Residencies Reflected

Residencies Reflected

Residencies Reflected is a collection of new writing on artist residencies and mobility, reflecting the current state of transition and quest for various forms of sustainability – artistic, poetic, psychological, social, ecological – as well as for experimentation and artistic freedom.

This anthology, edited by the Finnish curator and residency professional Irmeli Kokko, is partly based on the Summer Well symposium at the Saari Residence in Finland in 2021. 

The nine essays are authored by curators, artists and academics who are active in the international artist residency field: Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey, Pau Catà, Taru Elfving, Maria Hirvi-Ijäs, Miina Hujala, Anders Kreuger, Katia Porro, Miriam La Rosa and Vytautas Michelkevičius. 

The book also contains an interview by Irmeli Kokko with Leena Kela and Anna Kirveennummi and spreads by the artist duo Océane Bruel and dylan ryan arnold and the artist Kalle Hamm.

The co-publishers are the Kone Foundation/Saari Residence in Mynämäki, Finland, and Mousse Publishing in Milan, the copy-editor is Anders Kreuger and the graphic designer is Marina Veziko.

You can read the flipbook below.

You can also download the book as a pdf file.

A physical copy of the book can be ordered in summer 2024.

Artwork from the book by Kalle Hamm

The key thread in the book is the changing narratives of residencies and mobility. The ongoing ecological and political crises are contributing to the transformation of the conditions for producing, encountering and interpreting art. Since the 1990s, the ideology of free mobility for artists has been founded on providing inspiration and facilitating livelihoods. Artist residencies have been seen as ‘corridors of encounters’ – between people, places, languages, histories, climates and, hopefully, many other unforeseeable factors.

Accelerated climate change as well as ethical and political issues touching on cultural and biological diversity, postcolonial and decolonial perspectives on culture, war, persecution and exile have brought new challenges for residencies of all kinds. Artistic work always has the potential to both cross and safeguard boundaries. Artist residencies continue to protect and promote experimentation and the freedom of expression in a contradictory world that requires ever more rapid modes of response and ever more flexible forms of organisation.