art & research residencies

Please note that we are not accepting any more applications. The program has been suspended.

Welcome,

Thank you for your interest in the Art & Research Residency program offered by the Visual Sociology and Museum Studies Lab (VSMS Lab) of the Cyprus University of Technology. The residency program provides academics, artists, curators and other professionals access to facilities and equipment for the purposes of developing and implementing a research or artistic project.

The Art & Research Residency was launched in 2012 and it aims at encouraging:

  • research related to museums, visitor studies, cultural policy, cultural sustainability, photography and theory, visual sociology/ anthropology and other related fields;
  • the production of art projects and more specifically film and photographic projects;
  • projects which combine research with art practice

The Art & Research Residency can take place at any time of the year and its duration can vary from 2 weeks to 3 months depending on the project and the availability of space and equipment. The Residency does not cover any costs for accommodation or traveling expenses.

OVERVIEW

Duration

  • The duration of the Residency can vary from 2 weeks to 3 months depending on the project and the availability of space and equipment

Benefits – the Resident will

  • Work independently on his/her own project
  • Be able to use the VSMS Lab facilities
  • If necessary, borrow filming and photography equipment (please e-mail us for any equipment requirements you may have)
  • Be given an office space with computer and internet access
  • Have access to the Cyprus University of Technology Library

Not provided

  • Housing accommodation is not offered. However, the University has a housing service which can help Residents to find appropriate accommodation. Please contact us in case you need any help with accommodation.
  • The Residency does not cover living or traveling expenses.

Number of applicants at one time

  • Up to two residents per time

Eligibility/ Who can apply

The Residency Grant is available to:

  • academics and researchers
  • photographers, filmmakers and other visual artists
  • curators
  • cultural producers

Working languages

  •  English or Greek

Application deadline

  • There is no deadline for applications. The applications are reviewed as they come in.

How to apply

Applicants need to fill in the application form which can be found below. Along with the application form please submit a CV. Visual artists are encouraged to direct us to their website or send us a PDF file with samples of their work (Optional).

All applications should be send to: theopisti.stylianou@cut.ac.cy

CURRENT & PAST RESIDENTS

2016-2017

January – March 2017, Maren Wickwire, anthropologist, filmmaker and human right advocate, Germany, USA.

Project description

The research project will examine how female migrants from the Philippines, who joined the reproductive labor force on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, fulfilling their financial and emotional obligations towards their children and extended family back home mediated through modern technology, while at the same time finding creative ways to overcome societal stigmatization by building a strong local network. The women negotiate their social and private meeting spaces, relationships and transnational identities in their immediate environment and preserving their own cultural and culinary practices in the diaspora.

Short bio

Based in Germany and the US, Maren Wickwire is a visual anthropologist, filmmaker and human right advocate. Her work is research oriented, involving fieldwork and long term engagement with local communities using participatory approaches. In her work she is looking at the growing movement of people worldwide in the context of various forms of human migration and explores social and cultural phenomena tied into the complex spatial and personal experiences of individuals locally and virtually. She represents her findings in multilayered installations, using a wide range of media including, video, audio, photography and texts. Her exhibitions and large outdoor installations have been well received internationally and granted the National Endowment for the Arts award in 2015. Wickwire holds a diploma in Visual Communication Design from the Folkwang University of the Arts in Germany and is a graduate candidate of the MA program Visual and Media Anthropology at the Freie University Berlin.

April – May 2017, Giuseppe Fanizza and Giulia Ticozzi, artists, Italy.

Project description

We aim to realize a photographic investigation about border landscape in Cyprus, in the framework of Borderlands project, a long-term visual research using photography to depict contemporary landscape of European frontiers. In particular we investigate how the physical presence of frontiers contributes to the visual definition and the imagery of Cypriot landscape. We want to underline that we are interested in a strictly visual concept of “landscape”, thus limited to the visual perception of the territory by the populations and the visitors of Cyprus, in relation with border topography.

Short bio

Giuseppe Fanizza and Giulia Ticozzi are artists and photographers with academic background in Law and Geography respectively. Since December 2015 they are co-authors of “Borderlands Project”, a longterm visual research on European border landscapes, that so far includes images realized in Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. For the Art & Research Residency Program 2017, they will realize a visual catalog of border devices, intended here as the set of physical elements, natural or manmade, official or informal, that are provided by the administrative institutions or perceived by the population as material signs of the presence of a frontier. The catalog will serve as a representation tool of the impact of the frontier on the visual definition and imagery of Cypriot landscape.

Feb. – April 2017, Stephan Takkides, artist, Germany.

Project description

During this residency I’m working on producing a new video work looking at the use of open space in the city of Limassol. Within my definition of “open space”, I will include parkland and car parks, but the main focus is on plots of undeveloped “wasteland” – areas of privately owned land where urban-style construction is legally possible but has not taken place.

