Artists Residency Callout - Home. Residency: 12 September – 14 November 2019. Exhibition: 20 November – 4 December 2019

About Artcore:

Artcore is a visual arts charity based on Charnwood Street, working within communities locally, nationally and internationally. It endeavours to operate as a cultural hub; fuelling active engagement for a diverse range of communities in Derby, the East Midlands and beyond. Artcore’s long-term objective is to use arts and crafts as a vehicle to strengthen community cohesion, educate, raise awareness and provide a platform for development. Through its creative work it is committed to bringing change into the lives of people of all ages, abilities, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Artcore is also an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

Our Location:

Derby has a developing visual arts culture, with galleries at QUAD, Derby Museum & Art Gallery and at Artcore, a University with Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in the School of Arts, and much DIY activity across the City. Artcore has hosted two annual Visual Arts Summits, and is the lead organisation in supporting the development of the visual arts ecology of Derby.

We have recently taken on a large City Centre space, and this residency will use our new building, placing your work in a prominent new visual arts space right in the heart of Derby.

The Residency Opportunities:

We are looking for two early career artists to take up supported residencies with Artcore, responding to the title ‘Home’.

Our homes contain us, but we also carry them within us. 

Home represents a place where we can be our true selves, a space redolent with childhood memories, or a refuge and shelter. 

Home can be a site for developing rituals, family relationships, and acting out cultural expectations. Like the personal, social, and cultural elements out of which they are constructed, homes can be not only comforting, but threatening too; who knows what goes on in secret behind closed doors? 

The home is a rich theme running through post-war Western art, which continues to engage contemporary artists today. Through this residency Artcore wants to open discussion about how the physical experience of the dwelling space and the psychological complexities of the domestic are manifested in art and wider society today. 

The notion of ‘Home’ is increasingly problematic, with the constantly increasing cost of home ownership making it an impossible aspiration for many, and affordable social housing in short supply. Both internationally and within countries, populations are constantly on the move, seeking better opportunities and living conditions, or an escape from violence and conflict. 

Artcore’s ‘Home’ residency will ask artists to consider the complex meaning of home and the essential importance of place to human psychology, to look at the politics of the concept of 'home', homelessness, refugeeism and migration, and to explore what the future of home might be.

We are offering each artist:

• An Artist bursary of £800 for exhibition ready work
• A studio space for the duration of the residency
• An opportunity to exhibit the work produced during the residency
• Artist blog
• A chance to deliver artist talks
• Mentoring support throughout the residency
• E Catalogue
• An option to deliver workshops or participatory projects
• Publicity and marketing support

We would anticipate the artists being present at Artcore for at least three days each week through the residency period. There is no additional budget for travel and accommodation, so ideally artists should live within a reasonable travelling distance of Derby, or be able to base themselves in Derby for the residency period.

We welcome applications from artists working in any visual arts discipline, and with a cross-disciplinary practice. 

We expect artists to have a commitment to developing their practice, and to engaging in dialogue with the local communities and the wider international contemporary arts and cultural sector. 

We welcome artists with an interest in how sharing space and collaborative working can inform the development of their work. 

We expect to retain a selection of the artworks produced during the residency to be part of Artcore collection. 

Residency timetable: 

Deadline – Please send your submissions by midnight on Wednesday 4th September

Selection will be made on Thursday 5th September

Residency start date: 12 September

Residency end date: 14 November 2019

Exhibition dates: 20 November – 4 December 2019

How to Apply:

Applications should only be made through Curatorspace.

You will be asked to provide:

• A proposal telling us about how you plan to respond to the residency theme, why you would like to take part in this residency, and what you would like to achieve through it, both artistically and in terms of your development as an artist 
• A statement describing your practice, materials and methods of working
• CV if you have one
• Visual material directly relating to the proposal such as previous or proposed art work (please either attach images or direct us to specific work you would like us to consider on the web. Please label any images – title, medium, dimensions and year)