NAARCA presents at meeting of the Finnish Artist Residency Network (FAIRE)
On Friday the 31st of May, in collaboration with the Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation, Saari hosted a meeting of the Finnish Artist Residency Network (FAIRE). It was attended by approximately 60 residency operators from across the country as well as representatives of the Swedish residency network SWAN and the Estonian LOORE residency network.
During the day, NAARCA presented the work carried out within the network and its results. One of the most significant results is the Sustainability Toolkit for residences developed by NAARCA Alliance Eco-Coordinator Jaana Eskola. It allows artist residences to use concrete examples to help them make their operations more sustainable. The day also featured the network’s online exhibition of art commissioned by NAARCA from artists Rikke Luther (Denmark) and Nikhil Vettukattil (Norway). Online Exhibition of NAARCA’s Art Commissions: Rikke Luther (Denmark) & Nikhil Vettukattil (Norway) is available until the 30th of June.
At the end of the day, we were introduced to the book Residencies Reflected, published by the Saari Residence and Mousse Publishing and edited by residency expert Irmeli Kokko-Viika. Residencies Reflected examines artist residency activities as part of a social and ecological shift in thinking. Through encounters between artists, residences generate knowledge about places, environments and communities, and about people’s relationship with nature and material things as shaped by the ecological crisis. The time spent at a residence when creating a work of art usually remains hidden when the work is exhibited. One of the aims of the book was to elucidate the artistic process in the context of residences. The ten articles in the English edition explore the new potential of residences as communities and environments for artistic work. The writers of the articles are artist residency operators, experts and researchers. The book will be published by the end of this summer.