"HELEN'S DRESS" OPEN CALL FOR FEE FREE ARTIST RESIDENCY/ WORKSHOPS/ EXHIBITION IN GREECE_JUNE 2020:
We are looking for artists working with Jewellery art,
Textile Art, Embroidery, Story Telling, Mythology, Fiction and Non
Fiction, Performance, Soft sculpture to participate in "Helen's Dress" programme from Monday 22 to Saturday 27 June 2020.
Concept/Workshops/Curating: Loukia Richards and Christoph Ziegler. Traditional Greek embroidery is taught by Metaxia Hantelis.
Τhe ARTIST RESIDENCY/ WORKSHOPS/ EXHIBITION is realized
by the Vamvakou Revival team in the frame of the project "Vamvakou
Revival". The latter is realized thank to the moral and financial
support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
According to a myth version, Helen of Troy - Greek
mythology's most famous adulteress - never left Sparta and her king
husband to follow her lover Paris, prince of Troy; instead, she fooled
Paris by giving him a speaking effigy which looked like her, talked like
her, made love like her and dressed like her.
Thus, moon goddess Helen - her name derives from
Selene/moon - fooled everybody and remained faithful only to her own
self. This version of the myth gives participants the opportunity to
work on Helen's imaginary effigy and adorn her dress with their own
stories translated into the visual language of the embroidery motifs and
/or jewellery.
During the workshop, participants experiment with
traditional Greek textile techniques, develop a narrative and a concept
of their new work, test the power of traditional textile practice to
support women's social role, design with threads, words and movement the
perfect outfit for a 2020s female role model and learn fascinating
Greek embroidery techniques.
HELEN'S DRESS_THE AIR/WORKSHOPS/EXHIBTIION PROGRAM AT VAMVAKOU REVIVAL 2020:
The Artist Residency/Workshops/Exhibition programme "Helen's Dress" is part of the "Vamvakou Revival" program for Summer 2020.
"Helen's Dress" focuses on and is inspired by the Greek
myth of Helen, queen of Sparta, its versions and updated
interpretations.
"Helen's Dress" offers eight (8) visual artists/designers/performers/writers/art
theorists the opportunity to broaden their practice, to enrich their
knowledge on the compatibility of Greek myhology to give valuable
answers to contemporary dilemmas, discover the beauty of symbols and
visual language of Greece’s embroidery motifs, deal with the concept of
faith, love, betrayal and improvise on their own version of Helen's
myth.
"Helen's Dress" focuses on the trinity: Embroidery -
Narrative - Participatory Performance. It offers workhops on traditional
and contemporary embroidery, on narrative and mythology, on textile art
theory and practice, on performance; as well as, creative walks through
Sparta and the region and interaction with the visitors and locals. The
program is folllowed by the exhbitiion or presentation of the works or
performances or narratives created during the Artist Residency.
Participation in the workshops program is obligatory
for all team members regardless of their competence in the subject
taught, for the workshops effectiveness is based on interaction of and
creative interventions by all team members and not on hierarchical
teaching.
Participants are obliged to give a short lecture on the
topics and concepts the program focuses on or present their own
practice and techiques on the last day of "Helen's Dress".
"Helen's Dress" programme starts in the morning of Monday 22 June 2020 and ends in the early afternoon of Saturday 27 June 2020.
English and Greek is spoken during the program.
WHO CAN APPLY FOR "HELEN'S DRESS" AIR/WORKSHOPS/EXHIBITION PROGRAM?
"Helen's Dress" Open Call addresses international,
mid-career visual artists or designers or performers / writers or story
tellers/ art historians or critics working in one of the following
disciplines:
Textile art/ Embroidery / Jewellery Art / Mythology /
Performance/ Soft sculpture/ Fashion / Design / Story Telling or Fiction
or Non-fiction.
Crafting, story telling and social bonding were not
separated at the very beginning of art. The Helen's Dress workshops'
holistic approach to performance, textile art, feminism, story telling
and ritual aims at reuniting the fragmented reality of contemporary art
by linking embroidery to a strong narrative, to symbols and allegories,
to the very physical experience of team bonding through participatory
performances.
