RESIDENCIES

NEWS AND EVENTS

THE ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE CENTRE

THE STUDIOS, APARTMENTS AND STAFF

ARTISTS WHO STAYED IN THE RESIDENCY

THE ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE CENTRE

Duration: A week to several months.
Founded: 2010
Discipline: Visual Arts , Curating/Research, Media Art, Video art, Photography, Performance arts, Literature, Culture operators.
Target group: International, National
Deadline: 2 months before the start of the expected Residency. Applications can be sent all year long.

Culture and Arts Project NOASS is a creative intelligence association that is in the fifteenth year of its operating existence and is one of the oldest non-governmental arts and culture organisations in Latvia. NOASS’ goal is to participate in the formation of the Latvian and European cultural environment. In the main, we support the realisation of contemporary arts projects in an urban environment, making art a part of the daily lives of residents of Riga and visitors to the city. We nurture the creativity of society and individuals.

THE RESIDENCY’S OBJECTIVES

1. The residency’s goal is to provide artists with the chance to discover Riga, one of region’s most beautiful cities and its eclectic cultural life, thus inspiring them to create new works in the realm of visual arts, art criticism and literature.

2. Drawing upon the contacts and experience acquired, we hope to participate in shaping the programme for Riga as a European cultural capital from 2010 to 2014.

3. We also hope to develop the residency centre as an international meeting place where art professionals will have the chance to get to know one another, exchange ideas and create new joint art projects.

4. Leveraging Riga’s geographical advantages, it is hoped to give artists the chance to discover the other Baltic States and their cultural life (Riga is sandwiched in the middle between Tallinn in Estonia and Vilnius in Lithuania).

THE STUDIOS, APARTMENTS AND STAFF

For the artists’ residence, we offer beautiful studio-type apartments with a kitchen and bathroom in the very heart of the city at Alfreda Kalnina iela 8, next to Vermanes Garden and the oldest circus in Europe. The apartments are located on the 5^th floor with a wonderful view over the city’s roofs to the park. The studio is fully furnished with furniture and the aforementioned kitchen.

During the Summer we can offer also apatement in second floor of our floating art center “NOASS”. This apartement is specially suitable for performance artists (dancers, choreographers), because we can offer wide rehearsal rooms.

The NOASS Culture and Arts Centre is located within 15 min walk of the studio, walking through the Old Town of Riga which is home pleasant cafés, the Artists’ Union, the market, railway station, bus station and museums.

NOASS can accommodate up to four artists at any time with the optimal length of stay one to three month.

ARTISTS WHO STAYED IN THE RESIDENCY

Gary Wornell - Finland [web][1] [2] [3]

Eva Olsson – Sweden [web] [1] [2] [3] [4]

Jonas Nilsson – Sweden [web] [1] [2] [3] [4]

Rimas Sakalauskas – Lithuania [web] [1]

Bas De Boer – the Netherlands [web] [1]

Miro Soares – Brazil [web] [1][2]

Doron Polak – Israel [web]

Eitan Vitkon – Israel [web]

Felice Hapetzeder – Sweden [web]

Jay Needham – USA [web]

Ben Neufeld – USA [web]

Doris Neidl – Austria [web]

Shelley Jordon – USA [web]

Wlfried Agricola de Cologne – Germany [web]

Stephan Jacobs – USA [web]

Janin Walter – Germany

Paige Cooper – Canada

Liadain Herriot – Ireland

Valdis Thor – Iceland [web]

Lynette Morgan – Ireland

Joao Laia – Portugal

E.J. Berns – USA

Giovanni de Angelis – Italy [web]

Emma O’Kane – Ireland

Jamie Ricardo – USA

NOASS OFFERS

On our part, we offer exhibition premises, technical equipment, a 5x8m big LED screen for presentation of video works, projectors, technical personnel and consultations, audio equipment for lectures, presentations or musical performances. We also offer a 110 m2 exhibition space for the presentation of works on the “Betanovuss” floating arts centre, as well as two smaller exhibition spaces on the deck of NOASS and at the Naive Art Museum of Latvia. Likewise, we can also offer premises for creative workshops at the headquarters of Culture and Arts Project NOASS and at the Andrejsala Residency House. Last year’s experience has led us to conclude that artists begin terrific projects during their residencies which they later want to exhibit, and therefore we offer them the chance to return for a further residency some time later and to use the exhibition space to exhibit their works which have been directly inspired by Riga.

