Sommerakademie Paul Klee 2021/22
Call for applications to a 16-month program hosted by the Bern University of the Arts HKB
Up to nine residents are invited to join the Sommerakademie Paul Klee (SPK) program, curated by artist Dora García, and beginning 2 August 2021.
Over the course of 2021 & 2022, the SPK features public lectures, closed-door seminars, and access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and technical support at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB) – but also teaching opportunities in the form of workshops at the HKB. In response to ongoing practical and political contingencies, this call is addressed to applicants residing within an approx. 1000 km radius of Bern. For the same reason, SPK is newly introducing the option of digital residencies, from further afar.
The Curatorial Program
Curatorial framework 2021/22:
POSITION VOICE MUNDO: The urgent need for feminization.
The SPK 2021/22 wishes to echo, in this new two-year program under Dora García, a major change of paradigm that has swept the world (and the art world) over the last five to ten years: the feminization of politics. This by introducing an inclusive feminist perspective that has shaped a different way of relating to the world in economic, cultural, sociological, and aesthetic terms. We are in a time of transition; an in-between. The SPK proposes to explore this new world with as little prejudice as possible, leaning on each other’s specificities, working towards a radical new idea of what it means for art practice and authorship. Hence also the intention to develop a substantial part of the 2021/22 program in close collaboration with the residents themselves.
On-Site Residencies in Bern
Travel, accommodation, visa expenses and a per diem of CHF 50 are covered. Residents using production facilities are entitled to a modest production stipend of CHF 500.
Building on longtime efforts to devise a residency that is ecologically, intellectually and economically sustainable, the SPK will now focus on a pool of applicants residing within 1000km of Bern.
It bears mentioning that the jury will place a doubled emphasis on Europe-based applicants with an international/migrant background. Any such candidates are all the more loudly encouraged to apply.
Digital Residencies
Applicants residing over 1000km from Bern are invited to take part in the residency digitally. From a distance, Digital Residents will enjoy the very same perks as residents on location in Switzerland: access to all SPK lectures and seminars, teaching opportunities at the HKB, a CHF 500 production stipend, a per diem, and tutorials with the SPK curator.
The SPK caters to practitioners working at a postgraduate level, whether or not they have an official certificate saying so. Professional experience and intellectual appetite are the necessary requirements here. Though artists may be prioritized, other practitioners are very much encouraged to apply.
Application deadline is 5 May 2021 (7 AM CET); successful candidates will be contacted 25 May 2021.
Requirements
- application file to be submitted digitally by 5 May 2021, 7 AM CET, via
www.sommerakademie-paul-klee.ch/call-for-applications-2021/ - application needs to include:
Statement including primary place of residence, and explaining reasons for applying, and/or a proposal as to how you intend to engage with the program and/or the facilities (1000 words max).
CV, phone number & brief bio
!Please upload documents 1 and 2 in a single PDF! - Optionally, please send complementary material or documentation of the work you pursue. Be this an artist portfolio, or a link to an ongoing activity. Individual files (PDFs, videos) should not exceed 10 MB each; please do not embed videos in a PDF
Zoom installed on your computer/mobile device
• availability for a short Zoom interview 21 May 2021; second-round candidates will be contacted on the evening of 20 May 2021, at the latest, in order to schedule the interviews – subsequent jury decisions will be finalized by 25 May 2021
• a firm commitment over the entire span of the program – the minimal period of engagement amounts to a total of 5 weeks, over three separate sessions (Summer 2021, February 2022, Summer 2022), not counting optional time windows for production and teaching.
Please check all details of Open Call here
Oh photo: Demonstrations during International Women’s Day, 8 March 2019, Ciudad de México. Image by Esthel Vogrig.
