Open call – FSAS international curator residencies 2020

Fire Station Artists’ Studios Dublin, Ireland
Deadline: Midnight/ 20 October 2019

Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS), Dublin, Ireland invites international curators to apply for flexible residencies throughout 2020. The FSAS International Curator Residency provides contemporary international curators with a space to live, work and network in Dublin. Residencies are available for between one week and one month.

Through these residencies, Fire Station aims to build links and foster collaborations between Irish artists, curators, art institutions and their artistic peers internationally. This residency programme provides opportunities for international curators to familiarise themselves with the Irish visual art scene, undertake research, make connections and potentially bring Irish artists international exhibition opportunities.

Fire Station’s established reputation spanning 25 years of work helps with key personnel contacts in both public and private art institutions, as well as with independent curators and artists. 

Another advantage for an international curator visiting Dublin is easy access to a dynamic and growing visual art scene within a compact city that is manageable on foot. Our Dublin city centre location is within walking distance of all major galleries both public and private and artists’ studios which are located close to Dublin city centre. In addition, FSAS is located close to national rail and bus transport lines with easy access to the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Belfast which all have distinct and vibrant art scenes.

Respective curators deliver a public talk, take part in FSAS community events, receive a €200 stipend and write a follow-up evaluation documenting their residency. 

Application procedure

• Your application should specify:
  • Your professional background and experience (300-400 words maximum)
  • Your motivation and work plan for this residency (600 words maximum)
  • Your preferred timeframe in 2020. Residencies can be between one and four weeks.

• A current CV 
• Supporting documentation: (One or two recent projects – please limit data volume)

Email materials in a single PDF preferably or via online transfer to: projects@firestation.ie

Applications are now open and will close at Midnight/ 20 October 2019

Please use ‘2020 International Curator Residencies’ in subject line.

Successful curators will be notified before mid November.  As we are a small team here if you do not hear from us means that you have not been successful in this round of applications but we hope that this will not preclude you from applying in the future. However, if you feel you need some specific feedback please write to us.

What does the Fire Station Artists’ Studio residency offer visiting international curators?

• A combined live and work studio that is located in Dublin’s historic north inner city centre. 
• Successful curators receive a stipend of €200 to support their stay here
• Access to our facilities including the digital media resource centre, equipment, meeting room, reading area. For a full list of facilities http://www.firestation.ie/facilities
• We prefer for visiting curators to create their own time-table of studio visits with our resident artists and other cultural practitioners to suit their own patterns. This can be done in advance, particularly if the visiting curator opts for a shorter stay. We are also available to offer structured support in the form of introductions to artists, art institutions, curators, galleries in Dublin city and nationwide on a case by case basis as needed.

What does the visiting international curator need to do during their stay here?

• We invite international curators to do a short public talk here in our Project Space. Curators can opt to do this at the beginning of their stay, as it is a helpful way of meeting residents, invite practitioners from Dublin and beyond to come and hear about their practice. Alternatively it can be a good way to round up a stay here.
• We request that the visiting curator take part in a number of studio visits with Fire Station artists and attend any community events (talks, potluck lunches) that coincide with their stay.
• At the end of the residency, we request each curator to write a brief report for our own evaluation purposes so that we can continue to refine our awarded residency programme.
• Informally we ask visiting curators to bring along any previous publications or exhibition ephemera that relates to their recent work and / also recommend some active reading material that is of current interest to them so we can build our library. 

In 2019 we awarded residencies to:

Vanina Saracino, Canan Batur, Hana Ostan Ožbolt, Lucy A. Sames, Amy L. Powell, Alfredo Aracil, Sabine Schmid and Patrice Sharkey.

In 2018 we awarded residencies to:

Marek Wolynski, Allison Peters Quinn, Herb Shellenberger, Anneka French, Kris Dittel, Ana García Alarcón, Jade French, Kirsty White, Behzad Nejadghanbar, Denis Maksimov, Carolina Lio and Emma Brasó