The A. M. Qattan Foundation invites artists, academics, researchers, writers, collectives, filmmakers, poets, storytellers and others to apply to The Facility exhibition, which will take place between 1 February and 1 April 2019 and will be held in the new A. M. Qattan Cultural Centre.
The exhibition builds its concept on the lack of artists’ accessibility to appropriate studio space. The Facility aims to shed light on the significance of artists’ studios as spaces for creative processes of thinking, experimentation and imagination. The exhibition attempts to combine five elements of artmaking in its curatorial approach, namely: the artist, studio space, the process of artmaking, the artistic product and the audience experience. Traditionally, exhibitions combine two or three of the latter elements; The Facility, however, challenges the traditional notion of exhibitions and creates the conditions for these elements to coexist simultaneously.
The open call invites 17 creative individuals to acquire a studio space built communally inside the gallery. Each studio space (3.6m x 2.4m) has its own privacy yet connected with the other studios through circulation elements, gardens, eating and meeting areas. If visitors of the exhibition are interested in talking to or visiting a resident, certain visiting times, rules and conditions are set by each of the artists. Examples of the rules include:
“The studio is opened for visitors daily from 15:00 to 17:00. Bring a bar of chocolate and your favourite short story.”
“You can visit me anytime. Bring a yellow object and sing me a song.”
Rules and regulations will be placed in the catalogue and at the entrance of the exhibition.
Artists must depart their studios on 1 April 2019, leaving the furniture in the studio as well as all drawings, sketches, documents, books and other material used by the artist during the residency. These traces of themselves, their work and their visit will stay showcased between April and May 2019.
Conditions
- Please fill and complete the online application no later than 15 November 2018, 12 p.m.
- Applicants should commit to use their time in the studio for a predefined project for a minimum of four hours a day, three days a week.
- The Foundation will provide $200 for each artist designated for furnishing their studio space.
- The Foundation will provide water, coffee and tea in one of the public spaces of the exhibition.
Artists will be selected by Foundation committee and experts from the field.