Open call –  international curator residencies 2022

Fire Station Artists’ Studios Dublin, Ireland
Deadline: 17:00 pm 8th October 2021

Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS), Dublin, Ireland invites international curators to apply for flexible residencies throughout 2022. The FSAS International Curator Residency provides contemporary international curators with a space to live, work and network in Dublin. Residencies are for between one week and one month.

Through these residencies, FSAS 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, to potentially bring Irish artists international exhibition opportunities.

Respective curators deliver a public talk, take part in FSAS community events, receive a €300 stipend and write a follow-up evaluation documenting their residency. 

Fire Station’s established reputation spanning nearly thirty years of work helps with key personnel contacts in both public and private art institutions, such as directors, curators, 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.

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

• Accommodation comprising a living-working studio that is located in Dublin’s historic north inner city centre. Images of the studio can be seen here: http://www.firestation.ie/studios/studio/studio2/ 
• Successful curators will receive a stipend of €300 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?

• Curators are invited 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’s a helpful way of meeting residents and inviting practitioners from Dublin and beyond to come and hear about their practice. 
• We request that the visiting curator take part in a number of studio visits with Fire Station artists and attend any community events 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. 

Previous curators:

Anneka French, Angels Miralda, Lea Vene, Marten Esko, Meghana Karnik, Stanislaw Welbel and Terhi Tuomi (2020) Vanina Saracino, Canan Batur, Hana Ostan Ozbolt, Lucy A. Sames, Amy L. Powell, Alfredo Aracil, Sabine Schmid and Patrice Sharkey (2019) 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 (2018)

fire station artists’ studios

Located in Dublin’s northeast city centre, Fire Station Artists’ Studios was established in 1993 to support professional visual artists. It provides ten subsidised combined living and working studios for Irish and international artists as well as large scale sculpture workshop facilities for day hire. 

In addition Fire Station provides digital media facilities and equipment, a project/meeting room space as well as training opportunities for artists combining the practical with the conceptual.

A key policy of Fire Station is to support socially engaged arts practice and critique through art commissions, talks and publications. Fire Station promotes international opportunities for Irish artists through international artists’ exchanges and a curator in residence programme. 

For further information go to http://www.firestation.ie

application procedure

• A short curatorial statement specifying: (1 page maximum)

• Why are you interested in the Fire Station Artists’ Studios international curator residency?
• What do you hope to achieve while here?
• Specify your preferred timeframe to visit us during 2022 from March onwards

• A current CV (3 page max)
• Supporting documentation: (One or two recent projects)
• Please designate a short bio (75-100 words max) and an image  (300dpi) with caption that we will use to announce your residency if you are selected.

Email materials in a single PDF with the subject line FSAS Curator Residency 2022 to : projects@firestation.ie

Applications are now open and will close at 5 PM, 8th October 2021

Successful curators will be notified in early 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 won’t preclude you from applying in the future. However, if you feel you need some specific feedback please write to us.