After two editions of our curatorial school (2018 and 2019), this fall we return with the launch of CENTER FOR SOCIAL VISION – a research platform meant to bring together a working group and to provide a space for lectures, workshops, discussions, and publications.
With the CENTER FOR SOCIAL VISION, we have the long-term goal to create a field for the exchange of experience, politics, and action as they relate to the spaces and things we all share – that is how we define the public infrastructure that encompasses diverse resources and spaces, structures and raw materials. In the frame of this project, we will pay special attention to the potential of that which we share as a community, and how we could further facilitate interconnection, care, invention, and attentiveness upon its use.
The program involves a series of (online and in-person) working sessions between eight selected participants. These meetings are complemented by workshops, lectures, and consultations with invited mentors. In 2021, the program’s mentors include Ivan Bonev (project architect and lab coordinator at Transformatori), Dessislava Dimova (independent curator, co-founder of Art Affairs and Documents Foundation and co-curator of Sofia Art Projects), Emanuele Guidi (artistic director of ar/ge kunst, Kunstverein of Bolzano), Users’ Мanuel (Filip Boyadjiev, Ivelina Gadjeva & Dima Stefanova; a newly established independent educational platform for social impact through design), and Valentinas Klimašauskas (independent curator and writer, co-curator of this year’s 14th Baltic Triennial and the Latvian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019), and others. The program is conceived and led by Viktoria Draganova, founder and director of Swimming Pool.
The main activity of the CENTER FOR SOCIAL VISION is dedicated to projects focused on public infrastructure, which includes spaces as diverse as the meadows around Sofia Ring Road and empty public pools, public institutions and coastlines, archives and open spaces between residential buildings. It is impacted by processes of material, ecological, and social interaction (entropy, repair, mutation, digitalization, public discussion, literary fiction, remediation, transformation, cultural heritage). Only through complex research of such processes in relation to their cultural, economic, and political implications can solutions emerge – that not only involve private and public figures in common projects, but are also environmentally sustainable.
At Swimming Pool, we have previously initiated a series of research projects and publications on institutionality and instituting processes. By creating the CENTER FOR SOCIAL VISION, we wish to further emphasize an idea of art that contains not only a critical, but also a generative impulse necessary for rethinking and transforming the environment we inhabit. We will also continue to re-think and reconsider the role of the art institution today, especially in regards to its ability to facilitate and provoke art’s interaction with public fields, research initiatives, and business innovations (research & development), where an art institution could contribute to the further development of initiative and a complex, collaborating environment.
HOW TO APPLY
We will start with a working group of 8 participants which we invite you to be part of – if you wish to develop a project where the interaction of art with social sciences, historiography, environmental studies, politics, and technology plays a crucial role. The goal is to create a framework within which the participants will be able to generate or develop their ideas for future projects, as well as to present them to a broader audience.
If you are an artist, curator, architect, urbanist, designer, researcher, etc., and you wish to discuss or further develop your (individual or collective) research related to public situations, spaces, or infrastructure, as well as to their possible transformations, we would be happy to include you in our research group. We are looking for project ideas that are inventive, intersectoral, display relevance and care, and rely on collaboration with colleagues and institutions – even if you have yet to establish contacts and need support and strategy. We are also interested in “dig where you stand” initiatives exploring social and geographical contexts which only the participant has access to.
In the frame of the working sessions the participants are welcome to discuss and build upon their ideas for future projects, already existing or to be invented within the program. The schedule will be finalized at the start of the program in the beginning of October 2021, and it will be fully in line with the country’s current epidemic situation.
DATES
October – December 2021, however the implementation period can be extended according to the needs of the participants and the program.
LOCATION
Swimming Pool Sofia and online; location depends on the selected projects and availability of the participants.
STIPEND
Each participant will receive a stipend of 400 lv. (190 EUR).
EXPECTED RESULTS
On our side we wish to create a generative environment through conversations and exchange with other participants, consultations with experts, shared learning, and exploration of resources. Within the program we do NOT expect you to implement the project, but we would gladly be responsible for publicly presenting a conceptual sketch, as well as for publishing a draft of your project in order to give more publicity to your research.
APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
- Short impulse (1-2 pages) – why you want to participate and what direction your project (existing or future) would take. Mention which individuals, institutions, and officials you would contact; what are some possible collaborations and coproductions that your projects envision.
- Send us a short CV and access to past or future projects from your portfolio that you deem important, especially if they are relevant to the research interests of the current educational program.
Send your documents to viktoria@swimmingpoolprojects.org and copy galena@swimmingpoolprojects.org. Do not hesitate to contact us in advance with any questions that might arise.
DEADLINE
Until 28 September 2021
SELECTION
Until 30 September 2021
Please contact us if you have any questions related to the open call, we’d be happy to assist you!
In 2021, Swimming Pool’s activity is supported by the National Culture Fund.
