Focus > Ústí nad Labem

Date :

01.04.2023 until 31.12.2024

Preface

The goal of the European artist exchange of the District County of Upper Bavaria is to consolidate the cultural relations between European countries by a partnership and to enrich the regional as well as the Upper Bavarian cultural scene.

The art exchange with the House of Arts of the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem began in 2023. One artist each from the Czech Republic and Upper Bavaria lived and worked in the respective partner country for one month.

 

Residency in Ústí nad Labem

Framework for the year 2023: GARDENING OF SOUL: IN FIVE CHAPTERS

The international project GARDENING OF SOUL: IN FIVE CHAPTERS deals with the concept of "gardening" in a metaphorical sense - as art intervention, art in public space or conceptual art. In addition to the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem as project leader, institutions from several countries participate in the art project: Germany, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Ukraine, South Africa, USA, Hong Kong.

The project purpose is to make contemporary art accessible through realisation of art and design works in public space, thematically defined international exhibitions and international interdisciplinary conference.

Placed within the international art context, the project GARDENING OF SOUL: IN FIVE CHAPTERS focuses on establishing connectivity between current artistic expression and the various social activities that have begun to emerge from the desire to cultivate and nurture one’s surroundings, which can be symbolically described as a tendency manifesting itself through various forms of collective gardening.

The garden – and the work associated with developing and maintaining it – are without a doubt metaphorically linked to the determination of an individual to enhance and share a specific space and, at the same time, use this space to ensure both material and existential needs.

 >> More about Gardening of Soul

Benefits of the scholarship for upper bavarian artists  

• 1 month art residency in Ústí nad Labem
• Free use of the studio in the House of Art
• Free accommodation in a single room with bathroom in the nearby dormitory
• Workshops and equipment of the Academy of Arts can be used free of charge by arrangement.
• Daily allowance of 34 €/day
• Production cost subsidy of 1,000 € (by arrangement)
• Travel allowance for outward and return journey (by arrangement)
• Participation in the joint exhibition within the framework of the project in Ústí nad Labem
• Participation in the joint exhibition of the scholarship holders at the Schafhof - Europäisches Kunstforum Oberbayern in Freising in the year following the stay.
  
  

Subject to Change:
Changes or errors are reserved. In the event that an art exchange with one of the partner institutions does not take place despite a successful call for applications, the art scholarship will be cancelled without substitution, and the district of Upper Bavaria will not pay any damages or compensation.

About the House of Arts of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University

The city of Ústí nad Labem is located about 90 km north of Prague and is a historic industrial centre and transport hub on the Elbe River in northern Bohemia with a population of nearly 95,000 people.

The Ústí nad Labem House of Arts of the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyne University is a centre for art, culture, creativity, research, education and social responsibility. It provides almost 700 m2 of exhibition space, a multifunctional hall for 80 spectators intended for experimental, audiovisual, performative and music performances, a residential studio, workshops specializing in new media and graphic techniques serving students and the public, and last but not least extensive facilities for arts education and diverse social activities.

For the Faculty of Art and Design, the new House of Arts seat represents the direction of new development, which leads to strengthening of educational processes on the border of acquiring field knowledge or skills and authentic creation with aspects of artistic as well as theoretical research and rich socialization potential. In the context of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, it will become not only a space for multidisciplinary cooperation connecting artistic creativity with stimuli coming from the humanities, social sciences, as well as science or technology, but also a ground for community responsibility growth embedded in the institution’s DNA.

Within the Ústí nad Labem context, the institution can be perceived as an impulse for the local cultural emancipation continuity, as its opening and development follow the rich tradition of the authentic and valued local contemporary art scene, which places this city among lively and significant art centers. In the middle of the Ústí Region, it is a symbolic signal of the path to the necessary deep transformation arising from an environmental and social responsibility within which cultural and creative industries will undoubtedly play an irreplaceable role as a tool for strengthening general sustainability and quality of life.

The visitors will enter the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts on a new bridge, while such an institution might be perceived as a solid bridge itself. It combines the diverse and often seemingly opposite worlds of art and science, emotions and rationality, endless creative freedom and empathic responsibility. It bridges the gaps of growing indifference and misunderstanding through respect for everyone in the community. It is a tool for achieving ambitious cultural goals or realizing research plans, and at the same time offers space for friendly meetings and community gatherings. The House of Art mirrors the sense of unity which surrounds it, permeates it and breathes life into it through common desires, stimuli, activities and meetings.