Over a period of five days, a group of selected artists will be invited to work together with our team and the local community, to prepare creative works that will shape the three day Festival.

In Xarkis’ 2018 Artists’ Residency program and Festival edition, we focused on the themes of “bottom-up heritage”, “symbiosis” and “hybridity”. Starting from these ideas in combination with the meaning of the word Xarkis, which implies to start all over again and to reset our defaults, for this year’s Residency and Festival we are looking for participations which question, disrupt and re-evaluate the theme of Borders.

*Ακολουθούν Ελληνικά.*

In all languages the description of the word ‘borders’ is used to communicate boundaries between social groups. However, in different geographical and temporal contexts, their meanings and interpretations may vary.

Borders carry both physical and symbolic connotations. They can have a distinct material presence, or where visually indistinct they may function to convey symbols of the physical representation of history. In a rising global state system, divided boundaries or spatial borders, indicate the legal lines that dissect areas of authority. (Anderson & O’Dowd, 1999).

“Borders are filters with highly variable degrees of permeability or porosity; and border regions are peripheries of infiltration, transition or separation, defences for the supposed purity of the centre….Borders look inwards and outwards: they simultaneously unify and divide, include and exclude. They are coercive, disabling and limiting, including and excluding many people against their will; but they are also benign and enabling, providing the basis for security, dominant forms of identity and conventional representative democracy. Prison or refuge, they can facilitate oppression or provide an escape from it.” (Anderson, O’Dowd, 1999).

As Anderson and O’Dowd note, a closer examination of borders proves that they are far from simple. They are zones of entry and boundaries to the ‘outside world’, securing for some and confining for others. They represent opportunities and / or insecurities, points of contact and / or struggle, of collaboration and / or antagonism, of contradictory identities and / or the combative declaration of difference.

In the spirit of these ideas, we invite proposals which inspire an active process of meaning-making around the topic of Borders, leading to dynamic and transformative works between people from a range of disciplinary, professional, educational and generational backgrounds. Xarkis invites residents to engage with the local community of Palaichori and create site-specific works that are informed by the site in which we will be working in. They are asked to unravel the boundaries of borders and to synthesize findings with their own lived experiences, their communities’ standpoint and / worldviews, in ways that challenge borders as we know them.

*Considering that the checkpoints in Cyprus form a unique case study, and could be looked through the prism of borders, it is important to note that the topic has often been saturated and exoticised by different audiences. In this light, we encourage participants to explore this field beyond the limitations of the political geography discourse and move outside their disciplinary boundaries, to include sociological, historical, international  and cultural influences pertaining to borders.

Keywords: Borders as institutions, borders in relationships. Borders driven by gender, as local, regional, national, transnational divides, ethnic, racial, professional and social divisions. The heritage of Borders. Borders being crossed physically or figuratively. Borders as points of contact vs borders as barriers to movement and communication. Geopolitical narratives. Border tourism, border as exploitation. Border as separation and as an act of coming together. Cross-border cooperation. Mapping borders. The border and the borderless. Nations controlling borders, borders as security, hyper-security of borders, surveillance. Fluid, obscure borders, borders as imprisonment, border-torn citizens. Mobile borders, partitioning through borders, border protection, borders in popular culture and mass media, borders forming relations of power. Daily life practises in borders, living in and around borders. Transitional zones of borders. Territorial borders, bordering capabilities, border phobia, barrier usage of borders, border conflict, Story sharing of borders, Us and them, binary views of borders, extending boundaries of borders.

BACKGROUNDS

Practitioners from any of the following backgrounds (and not only) are encouraged to apply:

– Design (social design, graphic/communication design, product/industrial design, architecture, sustainable design, innovation design etc
– Performing arts (music, performance art, sound art, theater, dance etc)
– Socially engaged art, socially engaged art and peacebuilding and / reconciliation.
– Visual arts (digital arts, painting, drawing, mixed-media, photography, film, video, visual anthropology, sculpture, installation, scenography etc).
– Crafts making.
– Natural sciences, environmental studies, upcycling, permaculture, natural building, etc.
– Non-formal education in arts, humanities and social practice.

*Please note that a limited amount of residencies is available. Priority will be given to applicants with experience in community-oriented and socially engaged creative practices.

Proposed initiatives that will be prepared during the Residency week to be realized during the Festival, can take the form of:

Workshops // Performances // Music acts // Interventions // Spatial Installations // Audio walks // Talks // Presentations // Murals // Screenings // Happenings // Tours // Exhibitions and more.

We ask for interested participants to send us an email @ info@xarkis.org with the following subject line: Your Full Name_Surname_Discipline_Type of activity_  I.e. Marion_Sky_Music_Workshop or Joe_Bouvoir_Design_Installation etc and the following information, attached as a single PDF:

– The title of your proposed participation
– A brief biography (150 words max)
– A synopsis of the proposed initiative (150 words max)
– 3-4 related examples from your work / work in progress (in JPEG, and / audio formats wherever applicable)
– Technical requirements (150 words max)
– A 75 word synopsis and 75 word bio for social media dissemination
– An explanation of your proposed method / approach (max 150 words)
– Links to your website and / portfolio.
– A proposal on how you envision engaging with the local community in: 1. The residency and 2. The festival (max 150 words)

Please send us the aforementioned items in a language that is suitable for a general audience and written in layman terms.

Deadline to apply: 30th of April, 2019.

WHAT WE OFFER

– Accommodation in a communal setting and / in shared rooms.
– 3 meals per day from our collective kitchen.
– Free entrance to all Festival activities, (workshops, performances, music events etc).
– 150 EUR stipend.
– Technical support.
– Video & photographic documentation.

*Unfortunately, we cannot provide travel expenses, but participants are welcome to seek other financial support from external resources. Official letters of invitation will be provided upon the artists’ request. Please note that all residents are required to take part in the entire duration of the Residency and Festival from the 11th-18th of August.

REFERENCE

Anderson, J., O’Dowd, L., 1999. Borders, border regions and territoriality: Contradictory meanings, changing significance. Regional Studies; ; 33, 7; Arts & Humanities Database.