Residency programme for artists and curators from Berlin and Lagos 2018

From 20th December 2017 on two calls for application are open in order to continue the residency program for young artists and curators from the cities of Berlin and Lagos. The project, which was initiated in 2015 and has been renewed and expanded since then, is a cooperation between Goethe-Institut Nigeria and Arthouse Foundation in Lagos and the Center for Art and Urbanistics (ZK/U), SAVVY Contemporary, the Office of Art and Culture in Berlin Mitte in conjunction with Gallery Wedding – Space for Contemporary Art.

Since its beginning, the aim of the exchange program is to offer an individualized opportunity. This includes a working permit expanding over several weeks, consulting, contact, and exchange possibilities and further the opportunity to present the final results within different formats. The first participant has been artist and curator Folakunle Oshun from Lagos followed by performance and video artist Tito Aderemi-Ibitola who presented her projects dealing with identity, gender roles and racism issues in 2016. Thanks to Arthouse Foundation Lagos, who joins the exchange program in 2018, it now works in both directions. This time the call is also directed towards young artists and curators living in Berlin to whom a six-week stay at Lagos is offered. Simultaneously an artist or curator from Lagos will be resident in Berlin for three month. The three participating artists and curators are connected throughout the program and will meet each other.

For Goethe-Institut Nigeria, that finances the residency, the exchange program means a deepening of the relationship between Germany and Nigeria and also an opportunity for a change in perspective with the interested public.

Part of the application should be the description of the intended project. The media can be chosen freely within the field of the visual artists and performances but should deal with the topic of “Unsustainable Privileges”. What does it mean to have privileges, to lose them or to earn some? What new perspectives, spaces, archaeologies and social circulations do we see under the influence of global migration? Do privileges have a future? What could this look like?

The examination of the topic of privileges is a re-directed question about the north and the south that is marked by postcolonial relations. The endeavor is a comparison and/or collision of perspectives from the North and the South that each participated brings into the project and experiences in the particular country. The topic is an invitation to locally explore the recent future and all forms of privileges in order to express a renegotiation in a creative language.

The Goethe-InstitutThe globally active cultural institute promotes knowledge of the German language abroad, cultivates international cultural cooperation and provides a comprehensive image of Germany. In times of new global challenges the work of the Goethe-Institut aims at deepening an understanding among cultures and to strengthen the reputation of Germany with the World. The name of the Goethe-Institut in Germany stands for 159 institutes in 98 countries, of which 12 are Goethe-Institut in Germany. As part of around 100 residency programs each year, we offer first of all artists from Germany the opportunity to live and work abroad for a while.