heterogenous initiatives from residencies, festivals, and mail-art communication to publishing and editorial endeavors. In the spirit of such past initiatives, this open call encourages practitioners to imagine new ways of negotiating distance and proximity. While projects can inhabit the web as a space to practice solidarity, this open call encourages in equal manner initiatives that unfold beyond the screen, whereby the interconnection between off- and online should be taken into account.

Format

Proposals can involve analogue means and low-tech, physical gatherings where possible and safe. Projects do not need to be conceived from scratch; ongoing initiatives (such as existing associations, networks) are welcomed.

Grant

For this call, curator Anca Rujoiu and Radu Lesevschi from ARC Bucharest will select four project proposals whose creators are rewarded with a four-week residency and a 750-euro grant.

Timeline

Call Release: May 24, 2021
Deadline: July 1, 2021 (midnight IDLW / BIT)
Announcement of the Web Residency: July 30, 2021
Web Residency Sept 1–Oct 1, 2021
Web Residency launch October 01, 2021
Please write to digitalsolitude(at)akademie-solitude.de if you have any questions.

Web Residencies

In 2016, Akademie Schloss Solitude launched the Web Residencies to encourage young talents from the international digital scene and artists from all disciplines dealing with web-based practices. ZKM was the program partner from 2017 to 2019. For each call, the curator or collective selects project proposals whose creators receive a four-week residency and a mini-grant.

Artists, collectives, associations, and initiatives of all kinds are invited to experiment with digital technologies and new art forms, and reflect on the topics set by the curators. Web residencies are carried out online, and the works are presented online.

Artists and students of all disciplines as well as former or current Solitude fellows may apply. There is no age limit.

FAQ

Is it possible to apply with more than one project?
No. We accept only one submission per applicant (individual artist or collectives)

Can individual artists apply, or only artist collectives?
Yes, individual artists can also apply.

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