Baltic Art Center was founded in autumn 1999 by international institutions for contemporary art within the Baltic Sea region. Between 2001 and 2007, BAC produced a range of high profile international exhibitions at the exhibition hall in the Björkander Warehouse in Visby. Since 2004, BAC has run a Production-in-Residence programme for international artists.
Based on a decision by the Swedish Arts Council and the Gotland Municipality to prioritize the residency and production program, the permanent exhibition hall was closed down in 2007. In 2008, BAC reopened in a new format that included the Production-in-Residence programme, an Artist-in-Residence programme for Nordic artists, curators and critics, which in 2010 began accepting applicants from the three Baltic States, and a discursive programme.
BAC is an international meeting place in the Baltic Sea region, connecting artists and art organizations in Sweden, the Baltic region and internationally. It is a production office and work place for artists, curators and critics.
BAC is a flexible organization placing the artistic process at the centre of our activities. It has no permanent studio or exhibition space, therefore the organization grows temporarily in terms of staff and facilities in accordance with the needs of each specific production.
Artists are given an open invitation to allow room for experimentation. Instead of formulating a fixed framework – temporally, economically or spatially – for artistic production, each artist formulates the conditions for his or her working process in dialogue with the organization. An end result is desirable, but not necessary. Time and money can be invested in all stages of the artistic process, from research through to production and post-production. Each project is produced and disseminated according to its own logic with the aim that the artistic process should not be restricted at the outset by predetermined conditions for production and mediation.
BAC does not have a continuous exhibition program. Instead it works on a project-by-project basis together with different partners in Sweden and internationally, to disseminate our productions. BAC arranges artist talks, public discussions, events and screenings at BAC in conjunction with the residency and production program.
BAC seeks productive relationships between specific artistic projects and broader, contextual enquiries. It initiates long-term thematic conversations shaping the identity of the organization and ensuring the continuity of its approach.
Artists in production at BAC since 2005 include; Rosa Barba, Ana Torfs, Victor Alimpiev, Fiona Tan, Santiago Sierra, Javier Tellez, Ibon Aranberri and Darius Miksys.
BAC presents approximately ten exhibitions each year.
BAC works to actively question the relationship between artistic process, institutions and society, with the aim to continuously assess and re-think its working methods. This enquiry is carried out in the form of new productions, public talks and discussions, workshops and knowledge production.
BAC presents approximately; 8 residencies, 3 new productions, 8 artist/curator/critics’ talks, 5 seminars/conferences, 5-8 screenings, 2-10 other activities each year.
BAK has a surface area/capacity of 250 m2.
Four guest apartments, communal working space, semiar room recreational facilities, and office.
