A classification of residences needs defining<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIn fact, whilst the Wallonia-Brussels Federation indexes a proportion of the existing residencies on its website<\/a>, it must be acknowledged that there is not really any cartography, nor a centralisation of information and that this info often remains impenetrable in the eyes of the artists. \u2018Is there any professional support? Financial backing, and of what order? What does the organisation take responsibility for? Are the accommodation and transport costs included? Whilst they may appear to be details, for the artists they are essential conditions,\u2019 explains Catherine Henkinet, head of exhibitions and arts residencies at the ISELP<\/a> (Institut Sup\u00e9rieur pour l\u2019Etude du Langage Plastique) who continues: \u2018and of course, you need to identify what type of residency is offered.\u2019 In fact, between a research and a creation residency there exist real differences in the expected outcomes. Depending on the degree of a project\u2019s maturity, nor will the artists have the same support needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCatherine Henkinet also explains that there exist other types of residency: \u2018there are regional residencies linked to a specific geographical context or mediation residencies geared towards a target audience, such as Impulsion<\/a>, which can be offered at the ISELP.\u2019 This particular project aims to actively involve a group of non-artist people \u2013 a school class, a house in the neighbourhood, a group of citizens \u2013 in its creation process. In a similar way, certain residencies specifically target artists whilst others are designed with commissioners and art critics in mind. Whilst it must be understood that each residency is linked to the DNA of the site which hosts it, there exists a pretty strict typology, particularly set out by Arts in residency<\/a>, a national network with the goal of federating an ecosystem of residencies in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research residencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIn terms of research residency, OHME offers one of the most emblematic programmes in our region. Its 5 annual calls for residency application link up artists with researchers from Belgian universities. \u2018In an ultra-complex society, you have to provide nuance and transversality, and the arts can play an important role in this respect. To nourish this ecosystem, we support artists in quite diversified research, in facilitating networking with researchers both in the \u2018hard\u2019 sciences and the human sciences, and to develop their projects from a technical point of view. That can be in the domain of mechanics, chemistry or materials sciences, as is the case with our residency tailored to artists\/artisans in the manufacturing of glass in the Medieval era\u2019 explains Camilla Colombo, OHME\u2019s artistic director. The Brussels organisation also works on sustainable robotics<\/a> in partnership with the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies \u2013 BrIAS \u2013 and FARI \u2013 Institute of Artificial Intelligence for the Common Good \u2013 and has thus recently hosted the artists Kris Verdonck and Dewi Brunet<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOHME provides artists with support, first of all, in the form of \u2018very advanced skills. We have a team of engineers with skills which are rare in the world of arts. They are more profiles which come from consulting and are relatively out of reach to artists in ordinary circumstances. And then we support each of the projects we oversee to the tune of \u20ac6,000, which enables the costs of research, materials, etc. to be absorbed.\u2019 Finally, this research work is the subject of a restitution to the audiences. \u2018First and foremost, the research aspect does not necessarily entail the concrete and completed production of a work\u2026 It is not always easy for the artists to have the time and the resources necessary to immerse themselves in long and detailed research, nor to have access to experts and academics, and we specifically try to provide this time, these resources and this access,\u2019 concludes Camilla Colombo. With these research residencies, OHME therefore stands out from many residencies whose end goal is the concrete creation of a work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creation residencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThat is precisely the case of the artist residencies offered by iMAL (Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology). This structure for example runs a programme called EMAP<\/a> (European Media Art Platform), with the support of the European Union\u2019s Creative Europe Programme and issues an annual call for residencies. As was the case for Johanna Bruckner<\/a>, the 2024 winner, an artist selected receives financial support of \u20ac2,000 monthly for a period of two months, a production budget of \u20ac4,000, \u20ac2,000 for a local collaboration, as well as technical and curatorial support. \u2018Whilst the artists may come from anywhere in Europe, they have an obligation to have a working partnership with a local artist. At the end of the two months, a work must be able to be shown to audiences. We very deliberately assume this producer\u2019s role<\/em>,\u2019 explains Lucia Garcia, the iMAL\u2019s director, who also runs iMAL Project Office<\/a>, a residency exclusively designed for local artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/02_Johanna-Bruckner_Autoclonography-I.jpeg\")
