Since 2009 the artist collective Medea Electronique has organized an annual 10-day experimental artist residency, Koumaria, near Sparta in Greece (the village of Sellasia), focusing on improvisation and new media practices. New-media artists from all over the world, inspired by the Greek natural landscape, come together to create a multicultural and cross-media ‘dialogue’ culminating in a collective presentation both locally and in Athens at the end of the residency. Past residents have formed lasting friendships and new artistic partnerships. For us the residency serves as a model for future creative collaborations.

Residency Theme:  Diasporas in Dialogue: Multiculturalism, Migration and the Improvisatory Imagination
Looking for: dancers, performers, video artists, installation artists, sound artists and composers of electronic music.

RUNS FROM SEPTEMBER 25th 2016 to OCTOMBER 8th 2016

The residency is held at an organic olive oil farm at the foot of Mount Taigetos in Sparta. The base for the residency, a modern and comfortable house, features dormitory-style bedrooms, large and comfortable common rooms (featuring fireplaces and magnificent views of the surrounding mountains and fields), two primary spaces for project development and practice, terraces, rooftop overlooks, and a large and modern kitchen. The surrounding hills, mountains, villages and the not too distant sea, coupled with a vast expanse of sky, stars, and ever-changing mountain vistas, afford the residents amble space and opportunity for creative work.  Meals are taken communally, with an emphasis on fresh and local produce and traditional recipes. In this environment artists not only have the chance to live and work together interacting with the Greek landscape, but also to trade their experiences concerning everyday life and culture.  Chores are undertaken collectively, but there is ample time for residents to work, create, explore the surroundings and enter into new artistic partnerships.

For our 2016 residency the theme concerns cross-cultural collaborations, migration and borders, culminiating in a performance/presentation of the residency artistic outputs as part of a conference/performance series at a Major Venue in Athens, Greece on this theme.

Given the theme, we are looking for artists excited by the idea of collaborative artistic creation, grounded in an improvisatory spirit and practice, which foreground practices, aesthetics, concepts, methods and materials drawn from a variety of cultural traditions.  In particular we want to explore what happens when these genre borders are traversed and subverted, when they are themselves improvised with.  Given the profound issues surrounding migration and diaspora which Greece is a focal point of, we may well wish to creatively address these issues.

It is worth emphasizing that Koumaria’s focus is collective art creation.  While individual residents may well have projects in mind that they hope to realize at Koumaria, they should expect, and desire, substantive input from other residents, and be open to having their projects morph considerably during the course of the residency.  While the final output we present need not be one long collective piece, and while the projects forming our outputs need not all involve all residents, Koumaria is not the place for the development and presentation of solo works.

Medea Electronique, being an eclectic art collective, is interested in people from diverse cultural and artistic backgrounds.  Past residents have come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, and from numerous countries.  While assorted nationalities and ethnicities have been represented, the common language of the residency is English (athough fluency is not necessary, an ability to interact with other artists in English is necessary).

Members of Medea will assist in the creation of our collective works, and will participate fully in the performances.  In particular, Medea will have two-three video artists on hand, and  four-five members whose primary media is sound, grounded in traditions of sound-art, noise, musical experimentalism and free improvisation.

Note:  This is a remote region of Greece, with limited ability to obtain tech/electronic materials while we are there.  Residents will need to check in advance concerning what materials will be available, and what they will need to bring.  It is far easier to get in the area a bail of wire or a piece of pipe then a semi-conductor or an obscure battery!

THE RESIDENCY PROVIDES

In terms of hospitality

1. transportation from Athens to the residency and back.
2. housing and food supplies in Sellasia
3. Internet connection at the residency
4. housing in Athens during the presentations

While there are few expenses the residents need to consider while at the residency, it is worth having some funds for trips to local cafes and the like.  Calculate approximately 5-10 euros a day for such incidentals.

Notes: 

• Rooms, Bathrooms at the residency are shared
• Cooking and cleaning the house during our stay is undertaken collectively

In terms of equipment 

1. A 32-channel digital mixing desk, high-end monitoring (8 Channel Diffusion Set UP)
2. A range of studio microphones and sound processors
3. 2 digital recorders (Olympus LS11, Tascam HD2)

Notes:

• You ought to bring your own equipment/instrument and computers

We do not provide…

Unfortunately no artist fee is to be given for the presentations/performances.  Residents are also responsible for their own transportation to and from Athens.