International curatorial residency in Sofia, Bulgaria

Art Affairs and Documents Foundation, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria and Credo Bonum Gallery are pleased to announce the second edition of CLICK – an international residency programme for curators. The programme provides a 3 to 5-weeks-long residency in the city of Sofia to emerging curators. The residency covers accommodation, a fee and budget for the production of a curatorial project. Furthermore, the programme offers meetings with artists and curators in Sofia, studio visits, and assistance with research and production of final projects.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

Art Affairs and Documents Foundation is a professional organization of curators, operating in Bulgaria and internationally. It was founded by curators Vessela Nozharova, Vera Mlechevska, Dessislava Dimova and Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva. Individual and collective efforts of its members are to broaden the understanding of visual art and culture as part of historical, social and political dynamics. The organisation often steps in collaborating with many local institutions and entities and among other activities it mediates intercultural dialogue.

The CLICK residency is realized in partnership between Art Affairs and Documents Foundation, Goethe- Institut Bulgaria. The platform CLICK residency is supported by the Programme “Culture” of the City of Sofia.

The residency aims at creating a network and offering the possibility for new encounters and professional contacts which will eventually lead to future collaborations between international and Bulgarian curators and artists.

The first edition of the residency took place in 2018 when curators Clelia Coussonnet (France), Marie Himmerich (Germany) and Carolina Lio (Great Britain) took part. Two exhibitions, dozens of meetings and studio visits, public curator’s talks and a workshop for young art critics with Prof. Dr. Astrid Mania (Germany) were realized in the framework of the residency. In 2019 the programme will be continued with three new residents and an extended curator’s talks program with guests from Bulgaria and abroad.

THE PROGRAMME PROVIDES

100% CLICK:

• accommodation for up to 5 weeks in a separate studio apartment in the very heart of the city of Sofia
• the schedule of the residency is flexible: selected curators can spend the 5 weeks in Sofia as a single uninterrupted stay, or travel twice: a research period followed by a separate trip for the realization of the final project.
• fee of 400 EUR
• production budget of 500 EUR for an exhibition or other curatorial final project (publication, performance etc.)
• exhibition/event space(s) – the gallery of Goethe-Institut Bulgaria (+ technical equipment).
• organised program of meetings with Bulgarian curators and artists, visits in galleries and institutions, studio visits
• assistance for research, production etc.
• travel costs are NOT covered, but the organisers can provide a recommendation letter in case the residents apply for external funding for covering their travel costs.
• NB! Selected curators should take care of health and travel insurances by themselves. Selected curators must provide a prove that they have a valid insurance for Bulgaria.
• The programme can fully finance 2 x 100% CLICK residencies.

50% CLICK:

• accommodation for up to 3 weeks in a separate studio apartment in the very heart of the city of Sofia
• fee of 200 EUR
• organised program of meetings with Bulgarian curators and artists, visits in galleries and institutions, studio visits
• travel costs are NOT covered, but the organisers can provide a recommendation letter in case the residents apply for external funding for covering their travel costs.
• NB! Selected curators should take care of health and travel insurances by themselves. Selected curators must provide a prove that they have a valid insurance for Bulgaria.
• The programme can finance 2 x 50% CLICK residencies.

EXPECTATIONS FROM THE RESIDENTS

Residents are expected to have interest in discovering and learning more about Bulgarian art scene, in working with Bulgarian artists and exchanging knowledge, contacts, new practices and more. Interest in networking, creating professional contacts, exchange and future collaborations with Bulgarian curators and artists beside the residency, is highly appreciated.

In conclusion of the residency all selected curators have to held a public talk on a selected topic or in general about their curatorial practice. Curators in the 100% CLICK program can produce a final project which can be in the form of an exhibition, publication, performance or any other experimental form.

WHO CAN APPLY

Non-Bulgarian emerging curators, regardless of their age or country of origin, are invited to apply. Curatorial experience of at least two years or at least three realized curatorial projects are required, as well as good command of English.

SCHEDULE

• 12th March – application deadline
• Mid-end March – informing the applicants and announcing the selected curators
• Possible periods for residency: April-November 2019
• Possible periods for exhibitions in the gallery of Goethe-Institut Bulgaria: July, September, October or November

APPLICATION

Interested curators have to submit following documents (in English):

• a CV
• a portfolio with documentation of at least three realized curatorial projects
• a cover letter expressing the motivation of the applicant. Mentioning background knowledge of the Bulgarian art scene, possible topics of interest for research as well as expressing interest or ideas for the final project are of advantage.
• Please, include your desired schedule for the residency. In case you are interested in making a curated show in the gallery of Goethe-Institut you must mention one of the possible periods.
• Applications to be submitted before 12th March at click.sofia@goethe.de

Technical restrictions:

• Portfolio: only pdf-file
• Cover letter and CV – pdf or text file
• Maximum size of all attachments: 10 mb. All files must be in one email. No download-links are accepted.
• Subject of the letter must be: CLICK2019 [First name] [Second name]
• Please mention in the body of the email following information: Name, country and city of residence, preferred residency period, preferred exhibition period (if applies)

SELECTION COMMETTEE

Vessela Nozharova – curator and representative of the Art Affairs and Documents Foundation Vera Mlechevska – curator and representative of the Art Affairs and Documents Foundation Dessislava Dimova – curator and representative of the Art Affairs and Documents Foundation Enzio Wetzel and Stefka Tsaneva – representatives of Goethe-Institut Bulgaria

CLICK is a project by Art Affairs and Documents Foundation and Goethe-Institut Bulgaria Supported by the Programme “Culture” of the City of Sofia, Bulgaria

Contact person for further questions: Stefka Tsaneva, click.sofia@goethe.de

Official homepage (in Bulgarian and German): https://www.goethe.de/ins/bg/de/kul/sup/clicksofia.html Project blog (in English): www.click-sofia.tumblr.com

CLICK’s visual identity is created by artist Boris Pramatarov.