Results of the selection commitee

Accented Residency

We would like to thank everybody who expressed an interest in Accented Residency British Council’s Creative Collaborations. Due to the overwhelming number of applications the selection committee's deliberations were extended to two full working days – May 29 and 30.

The selection committee comprising Christine Tohme (Director, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut), William Wells (Director, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo), Alexandru Bougneru (Residency Coordinator, Vector Association, Iasi), Eva Langret (Residency Coordinator, Delfina Foundation, London), Marie-Anne McQuay (Curator, Spike Island, Bristol), Gülsün Karamustafa (Artist, Turkey), Vasif Kortun (Director, Platform Garanti CAC, Istanbul) and Oyku Ozsoy (Residency Coordinator, Platform Garanti CAC) looked at over 200 applications and created a shortlist of 72 artists.

The final selection of nine applicants was made on the basis of the quality of work, how these individuals would benefit from a residency in one of the partner institutions' cities, and whether their practice was considered open to development and critical engagement during the residency period.

The high number of applications for Accented is indicative of how crucial it is at this moment in time to initiate and sustain a residency program in the region. The jury had a difficult time coming to a final selection of only nine successful applicants as the quality of the portfolios was extremely impressive. In December 2009 an open call will be announced on Platform's blog for the residencies taking place in 2010. And, given the immense interest in this program we plan to raise further funding in order to offer additional residency opportunities for artists/curators/writers and continue our collaborations in the coming years.

The individuals selected for Accented 2009 are:

Ashkal Alwan
Ashkan Sepahvand, Iran
Burak Delier, Turkey

Delfina Foundation
Ala Younis, Jordan.

Platform Garanti
Maha Maamoun, Egypt
Vangelis Vlahos, Greece

Spike Island
Gordana Nikolic, Serbia

Townhouse Gallery
Sislej Xhafa, Kosova
Rosalind Nashashibi, UK

Vector Association
Lina Mounzer, Lebanon.

Selection meeting

The final selection for the residency will be made in Istanbul on May 29-30, 2009 and the result will be announced in the second week of June on the blog. Thank you for your kind interest to the program.

Accented Residency

A New Regional Residency Initiative

Accented aims to develop co-operations in South East Europe (SEE), and the East Mediterranean (EM), North Africa, the Gulf Countries and the United Kingdom with key institutions that focus on artistic research.

The initiative will be administered through a relationship between six institutions that include Platform Garanti CAC (Istanbul, Turkey), Vector Association (Iasi, Romania), Ashkal Alwan (Beirut, Lebanon), Townhouse Gallery (Cairo, Egypt), Delfina Foundation (London, UK) and Spike Island (Bristol, UK).

Creative Collaboration grants will be made available to artists, curators and writers from countries in SEE, EM, the Gulf and the UK. Over a course of two years 20 professionals selected will be offered six to eight-week residencies at one of the participating institutions.

The initiative is open to applicants from the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Gulf Region, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Morocco, Palestine, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Syria, Tunisia, Cyprus, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The application must include a statement/motivation letter for the residency. Please forward the application form and your CV in six copies, along with sufficient visual material such as slides, Cds/DVDs, web addresses, images and/or printed material to the closest institution to your country (or Platform Garanti CAC) indicated as “Accented Residency” on the envelope by May 15, 2009. The application form may be downloaded from the blog address and it needs to be filled in English.

Accented Residency offers a studio space, accommodation and covers travel expenses (a return flight) and living expenses of residents.

Accented Residency is part of the British Council’s Creative Collaboration programme. The overall aim of the Creative Collaborations programme is to enrich the cultural life of Europe and its surrounding country and to build trust and understanding across communities by generating dialogue and debate.

For further information please contact:

Oyku Ozsoy: oykuozs@garanti.com.tr / oykuozsoy@gmail.com