Lens-based Digital Media Artistic Residency
Avilés, Spain
10 – 16 September 2018
partner: Ayuntamiento de Avilés. Fundación Municipal de Cultura
About the residency
As the project as a whole aimed to highlight and support the creativity of women from a cross-sectoral perspective, in this residency, the focus was on the Digital Art medium (new media art, photography, video, etc.).
The partners have selected 12 female lens-based media artists who have been working on a project each throughout 2018 and have met at mid-term for a week-long residency at Avilés Cultural Factory to exchange experience, share the process and benefit from the assistance and technical support available there. During the whole process, each artist has been able to share, receive help and be updated of the works of their colleagues at a collaborative online platform, which has also kept the curators up-to-date with the whole process.
Some time at the residency has been dedicated to working in specific workshops with the artists, depending on the requirements of each art project, and Factoría Cultural has also offered ceramics and screen-printing workshops if anybody wanted to integrate these techniques in their digital work. Also, meetings have been held for the artists and coordinators to discuss each specific project and the requirements for the exhibition. Artists have also visited museums and R&D Centres around Avilés.
Participating artists
Cristina Busto Alvarez (Avilés, Spain 1976), María Castellanos (Gijón, Spain, 1985), Mery Pais (Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 1990), Teresa Búa (Muxía, Spain, 1991), Petra Mrša (Rijeka, Croatia 1985), Lorraine Neeson (Ireland), Shelagh Honan (Ireland), Ana Pečar (Slovenia, 1977), Hanne Larsen (Trondheim, Norway, 1985). , Marija Stonytė (Vilnius, Lithuania, 1991), Stéphanie Cadoret (1981, France) and Martta Tuomaala (Lieto, Finland, 1983), are the women creators selected to participate in this experience from September 10th to 16th, that was hosted by the Avilés Cultural Factory, one of the most active centers in the cultural life of this Spanish city. Prior to the celebration of the residency and after its end, the artists have been connected through a collaborative online platform that allowed them to share their creative processes and which also facilitated the distribution and visibility of their art pieces.
About the hosting partner
Fundación Municipal de Cultura is responsible for the cultural policy, management of the artistic heritage, implementation and promotion of all type of cultural activities and initiatives in the City of Avilés, Spain. It runs artistic educational programmes for the local community and manages cultural infrastructure, such as “Factoría Cultural”, a fully equipped centre, opened in 2010 and located in an old shirt factory. La Factoría Cultural is equipped with workshops for artists and creators as well as resources to work with ceramics, printmaking and 3D printing among others.
Factoría Cultural also organizes annual multidisciplinary residences in the framework of the White/Black Nights, and works in cooperation with international networks, platforms and projects. As it supports digital art as well, Factoría Cultural joined the Wom@rts project by proposing a residency for Lens Bases Digital Media Artists.