Despite Covid Challenges, Some Artist Residences Are Thrive


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Few places in the world are more isolated than the east coast of Iceland, Skagafjordur, with a wide tidal inlet in the Arctic Circle. Baer Art Center sits on the grounds of a horse breeding farm outside one of the country’s oldest trading ports.

As a rule, only 10 artists are invited to stay in the convent white studios each summer for two residency sessions. A smoldering lava field where an abstract landscape photographer, Adam Thorman, 13 years ago, violent winds knocked his tripod off and still uses his award-winning Mamiya 7 II camera.

“I was in the process of buying a plane to Iceland, things paid off, scheduled,” he said. “Then the pandemic happened.”

A residence is a deliberate form of social distancing unlike what we are used to; It gives the artist time and space to complete the work in progress without other distractions, often in the company of creative colleagues.

Studios, workshops, instruments and special equipment; a staff member to provide skilled assistance; sometimes three meals and cleaning: This type of art funding has been a breeding ground for leading artists, including the monologue. Spalding Gray at McDowell in New Hampshire; composer Lea Bertucci at the Bemis Contemporary Arts Center in Nebraska; and Rashaad Newsome, artists at Eyebeam in Brooklyn and Danai Anesiadou at Fogo Island Arts off the east coast of Canada.

This definition of withdrawal has changed drastically over the past year as many of these areas have closed. According to Res Artis, a global database of residences, Covid-19 impact research, 54 percent of scheduled concerts have been canceled or postponed, and one in 10 organizations that support artists have been closed indefinitely.

They updated March 2021 report he also states that 65 percent of the artists participating in the survey had to pursue a job other than art, while 12 percent thought of quitting altogether. Emerging artists were disproportionately affected.

However, not all programs came to a standstill as some museums and institutions were able to spin on their axis. And some artists have found that pause has unintended consequences for their creative process.

In March 2020, musician Roberto Carlos Lange, stage name Helado Negro, and his visual artist wife Kristi Sword were invited to showcase their multimedia collaboration “Kite Symphony, Four Variations”. Ballroom, in the Texas town that has become a beacon for groundbreaking art. The New York-based couple planned to stay for two weeks, but remained there in isolation for six months.

“It was a ghost town,” said Mr. Lange. “When we arrived, the world was locked up.” And so their stay became a de facto residence. “The time we spent in Marfa reprogrammed our brains a lot,” he said. “This was a moment of focused creativity because there was nothing else to do. We dug more, trying to fill the unknown void. ”

They kept trying and found that being remote by nature helped them build on the work they’d offer next year. Another conclusion: the couple decided not to return to New York; instead they moved to North Carolina. “It’s always difficult to pull the trigger, but Asheville felt like a cool mid-point,” said Mr. Lange.

Creative success stories aside, the pandemic has been a financial challenge for residency programs. Laura Copelin, general manager of Ballroom Marfa, said the organization is struggling over how to continue to be generous to artists, and that is a result. Ballroom Sessions — The Farther SpaceA new residency model to explore interdisciplinary studies inspired by West Texas and extending to 2026.

As in many other industries, going virtual was another solution. Performance artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin were expected to arrive in March 2020 for a three-week residency. momentary, Ark., a contemporary satellite of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, to produce “The Song of Jesse and Steve”, the Arkansas chapter of the “50 States” project, The stone wall 1969 uprising.

“Our work is community oriented,” Mr. Vaughan said. “When it became clear that Momentary would be shutting down, they found a free week’s virtual residency for everyone.” It became a pilot program and allowed the museum to rethink how people gather.

While the duo put most of their collaborations with local artists on hold, they were able to work remotely with others, including the New Orleans composer and musician known as strings. free wild.

Soon, Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Margolin noticed their decades of life slowing down, but also growing in scope: During the virtual sitting, a companion project emerged, a reinterpretation of a work originally performed live. Countercurrent Festival in Houston. Name of new remote study “Sitting in One Pandemic and Thinking About Another” It refers to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Baer in Iceland has replaced Adam Thorman until this summer. “Steinnun who runs it gave me the first dibs,” said Steinunn Jonsdottir, who is the director and founder of the arts center and is financed by his family. And indeed, Ms Jonsdottir found herself in a dilemma when Iceland reopened this year.

“It made the whole application process a lot more difficult for me,” she said. “I felt like I had to make up for the cancellation of 2020 this summer. I couldn’t turn down the great artists who applied. That’s why I added the third session.”

This time Mr. Thorman brought backup cameras.



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