Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome

Open Call for Applications Summer Camp & Grants

Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome is an interdisciplinary project on the symmetries and asymmetries between contemporary tourism and migration, encompassing research, theory, practice, workshops, seminars, conferences and art exhibitions in Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Germany in 2009 and 2010.

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Transient Spaces The Tourist Syndrome - Image taken from www.transientspaces.org.

The Tourist Syndrome Summer Camp, 3 - 11 September 2009

An integral part of the two-year project Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome is the upcoming Tourist Syndrome Summer Camp held in Palanga (Lithuania), a renowned seaside resort on the Baltic Sea coast, from 3 to 11 September 2009. The Tourist Syndrome Summer Camp invites artists, architects, cultural producers, theorists, and academics to an interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange on new forms of mobility today, with a special focus on the relationship between tourism and migration. The eight-day summer camp will offer a diverse programme of workshops, lectures and presentations, and will be open to a maximum of fifty participants to be selected through this Open Call.

The summer camp programme includes three main workshops held by international artists, practitioners and academics Cesare Pietroiusti (Rome/Venice), Krystian Woznicki (Berlin) and Michael Zinganel (Vienna/Graz), and an intense program of presentations, screenings and events by artists already involved in the project, and by the artistic directors and curators of Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome. The workshops will highlight the many aspects of the tourism-migration relationship that exist in different European and non-European contexts and offer the opportunity to explore individual and subjective, as well as socio-political themes, with the goal of developing works of art and projects to be presented at the conclusion of the summer camp in Palanga and at the final, comprehensive exhibition in Berlin in 2010.

Structured as a collective brain storming session on the topics of tourism and migration, the Tourist Syndrome Summer Camp will also offer convivial and informal moments, drawing from the tradition of Socialist plein air symposia, combining work (artistic and intellectual production) and leisure. The summer camp is organized in cooperation with Lithuanian art organization Meno Parkas (Kaunas). Participation in summer camp activities is free of charge. The selected participants will be responsible for their individual journeys to the workshop location of Palanga. Basic accommodation (double or triple room) is provided to the summer camp participants by the organization.

Once selected, participants will need to transfer a registration fee of 50 Euro to the organization by 30 July (bank details will be provided). The summer camp group will be limited to a maximum of fifty participants. The course language is English.

Free-form applications (in English) should include:
- statement / motivation letter (max 300 words)
- curriculum vitae
Transient Spaces Research and Production Grants 2009–2010

Research and Production Grants

The Open Call also refers to Research and Production Grants to be assigned to artists and practitioners submitting detailed project proposals relevant to the themes of Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome. Transient Spaces is looking for proposals that demonstrate an original and imaginative approach to visual art production, emotional and psychological insight, personal dedication and depth of artistic and theoretical reasoning. There are no limitations on the medium or method of the proposed production. Projects dealing with local specificities of the project venues, Naples, Italy, and Bucharest, Romania could be granted a 4-6 week residency. The selected projects, once realized, will be exhibited within the Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome series of exhibitions taking place in Naples (E-M Arts, May 2009), Bucharest (ICCA/CIAC, June 2009), and Berlin (Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, 27 August-3 October 2009).

Research and production grants provide:
- travel and accommodation costs
- production support, including moderate production budget

Free-form applications (in English) should include:
- detailed research or production proposal (max 500 words)
- budget and schedule estimates
- statement / motivation letter (max 300 words)
- curriculum vitae
- portfoli

Application

Supporting material, such as a portfolio, articles, publications, etc. can be included with the applications. The materials will not be sent back to applicants. Online applications are welcome. Please specify in the application how you found out about this open call. Applications for The Tourist Syndrome Summer Camp and/or for the Transient Spaces Research and Production Grants can be sent electronically or via post to uqbar by the deadline of 30 June 2009 (postmark) to the address:

uqbar e.V.
Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome
Schwedenstr. 16
D – 13357 Berlin, Germany
Email: transientspaces@uqbar-ev.de
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