Johanna Bruckner – Autoclonography I<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe same position is adopted by KIKK<\/a>, which issues two calls for residency per year. The first, named Imagining ecological futures, <\/a>is an art-science residency of one month in collaboration with the Goethe Institute and the Namur based Abattoirs Cultural Centre. Its goal is to bring together a Walloon-Brussels artist with a German artist. The second is dedicated to space exploration. Marie du Chastel, the artistic director and curator for the KIKK Festival and the Namur Pavillon explains that \u2018each artist is supported to the tune of \u20ac5,000, and we accommodate them for the duration of the residency. The artists have access to the Protolab at TRAKK<\/a>, to curatorial and artistic support. We hope to support them through the production and dissemination phase. We try to show the works either at the Namur Pavillon or at the KIKK Festival. For example, all the projects hosted in residency on astronomy were presented at the recent Stellar Scape<\/a> exhibition.\u2019 iMAL and KIKK are not the only structures carrying creative residencies. First of all, Gluon <\/a>in Brussels, which is part of a European consortium carrying S+T+ARTS4AFRICA<\/a> and S+T+ARTS4WaterII<\/a>. The latter is an open call for a nine-month residency, from which for example Anne Ridler<\/a> has benefited from, and which aims to address the environmental and societal challenges facing Europe\u2019s port towns. Other organisations, such as Overtoon <\/a>based in Brussels or Transcultures <\/a> located in Saint-Ghislain, also offer assistance to the digital arts and particularly for sound creation. Other residency programmes such as Belgium\u2019s LIBITUM<\/a> host and support artists from each and every discipline and are therefore eligible for digital artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLimited means to cover the needs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nFor all that, the aid available does not fully meet existing needs. Support for technical skills such as VR and artificial intelligence is difficult to implement in these residency programmes. \u2018Despite clear interest on the part of artists, these are technologies which require substantial investment. At KIKK, the residency and artistic production budget, which in part derives from a Wallonia-Brussels Federation grant and additional sources, is only \u20ac24,000 per annum. We would like to develop these skills, but our means are limited. Ideally, rather than holding residencies specialised in these media, we would have a considerably larger budget to hire external experts,\u2019 notes Marie du Chastel. An approach wholeheartedly approved of by St\u00e9phanie Roland<\/a>, a Belgian artist accustomed to working with artificial intelligence models: \u2018you would need to have the artists supported by artificial intelligence specialists who understand where you want to go artistically. It’s a story involving encounters and dialogue. Personally, I pay these experts with the grants I receive, but they are significant costs.\u2019 Meanwhile, local actors are banking on collective intelligence and collaboration. The iMAL team thus enlisted the help of the CREW collective for the artist Letta Shtohryn<\/a>\u2019s \u00a0realities in transition<\/a> residency. \u2018We didn\u2019t necessarily have these XR skills, so we asked CREW to provide the artist with assistance as a mentor,\u2019 explains Lucia Garcia.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Catherine Henkinet also explains that there exist other types of residency: \u2018there are regional residencies linked to a specific geographical context or mediation residencies geared towards a target audience, such as Impulsion<\/a>, which can be offered at the ISELP.\u2019 This particular project aims to actively involve a group of non-artist people \u2013 a school class, a house in the neighbourhood, a group of citizens \u2013 in its creation process. In a similar way, certain residencies specifically target artists whilst others are designed with commissioners and art critics in mind. Whilst it must be understood that each residency is linked to the DNA of the site which hosts it, there exists a pretty strict typology, particularly set out by Arts in residency<\/a>, a national network with the goal of federating an ecosystem of residencies in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of research residency, OHME offers one of the most emblematic programmes in our region. Its 5 annual calls for residency application link up artists with researchers from Belgian universities. \u2018In an ultra-complex society, you have to provide nuance and transversality, and the arts can play an important role in this respect. To nourish this ecosystem, we support artists in quite diversified research, in facilitating networking with researchers both in the \u2018hard\u2019 sciences and the human sciences, and to develop their projects from a technical point of view. That can be in the domain of mechanics, chemistry or materials sciences, as is the case with our residency tailored to artists\/artisans in the manufacturing of glass in the Medieval era\u2019 explains Camilla Colombo, OHME\u2019s artistic director. The Brussels organisation also works on sustainable robotics<\/a> in partnership with the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies \u2013 BrIAS \u2013 and FARI \u2013 Institute of Artificial Intelligence for the Common Good \u2013 and has thus recently hosted the artists Kris Verdonck and Dewi Brunet<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n OHME provides artists with support, first of all, in the form of \u2018very advanced skills. We have a team of engineers with skills which are rare in the world of arts. They are more profiles which come from consulting and are relatively out of reach to artists in ordinary circumstances. And then we support each of the projects we oversee to the tune of \u20ac6,000, which enables the costs of research, materials, etc. to be absorbed.