Videobrasil launches permanent artistic residency programme at the 16th Festival
Starting in 2007, a permanent programme supported by Prince Claus Fund www.princeclausfund.nl will systematise Associação Cultural Videobrasil’s activities in the field of artistic residencies. Designed to strengthen the interchange programmes offered in Brazil and create a rotational dynamic that benefits Brazilian, Latin American, and African artists, the Videobrasil Residency Programme consolidates a movement that has intensified in the last five years with the creation of the residency prizes awarded by the Videobrasil Festival in partnership with Le Fresnoy Institute National des Arts Contemporains (France), Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (Brazil), and Gasworks (England).
In addition to Fresnoy, the French Consulate in Brazil, Aliança Francesa, and FAAP, the Programme has a new important partner, WBK Vrije Academie (The Netherlands). Other collaborators with recognised track records in the field of artistic residencies are Capacete Entretenimentos and Instituto Sacatar (Brazil).
The first phase of the Programme offers eight residencies scheduled for 2008 and 2009. The FAAP Digital Arts Prize brings a foreign artist to São Paulo; the Le Fresnoy Audiovisual Creation Award takes a Brazilian artist to the renowned French media centre; the Videobrasil WBK Vrije Academie Prize sends four artists to The Hague, The Netherlands; Videobrasil Capacete and Sacatar Residency Prizes go to one Brazilian and one foreign artist, respectively.
The artists awarded residency placings will be selected by a committee of representatives from Videobrasil and its partners. The first selection committee features Solange Farkas and Ana Pato (Associação Cultural Videobrasil), along with Tom van Vliet (WBK Vrije Academie) and Marcos Moraes (FAAP).
The Programme will offer the following prizes:
Le Fresnoy Audiovisual Creation Award France
Le Fresnoy — Studio National des Arts Contemporains www.lefresnoy.net is a postacademic audiovisual production and research centre conceived of and directed by Alain Fleischer and inaugurated in 1997 at Tourcoing, France. Guest teachers have included Jean-Luc Godard and Gary Hill. The focus of this prize is on breaching the boundaries between traditional and electronic audiovisual media and languages. Offered since 2003 by Le Fresnoy, the French General Consulate in Brazil, and Aliança Francesa de São Paulo, the award gives an artist a three-month term of residence at the centre, complete with logistic support for the production of an audiovisual work.
The FAAP Digital Arts Prize
With an aknowledged School of Visual Arts, Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado www.faap.br has consolidated itself as a hotbed of contemporary production in Brazil. The Foundation stands out for its emphasis on research and on the formation of professionals forever in the thick of the discussion on contemporary artistic practices. “FAAP foments artistic experimentation and this is the reason for granting the prize”, says Marcos Moraes, coordinator of the visual arts course. Based at the Lutetia building in São Paulo, FAAP residency programme is open to Brazilians and foreigners working in the fields of the visual arts. It has welcomed 20 artists, including the 27th Bienal de São Paulo international residents.
Videobrasil WBK Vrije Academie Prize
Vrije Academie Werkplaats voor Beeldende Kunsten www.vrijeacademie.org is an independent interdisciplinary postacademic art institute initiated in 1947 by the Dutch light artist and video pioneer Livinus van der Bundt. Going against the grain of the classical art academies, the centre encouraged interaction and interchange among various disciplines: painting, sculpture, photography, and the moving image. Managed by artists since its foundation, the current director is the sculptor Ingrid Rollema, with Tom van Vliet, the renowned creator of the World Wide Video Festival, in charge of the moving image department. Recently remodelled, the department now offers postproduction and rehearsal studios for installation and media performance formats. Each of the four winners will work at the academy as artists in residence for a period of six weeks.
Videobrasil Sacatar Residency Prize
Instituto Sacatar www.sacatar.org runs an international residency programme for artists at its premises in Ilha de Itaparica, Bahia. A member of Res Artis, the Worldwide Network of Artist Residencies, and the Alliance of Artists Communities, its goals are to facilitate interaction and collaboration with the community, and boost the visibility and cultural impact of the city and nation in which it functions.
Videobrasil Capacete Residency Prize
The purpose of CAPACETE Entretenimentos www.capacete.net is to produce conceptual and contextual works that embrace multiple artistic strategies. Its residencies serve as a career-building platform for the artist, documenting his/her production and bringing it within reach of the public. The representation is the content itself.
The Videobrasil Residency Programme will be launched during the 16th International Electronic Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil, that takes place between September 30 and October 25, 2007 at SESC Avenida Paulista, São Paulo. Winners of the residencies scheduled for 2008 will be announced during the Festival.
For more information on the 16th International Electronic Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil, visit:
Press contact:
Teté Martinho
Communications Manager
tetemartinho@videobrasil.org.br
Conception and Production: Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Undertaking: SESC SP
