UNIDEE Summer 2024: Neither on Land nor at Sea

UNIDEE Residency Programs and Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto are pleased to announce two open calls for participation in the summer season 2024 of Neither on Land not at Sea. Meeting by the Mediterranean Im/Possible, initiated and curated by UNIDEE Visiting Curator Chiara Cartuccia.

Neither on Land nor at Sea invites to meander around unreducible complications and on shifting grounds, to explore together ways in which geography is historically, socially, and politically produced. The project pluralises Mediterranean concepts/spaces as sites of worldmaking and experimentation in communal living. To do so, it adopts un-grounded geographies and colliding historicities as meeting places, in which to congregate to elaborate on the role played by situated practices and shared processes in the promotion of social transformations, towards epistemic justice.

The UNIDEE modules are programme-based, short-residency formats. Participating residents will be offered the opportunity to expand on their ongoing research and practice exploring Mediterranean complexities and geographical thinking in the arts and beyond, within a group of peers and invited guests. The modules are interlinked, and each contributes to shaping the discourse developed by the project.

For more information about the curatorial framework, context, and scopes of the project, please visit Neither on Land nor at Sea website here.

About the residency modules
Module VII—summer 2024, Todas las aguas son del agua / All Waters Belong to Water, will take place from May 22–28, and it is curated by invited mentors Mafe Moscoso and Claudia Delso.

The Mediterranean Sea has been subjected to an unprecedented ecological pressure that is leading to its collapse. Part of the responsibility for this collapse lies in a capitalist/colonial vision of the Mediterranean Sea as a spiritless being, a body to be exploited and an object separated from the subject. The module initiates a collective process focused on developing ways of speculative research, to imagine, together, scenarios in which present, past and future come into play to generate alternative narratives to the hegemonic European view, which wants death detached from processes of rebirth.

Module VIII—summer 2024, Moasherat: Hader Halal, will take place from June 27 to July 3, and it is curated by invited mentors Fehras Publishing Practices (Nancy Naser Al Deen, Sama Ahmadi and Sami Rustom).

Recognising the deep-seated pains housed within archives and embracing publishing in its most expansive form, the project Hader Halal aims to challenge entrenched power dynamics that thrive on division. Engaging with practices of cohabitation, it co-creates a transformative space where knowledge and collective memories are shared freely, leveraging the power and warmth of archives, voice, body, and light.
The module Moasherat: Hader Halal presents a tangible and dynamic opportunity to foster connections and shared growth. The collective sessions, designed by Fehras Publishing Practices, empower processes of knowledge production, bolstering both horizontal and vertical solidarity practices. Memory, in this context, is wielded as a tool of resistance.

Read more about the modules, their conceptual frameworks and invited guests here.

Participants
We aim to invite a group of up to ten residents to take part in each of the two modules. The programme is open to international participants of all backgrounds, whose practice sits anywhere across the broad spectrum of visual practice and research, with no restriction regarding disciplines, media or methodologies of work. Applications from artists, curators, writers, theorists, activists, all are welcome and encouraged. The selection of participants will be based on the affinity of the subject matters, concerns and questions participating in the applicant’s work with those expressed by the curatorial framework of the project and the conceptual positioning of the residency module, as well as on the applicant interest and ability to contribute to a programme-based residency whose working is grounded in processes of active exchange and participation.  

Practicalities
The residency module will take place at Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, in Biella, Italy. The UNIDEE and Cittadellarte spaces will host a large part of the programme, while further opportunities for exploring the urban and rural landscape of Biella and its immediate surroundings will be offered.

Participants will be accommodated within the premises of Cittadellarte, in single rooms with the use of shared bathrooms. The residential spaces offer basic cooking facilities and communal resting areas.

N.B: The residency programme’s working language is English.

Expenses & bursaries
Participation in the Summer modules is offered free of charge, and the residents will be provided with free accommodation at Cittadellarte. However, residents will be required to arrange and cover expenses for their travel to/from Biella and for the food/living costs whilst in Cittadellarte.
A limited number of partial and full travel bursaries are made available to those who would not otherwise be able to participate; please remember to state in your application whether you would like to be considered for this opportunity. 

How to apply
To apply please fill in the form at the link of the bottom of the full open call. N.B: Applicants must express their choice of one of the two modules and write their response accordingly. Please read the full open call before applying. Deadline for submissions is April 28, 2024, 11:59pm (CEST)

Partners
UNIDEE patrons are Regione Piemonte, Compagnia di San Paolo, CRT Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, illycaffè S.p.A., Fondazione Zegna. UNIDEE AIR partner are A.M. Qattan Foundation, Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, Institut Français Italy, Kimonos Art Center, La Escocesa.