Short bio

Stephan Takkides is an artist who uses photography and video, working mostly with observational shots from human-made landscapes and the built environment. Following studies in New Media at Chelsea College in London, he completed an MFA at the Transart Institute, Plymouth University. For the past three years, he has lived in Bremen, Germany, where he has been working on a long-term photographic study on the effects of land reclamation and erosion on the North Sea coast. For the Art & Research Residency, he will make a new video work looking at the use of open space in the city in Limassol. He is particularly interested in undeveloped pockets of privately owned wasteland, which have become surrounded by buildings as the city has grown. His work will investigate how local people make use of this space and how it compares to officially designated public space.

Feb. – May 2017, Marios Constantinides, illustrator, Cyprus

Project description

Patterns in search of identity: During the residency, I’m aiming to continue my mapping of a potential visual migration of notions and narratives within Cypriot artworks. Particularly symbols and patterns that date from the ­Neolithic to the Ottoman Period and have been made prolific by their repetition and adaptation through the ages by the different cultures and inhabitants of the island.

Short bio

Marios Constantinides conceives, creates and transforms images, shapes and spaces. He is fascinated by sequential imagery and the human capacity for assumptions. Has trained in Visual Arts (printing and book arts) (MA) at the University of Arts London and in Illustration (BA) at the University of Westminster. Has lived and worked in London, Berlin and Toulouse. He currently lives in Pyrga, Cyprus.

2015-2016

Feb. – May 2016, Dr. Polina Nikolaou, Independent researcher. Project title: The diaspora of Cypriot antiquities and the British Museum, 1860-1900.

Short bio

Polina Nikolaou was awarded her PhD from the Department of Geography at the University of Exeter in July 2014. Her doctoral thesis, entitled ‘The diaspora of Cypriot antiquities and the British Museum, 1860-1900’, maps the movement of Cypriot antiquities from their excavation sites, to their circulation and, finally, to their display in the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. For her doctoral research she received scholarships from the University of Exeter and A.G. Leventis Foundation. Previously, she completed a BA (Ptychion) in History at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2008) and then was awarded an MA in Landscape and Culture from the University of Nottingham (2010). Her current research interests focus on the conceptual and historical aspects of the relationship between knowledge, empire and antiquities; and on the history and theory of museums and collections.

2014-2015

Feb.- March 2015, Christos Mais, PhD Candidate at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. Project Title: Visuals in dissident and underground press during the Long Sixties in Greece.

 

Short bio

Christos Mais was born in Cyprus. After his studies in Economics in Thessaloniki he continued his education in Leiden, where he received an MA in Book & Digital Media Studies. He is currently a PhD Candidate at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. His research interests vary from Contemporary Social & Political History, to Oral History, Visual Sociology, Publishing History and the History of Communism and the Left. He is particularly interested in dissident and underground press during the Long Sixties, the interaction between print and visual culture with politics, and interdisciplinary approaches of the above issues.

2013-2014

Dec.2013 – Apr.2014, Aivar Ruukel, Estonia University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia. Project Title: How the online travel photosharing influences visitors to national parks.

Short bio

Aivar Ruukel is a PhD Candidate at Estonian University of Life Sciences. He holds a Master’s in Natural Sciences (Nature Tourism) from Estonian University of Life Sciences. His Master’s dissertation topic was: Traveller’s Behavior on Internet Through Travel Cycle, a Case Study of Visitors to Estonian National Parks. In his PhD research Aivar explores the relationship between responsible behavior of tourists and their social media usage, specifically online photo-sharing. His research interests include the sustainable development of tourism destinations, co-creation of tourism experience, and psychology of online sharing.

Dec.2013-Jan.2014, Alina Zubkovych, School of Advanced Social Studies, Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Project Title: The collapse of Yugoslavia as represented in the former Yogoslav countries’ museums.

Short bio

Alina Zubkovych is a PhD candidate and Teaching Assistant at the School of Advanced Social Studies, Slovenia. In her dissertation she tries to find out how the Yugoslavian period is represented at the ex-Yugoslavian museums. By using the discourse-analysis methods she visited and compared narrative representations of all national capital historical museums located at the territories of the former Yugoslavia.  Alina concentrates on the analysis of the collective memory, national identity, and representations at historical museums.  She has published already several articles about Ukrainian and Moldavian museums and has presented her results at different European conferences (such as ESA, August 2013) and workshops (such as: at CEU April 2013, Budapest; CASE, Vilnius 2012-2013 and other). Alina is also the Assistant editor of the sociological journal “Research in Social Change”.

2012-2013

Nov.2012 – Feb.2013, Dr. Jasmina Kuka, School of Political Sciences, Belgrade Open School and Center for Development of Cross-Sectoral Cooperation. Project Title: Investigating reasons for irrelevance of cultural indicators to policymaking and cultural sustainable development processes

Short bio

Dr Jasmina Kuka has more than ten years of academic work on cultural researches and years of experience in coordination and monitoring and evaluation of development programs supported by international and European organizations. She gives lectures and trainings at the School of Political Sciences, Belgrade Open School and Center for Development of Cross-Sectoral Cooperation on topics related to cultural policy and sustainable development, cultural indicators and participatory processes. Her research focuses on cultural indicators and their role and usefulness in policy and decision making processes. At the moment she works as a Consultant for Development of Belgrade Open School Program for Culture.