Culture and Arts Project NOASS’ team is friendly and open to new ideas and can communicate with residents fluently in either English or Russian.

The NOASS team has concluded that a resident who has just entered a new environment requires a support person – a mentor who will help the artist-in-residence to resolve daily matters and to communicate with local artists. To provide such assistance, a new employee will be recruited to join the NOASS team whose task it will be to work directly with the artists-in-residence.

Additionally, we offer the resident the chance to discover Tallinn and Vilnius. He or she would have the additional opportunity to discover alternative culture centres including: Aizpute, Liepaja, Kuldiga, Sabile, Talsis and Kandava. This will provide a more complete introduction not only to urban life in Latvia, but also to its small towns, landscapes and open spaces.

PAID BY ARTIST

Due the recession in our country, our residency program has to be self financed project. There were no grants available for residents at the moment.

The cost for the residency is 15 Euro per day per apartment/Studio, all bills included (except telephone bill). Residents also have to secure their own funding for their travel, subsistence, and materials. Artist takes full responsibility in regard of his healthcare (Health insurance must be valid). It is a precondition!

There will not be extra expenses for exhibition and presentation premises and all our team will do the best for you to make your stay in Riga as comfortable as possible.

CRITERIA FOR ARTISTS

Students are not eligible, but young artists encouraged. In order to apply for residency candidates are invited to fill the application form for NOASS residencies: Application form for NOASS Artist in Residence program. We set out the motivation of the artist as the main selection criterion, as well as the desire to engage the local public in contemporary art processes.

ACTIVITIES

A residency in Riga offers a unique experience when it comes to discovering the cultural processes which are so characteristic of all ‘Post-Soviet’ era Eastern European countries. Experience has shown that the acclimatisation process which accompanies a residency in a new city full of contrasts invariably generates creative impulses which sooner or later manifest themselves in some form of artistic expression. Residents present their depiction of their sensations to the local public by giving it chance to view their city through the eyes of a stranger.

Hosting its previous residents has also proved to be a valuable experience for NOASS. Each artist possesses a unique character and interests and during their residencies, we’ve acquired a fresh view of the organisation’s operations as a whole.

An important interactive aspect of the residency project is introducing the public to the latest developments in contemporary art – introducing the artist-in-residence to Latvia and the country’s cultural and art scene.

In circumstances defined by social changes, direct personal contacts are the driving forces behind artistic process globally. We believe that the residencies we offer are a wonderful way of establishing these contacts, thus promoting cooperation between cultural practitioners and artists in the Baltic Sea region, as well as society as a whole.

These residencies will serve as a bridge for cooperation between cultural practitioners based in Latvia and their counterparts throughout the region.

IN THE NEAR FUTURE

In the near future, Culture and Arts Project NOASS plans to turn its residency house into the best artists’ residence in the Baltics.

The residency is a wonderful way of introducing the residents of Riga to artists from other countries and their work, and in turn provides artists with the chance to discover Riga as a city of diverse contrasts by presenting the residency as an opportunity to get inspired, obtain creative renewal and provide a new perspective of the artist’s creative work.

We plan to host residents throughout the year giving them the chance to follow the life of the city of Riga. In particular, we wish to focus on the cooperation between Umeo and Riga’s artists from 2010-2014 when these cities will be Europe’s cultural capital cities. We believe that NOASS’ residencies will become an important international meeting place for art professions where they will have the chance to exchange new ideas and create new joint arts projects.

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