Results of the selection commitee for Accented Residency 2010

We would like to thank everybody who expressed an interest in Accented Residency British Council’s Creative Collaborations. The selection panel for 2010 edition of Accented Residency took place at Townhouse Gallery, Cairo on the 14th and 15th May.

The selection committee comprising William Wells (Director, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo), Livia Pancu (Residency Coordinator, Vector Association, Iasi), Eva Langret (Residency Coordinator, Delfina Foundation, London), David Martin (Programme Manager, Spike Island, Bristol) and Oyku Ozsoy (Residency Coordinator, Platform Garanti CAC) looked at 160 applications and created a shortlist of 43 artists. Christine Tohme (Director, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut) was unable to attend the meeting for personal reasons and the applications were later sent on to Ashkal Alwan for evaluation.

The final selection of eight applicants for Accented Residency 2010 was based on the match between each chosen applicant and the hosting institution's interest, quality of applicants work as indicated by submitted visual documentation, demonstration of a serious and consistent dedication to the professional practice of visual arts, and evidence that the applicant is at a critical juncture in the development of their artistic practice, which they jury believe will be advanced by the residency.

After having experience of the first year of Accented Residency, partner institutions agreed that this residency program creates a unique opportunity for artists and curators, especially in that it requires no end product as other residencies so often do, thereby freeing participants towards a more critical and reflective engagement rather than a product oriented or static sense of obligation. In addition the Accented Residency allows for a valuable research opportunity in terms of supporting travel between the partner institutions and their locations, a freedom of movement that is still incredibly limited within the region. Finally it stimulates interaction between residents and hosting institutions, and various projects have flourished beyond the residency period.

British Council's Creative Collaboration grant has generously supported Accented Residency for two successive years. However, given the immense interest in this program, the intention of partner institutions is always to raise further funding in order to continue this program and give residency opportunities for additional individuals in forthcoming years. Accented Residency will take place again next year, but with a more tailored focus for each participating institution, the details of which will be announced in the beginning of 2011.

The individuals selected for Accented Residency 2010 are:

Ashkal Alwan
Mohammad Allam, Egypt

Delfina Foundation
Tayfun Serttas, Turkey

Platform Garanti CAC
Iman Issa, Egypt
Alina Popa / Irina Gheorghe, Romania

Spike Island
Adnan Yildiz, Turkey

Townhouse Gallery
Jawad Al Malhi, Palestine

Vector Association
Ayman Ramadan, Egypt

Call for applications: Accented Residency 2010

Call for applications: Accented Residency 2010
March 18 - April 30, 2010

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 is 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 the Spike Island (Bristol, UK).

The first installment of the Accented made possible residencies for nine artists/curators/writers at participating institutions in 2009.

Creative Collaboration grants for 2010 will be made available to artists, curators and writers from countries mentioned in the below. Selected individuals will be offered six to eight-week residencies at one of the participating institutions. Travel expenses (one return ticket), accomodation and per-diem during the residency period will be covered by host institutions.

The initiative is open to applicants living and working in 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.

Applications:

Online submissions are preferred. Please send it in the below:
Alexandra Stock: alexandra@thetownhousegallery.com

E-mail applications must include a statement/motivation letter for the residency. Please send the application form and your CV, along with sufficient visual material such as URLs, JPEGs, and/or MP4 files. All visual files must be accompanied by a check-sheet.

You can upload your files to providers such as rapid share, esnips, and dropbox.

You can alternately send your materials in a CD or DVD to the closest institution to your country indicated as “Accented Residency” on the envelope by April 30:

Please note that submitted materials will not be returned back to applicants.

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.

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