Reside/Sustain

At the core of the project lies a firm belief that residency organisations, apart from offering artists and art field practitioners a place to work, can be utilised as links that connect local aspects to wider perspectives, as well as multiple formulations of sustainability connected to the ways we travel, work, live, and interact. 

Reside/Sustain is a collaboration between three individual practitioners: artist and curator Miina Hujala, journalist and environmental/climate expert Angelina Davydova, and curator and co-organiser of Association of Artistic Residencies of Russia Adel Kim. Coming from different fields and perspectives, project participants engage in the dialogue and exploration themselves, as well as invite experts from different fields to contribute to the research topic. 

Project aims to examine how art residencies, as well as artists and art field practitioners understand sustainability; increase the awareness and spark the discussion; inspire institutions and individuals to make their actions and operations more sustainable by providing them with food for thought and possible solutions, as well as support exchange of practices and development of connectivity between the actors.

Reside/Sustain is primarily involved in producing knowledge (articles, essays, interviews written by both project participants and invited experts), organising, co-hosting, and participating in different events on the topic of sustainable development from an art perspective, disseminating knowledge through various channels, as well as providing art residencies and enabling exchange of practices (cooperation with Mustarinda art residency and independent Russian art practitioner in 2023). Project team also does individual consulting for artists and residency practitioners helping them to incorporate sustainable thinking and practices into their work and operations. 

The project focuses on, but not limited to, the situations and cooperation between experts, artists and further professionals coming from Finland and Russia. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, when many artists and sustainability experts/activists have left Russia, we find it of vital importance to build the dialogue with independent art practitioners and residency organisers (both based in Russia and elsewhere), raising awareness and supporting individuals and independent residency organisations on their journey towards sustainability.