Open Call for A4’s French-Portugese Collaborative Residency

Dec. 10, 2021

The A4 project is based on a partnership between the Fetart Collective and Ci.CLO Photography Platforms. It is also supported by a number of French and Portuguese institutions. As part of its 2022 season, the project is hosting an artistic residency project led and represented by Carine Dolek, Virgilio Ferrira and both firms. The residence will be held on the island of S. Miguel, in the Azores; the workplace will be at the Arquipélago — Contemporary Art Center.

The residency aims to bring together two artists and two curators, two Portuguese and two French, to reflect the collaboration’s cultural spirit. The process will center itself around collaborative thinking and the concept of “oasis” as a psychological territory of regeneration but also as a fragile ecosystem in our planet’s crisis. The A4 project hopes for the residency to be a laboratory for reflection, a time and space that will encourage communication, understanding, and collaboration between French and Portuguese curators and artists moving forward.

The positions are open to all emerging and established artists working with photography and/or video who would like to develop new work in this special setting. While there is no obligation to live or work in either France or Portugal, it is essential to speak, write and understand English, as all meetings will be conducted through it. The residency will provide a stipend for the three-week residency, as well as provide housing and cover travel costs.

The selected artists will allow the curators to use their sketches, to take photos of them working, to interview and quote them. Then, one month after the residency, the artists will deliver their final projects with the curatorial follow-up of Fetart and Ci.CLO in a virtual environment.

From all applicants, 6 pre-selected artists will be invited to present their motivation by video conference to Fetart and Ci.CLO. A jury will then select a final two artists to begin the placement in late January 2022.