\u2019 Finally, this research work is the subject of a restitution to the audiences. \u2018First and foremost, the research aspect does not necessarily entail the concrete and completed production of a work\u2026 It is not always easy for the artists to have the time and the resources necessary to immerse themselves in long and detailed research, nor to have access to experts and academics, and we specifically try to provide this time, these resources and this access,\u2019 concludes Camilla Colombo. With these research residencies, OHME therefore stands out from many residencies whose end goal is the concrete creation of a work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is precisely the case of the artist residencies offered by iMAL (Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology). This structure for example runs a programme called EMAP<\/a> (European Media Art Platform), with the support of the European Union\u2019s Creative Europe Programme and issues an annual call for residencies. As was the case for Johanna Bruckner<\/a>, the 2024 winner, an artist selected receives financial support of \u20ac2,000 monthly for a period of two months, a production budget of \u20ac4,000, \u20ac2,000 for a local collaboration, as well as technical and curatorial support. \u2018Whilst the artists may come from anywhere in Europe, they have an obligation to have a working partnership with a local artist. At the end of the two months, a work must be able to be shown to audiences. We very deliberately assume this producer\u2019s role<\/em>,\u2019 explains Lucia Garcia, the iMAL\u2019s director, who also runs iMAL Project Office<\/a>, a residency exclusively designed for local artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The same position is adopted by KIKK<\/a>, which issues two calls for residency per year. The first, named Imagining ecological futures, <\/a>is an art-science residency of one month in collaboration with the Goethe Institute and the Namur based Abattoirs Cultural Centre. Its goal is to bring together a Walloon-Brussels artist with a German artist. The second is dedicated to space exploration. Marie du Chastel, the artistic director and curator for the KIKK Festival and the Namur Pavillon explains that \u2018each artist is supported to the tune of \u20ac5,000, and we accommodate them for the duration of the residency. The artists have access to the Protolab at TRAKK<\/a>, to curatorial and artistic support. We hope to support them through the production and dissemination phase. We try to show the works either at the Namur Pavillon or at the KIKK Festival. For example, all the projects hosted in residency on astronomy were presented at the recent Stellar Scape<\/a> exhibition.\u2019 iMAL and KIKK are not the only structures carrying creative residencies. First of all, Gluon <\/a>in Brussels, which is part of a European consortium carrying S+T+ARTS4AFRICA<\/a> and S+T+ARTS4WaterII<\/a>. The latter is an open call for a nine-month residency, from which for example Anne Ridler<\/a> has benefited from, and which aims to address the environmental and societal challenges facing Europe\u2019s port towns. Other organisations, such as Overtoon <\/a>based in Brussels or Transcultures <\/a> located in Saint-Ghislain, also offer assistance to the digital arts and particularly for sound creation. Other residency programmes such as Belgium\u2019s LIBITUM<\/a> host and support artists from each and every discipline and are therefore eligible for digital artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For all that, the aid available does not fully meet existing needs. Support for technical skills such as VR and artificial intelligence is difficult to implement in these residency programmes. \u2018Despite clear interest on the part of artists, these are technologies which require substantial investment. At KIKK, the residency and artistic production budget, which in part derives from a Wallonia-Brussels Federation grant and additional sources, is only \u20ac24,000 per annum. We would like to develop these skills, but our means are limited. Ideally, rather than holding residencies specialised in these media, we would have a considerably larger budget to hire external experts,\u2019 notes Marie du Chastel. An approach wholeheartedly approved of by St\u00e9phanie Roland<\/a>, a Belgian artist accustomed to working with artificial intelligence models: \u2018you would need to have the artists supported by artificial intelligence specialists who understand where you want to go artistically. It’s a story involving encounters and dialogue. Personally, I pay these experts with the grants I receive, but they are significant costs.\u2019 Meanwhile, local actors are banking on collective intelligence and collaboration. The iMAL team thus enlisted the help of the CREW collective for the artist Letta Shtohryn<\/a>\u2019s \u00a0realities in transition<\/a> residency. \u2018We didn\u2019t necessarily have these XR skills, so we asked CREW to provide the artist with assistance as a mentor,\u2019 explains Lucia Garcia.\u00a0
Research residencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nCreation residencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Limited means to cover the needs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/PERFORMANCE_01_LETTA__V1-0044-00_32_35_17-Still021.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/PERFORMANCE_01_LETTA__V1-0044-00_23_53_07-Still004.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/iMal-x-HIER_Photo-Eline-Willaert11-2.jpeg\")