OPEN CALL: KORDON LAB on Food and Energy

Call open 26.01. – 08.03.2023.
Application deadline: 08.03.2023 by 23.59 (EET)
All applicants will be informed about the selection results by 31.03.2023.

KORDON invites artists-in-residence from the Nordic and Baltic region to widen the understanding of food in relation to energy. Over a two year cyclical residency following the variety of seasons, the LAB allows the selected participants to create an in-depth relationship to the north-east context and its recurrent political reshapings.

We recognise food as a carrier of locality and culture wherein techniques such as smoking, drying, salting and fermenting have been necessary transformations of energy sources to sustain life in the northern hemisphere. This connection has been disappearing with the separation of food production from its origin and the artificial refinement of produce – maintaining the social and economic status quo of globalisation.

How can we identify other modes than production and consumption?
How to merge traditional techniques with contemporary knowledge?
How can transdisciplinary practices propose alternative relations to food and energy?

The grounds and the context of the residency, situated on the Unesco biosphere reserve amidst the Baltic Sea on Hiiumaa island ^[1] in Estonia, forms a starting point for further engagement between the residents’ artistic practices, the locality and its inhabitants. By inviting residents to map, reflect and transform techniques and knowledge of food in relation to energy – we seek for a paradigm shift in our perception of making human and other-than-human life possible.

SELECTION
KORDON invites artists-in-residence from the Nordic and Baltic countries, from a wide range of artistic practices including architecture, visual- and performing arts etc. In addition we are keen to receive applications from professional chefs who wish to broaden their practice in relation to the arts. The residents are expected to carry an individual artistic process as well as have the willingness to live and work in a collective setting wherein caring for the common and working collaboratively is essential.

STRUCTURE
Each resident will be invited for apx. 11 weeks of residency that is divided between three different time periods (each period with a duration of apx. 1 month) to emphasise the long-term process in relation to the change of seasons.

• SUMMER/AUTUMN 2023
  3 weeks from August 7.08. – 27.08.2023
  or
  3 weeks from September 4.09. – 24.09.2023

  First residency period is characterised by research and mapping which takes place in late summer/early autumn 2023 – a time of abundance and the possibility of harvesting.

• WINTER/SPRING 2024
  2-4 weeks between January 15.01. – 11.02.2024
  or
  2-4 weeks between February 12.02. – 10.03.2024

  Second residency period is characterised by testing and experimenting which takes place in winter/early spring 2024 – a time for reflection and learning.

• SUMMER 2024
  4 weeks from July 01.07. – 28.07.2024 (group residency)

  Third residency period is characterised by shaping and finalising the artistic ideas during the peak of summer 2024 –  the liveliest time on the island wherein artistic works will be opened to the public.

Resident’s contribution throughout the residency: artist talk and open studio, working on an individual project and/or a collective work-in-progress presentation.

Participant’s contribution upon completion: installation, intervention or other materialised artistic gesture that will be shared with the public leaving a trace to the grounds of KORDON.

WHAT WE OFFER
Each resident will receive a one time artist fee of 3000€, production grant up to 2000€, per diems up to 900€. We cover slow travelling costs (by land and sea) up to 275€ per round trip.
We offer free accommodation in the newly reconstructed residency house (including a separate bed- and bathroom). There is a shared kitchen for cooking and culinary experiments, a greenhouse, garden, beehives and a sea-container serving as a project space. Contact to various workshops on the island can be made (wood, ceramics, glass etc).

HOW TO APPLY
To apply we ask you to compile the following into one single pdf file and send it to: opencall [at] kordon.ee ^[2]

• CV (including contact information: name, surname, address, email and website if available)

• Portfolio or other visual material

• Answers to the following questions:

  • How do you relate your practice to this residency cycle and the proposed topic?
    (max. 500 words)

  • How would this residency contribute to the development of your research and practice? (max. 250 words)

  • How did you find out about this open call (website, newsletter, social media)?

Please use the following format to label your file: 2023_FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME_OPENCALL.pdf (Max.15mb). 

Deadline: 8th of March, 2023 by 23.59 (EET).
(All applications and attachments will be deleted upon finalisation of the open call).

KORDON LAB on Food and Energy is curated by Ann Mirjam Vaikla and Rasmus Stenager Jensen and funded by the Nordic Culture Point. Additionally the applications will be assessed by the KORDONair team: Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla, Urmo Vaikla, Ingel Vaikla and invited external jury members: Kadi-Ell Tähiste (Association of Estonian Art Institutions, KAEL) and Toomas Kokovkin (The MAB Programme, Unesco).

For questions regarding the application process, please don’t hesitate to contact us:
opencall [at] kordon.ee ^[2]