Respiratorium Residency

The residency is conceived through a collaborative vision between Magdalena Górska (RESPIRE) and Sozita Goudouna (Library Residency), who together seek to establish a sustained space for artists, researchers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and activists to engage with the contemporary socio-environmental-political conjuncture through a respiratory lens. Central to their endeavor is the cultivation of a material-discursive and creative ecology in which breath - as a material necessity, metaphor, and site of political contestation - serves as both method and subject.

Based in Greece, the program offers year-round independent residencies of flexible duration, awarded on a rolling basis determined by accommodation availability and the alignment of applicants’ practice with the respiratory framework. In addition, an annual group residency convenes a small cohort of practitioners for a concentrated two-week period of mutual exchange and critical support.

The Respiratorium Residency program is designed as a five-year initiative, operating within the spatial and conceptual infrastructure developed by the Library Residency program. Applications for independent residencies remain open year-round. Application periods for the group residencies will be announced accordingly.

About Respiratorium

Respiratorium is a part of ERC-funded project RESPIRE: Planetary Breathing in Asphyxiating Times (ERC, RESPIRE, 101162754). The goal of Respiratorium is to create a hub for respiratory work and to start a community of critical respiratory studies that goes beyond the events organised at Utrecht University, where the project is located. We also strive to develop an physical and online spaces that showcase the work of respiratory scholars, artists, activists, practitioners, and by doing so to create a community of diverse ways of thinking and practising through breathing and air.

About the Library Residency

The non-profit organization GREECE IN USA under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, launched the "Library Residency" in April 2023, the first hosting program in the center of Athens for international writers and artists. The Library Residency fosters dialogue between American, global and Greek writers and artists on the subject of artistic creation in relation to literature. Writers, visual artists, filmmakers and musicians interact and be inspired by Library Residency's book collection with the aim of creating a new concept, a design, a project, a poem, a score, a haiku, or composition based on a book. The Library Residency is a unique, rigorous program that facilitates a direct dialogue between contemporary creators and a book collection. Hosted within a functioning private library, the residency provides a structured framework for artists, writers, and composers to undertake a focused period of research and creation, culminating in the production of new work.

The Model: A Curated Encounter

Respire Residency takes on the creative model developed by the Library Residency that is designed to foster innovation through creative constraint and deep engagement. The process is structured as follows:

• The Curated Collection: Prior to their arrival, each resident is provided with a curated selection of materials - a "stack"- drawn from the library's archives. This collection serves as a primary source, a point of departure, and a conceptual counterpoint for the resident's project.
• The Intensive Engagement: Residents are granted private, 24-hour access to the library for a specified period. This time is dedicated to immersive, self-directed work within the space, encouraging a sustained and profound engagement with the materials.

• The Outcome: The residency is fundamentally practice-oriented. The intensive engagement is designed to result in the creation of a new, finished work, which becomes a tangible record of this unique creative encounter.

   

The Space: An Active Archive

The residency occurs within the ecosystem of an active library. Residents do not work in isolated studios but are integrated into the space, working alongside the bookshelves and reading tables. This environment is intentional, promoting a continuous and serendipitous interaction with the full spectrum of the collection.

Our Commitment

The Respire Residency is committed to supporting practices that respond to literary and historical material in relation to artistic and academic engagements with pressing social, cultural, political, and environmental issues related to breath, breathing, suffocation, air, and atmosphere. We provide a distinctive platform for cross-disciplinary work, fostering projects that might not otherwise be realized in a conventional studio or retreat setting.

Application and selection

The residency welcomes applications and inquires from international practitioners across all creative and academic disciplines. Practitioners are invited to work with the Library Residency functioning library and with respiratory scholarship and artistic practices to further develop their work. We ask you to please submit:

• A project proposal for consideration
• 1 page motivation letter
• CV

The selection committee evaluates applications based on artistic and/or academic merit and the project's potential for a meaningful engagement with the library environment and matters of breath, breathing, suffocation, air, and atmosphere.

Please submit your applications to: sozita@gmail.com and m.a.gorska@uu.nl

Application for the collective residency will be announced separately with further details and application deadline.

For more information, please follow us on Instagram: _respiratorium_