Artist Residency “THE ENCLOSED GARDEN #5”

We invite artists, ethnographers, and environmentalists passionate about experimental exhibition-making to apply for The Enclosed Garden, an intensive one-month residency in Armenia.

10 womxn (5 from Armenia, 5 international) will live and work together to co-create an exhibition exploring intimacy through ecological art and embodied performance practices.

Methods

The residency program draws from the embodied practices of Anna Halprin, Meredith Monk, Gurdjieff, and Mary Wigman, emphasizing endurance, collective living, and care. Participants will take part in daily workshops in textile arts, weaving, drawing, dance, somatics, visual poetry, singing, writing, hiking, planting, and cooking. We aim to train multidisciplinary artistic skills while uplifting traditional crafts and ecological storytelling as sustainable art forms.

Grounded in a Do-It-Together (DIT) approach inspired by Bauhaus principles, artists will share practices from their own cultures in visual art, body-based methods, and ecological fieldwork—co-creating a regenerative space for learning, healing, and transformation.

Duration: August 8 – September 2, 2025

A. Retreat & collaborative workshop:
Aug 9–20 | 📍 Dsegh, Armenia

B. Residency of Creation:
Aug 21–28 | 📍 Pioneer Palace, Vanadzor

C. Festival & Public Performances:
Aug 29–31 | 📍 Pioneer Palace, Vanadzor

D. Closing & Reflection:
Sept 1–2 | 📍 Vanadzor

Artist’s profiles

Visual arts, textile arts, architecture, writing, eco-art, performance, interdisciplinary practices.

Applicants must be based in Armenia, Georgia, France, Germany, or Greece (due to fundings).
Artists from other regions may apply if they can secure travel and visa support independently.

What We Offer

27 days-program: Fully funded; all workshops are free of charge.

Covered Expenses: travel, accommodation, food, production costs.

Artist Fee: Each participant will receive a €500 fee for their contribution to the final show.

Conditions

This is a high-commitment residency with a full daily schedule (10:00–22:00). It is both introspective and collective, demanding physical, emotional, and creative engagement.

Please apply only if you feel ready to explore personal boundaries through body practices and community living in a secluded environment.

Note from Celia Stroom, Artistic Director

“We have gone so far in the world of thoughts that we may have forgotten the body… This body is the precious help needed to crystallize what we live every day—to embody our experiences so life is not only an accumulation of theories, but a fulfilment of our inner self.”