Participation in "Helen's Dress" programme is fee free. No application fee is charged either.
Emerging artists or students or autodidacts or amateurs
or mid-career artists who do not meet application requirements or have
not been selected to participate in the program or cannot attend the
whole program, may - nevertheless - apply to participate in the
workshops as Followers. To that purpose, they must submit a Follower's
Application (see more details below). Followers participation in
"Helen's Dress" workshops is fee free.
HOW TO APPLY FOR "HELEN'S DRESS" AIR/WORKSHOPS/EXHIBITION?
CandIdates wishing to participate in the program should submit a portfolio including the following:
1. A short bio (150 words maximum) written in the first
or the third person singular and highlighting the major events or
achievements in the applicant's professional career and/or life.
2. A bullet point CV (one Α4 page maximum) including one or more sections such as; Education, Exhibitions/Presentations/Lectures,
Awards or Distinctions or Grants, Catalogues or Publications, previous
Artist In Residence experience, Teaching experience or Academic career
or whatever the applicant considers to be of importance.
3. A short proposal (150 words maximum) on what the applicant wishes to achieve during/through the program.
4. An answer to the question (100 words maximum): What is the applicant's positive impact on the program, if selected?
5. Visual artists or Performers or Story Tellers should
submit: Six (6) sharp and on focus photos of applicant's work or three
(3) videos (3 minutes maximal duration each) or thee (3) sharp and on
focus pictures and one (1) videos (3 minutes maximal duration). Writers
or art theorists sould submit: Three (3) copies of text or text
fragments (350 words maximum/each).
6. A Cover Letter mentioning that the candidate submits a portfolio application for the "Helen's Dress" program.
The applicant should also mention in the Cover letter,
if in case of a non successful application, he/she wishes to participate
in the fee free workshops as a Follower.
7. The applicant should also include in his/her Cover
Letter the following information: Name, Age, Address, Country of Origin,
Profession.
8. Application language is English and Greek.
The candidate may also include in his/her application portfolio (non obligatory):
1. A weblink/website/blog with pictures/text/documentation of previous events or projects.
2. Weblinks or PDFs with articles on his/her work or relevant interviews.
3. Whatever he/she thinks it is of importance for the best pesentation of his/her application.
The candidate e-mails his/her application (via WeTrasfer) to:
Sunday 19 January 2020 (11.59 pm CET).
Selected participants will be notified per E-mail by
mid-February 2020. The names of the selected participants will be posted
in the website and social media of "Vamvakou Revival" as well.
WHAT DOES "HELEN'S DRESS" OFFER TO THE SELECTED PARTICIPANTS?
1. Six days/Five nights free accomodation in shared,
double rooms (breakfast included) for the period Monday 22 June (check
in) to Saturday 27 June (check out) in Vamvakou, Laconia/Peloponnese.
2. Free free workshop participation (see schedule below).
3. Individualized curatorial and consulting services to develop new work and present it in the best possible way.
4. Exhibition/presentation curation.
5. Promotion of the "Helen's Dress" program and participants' new work through the local, national and international Press.
6. . Promotion of the "Helen's Dress" program and
participants' work through the websites and social media pages of
"Vamvakou Revival" and its partners.
7. Photographic and video documentation of the "Helen's Dress" program.
8. Participants' fee free transport from Sparta to
Vamvakou (in the morning of Monday 22 June 2020) or from Athens (Sunday
21 June 2020). Participants' fee free transport from Vamvakou to Sparta
(in the afternoon of Satuday 27 June 2020) or to Athens (Sunday 28 June
2020). Please, note that additional accomodation cost outside the dates
(check in) Monday 22 June an (check out) Saturday 27 June or transport
fees for different dates than the ones explicitly mentioned above or to
other destinations will be covered by the participant.
9. Available material free of charge for workshop purposes and for making new work.
10. Available material free of charge for the making of the exhibition/presentation.
11. Participants own and keep the works they created during the program.
12. Participants receive a certificate for participating in "Helen's Dress" program.
WHO MAY APPLY TO ATTEND THE WORKSHOPS AS A FOLLOWER?
Eight (8) emerging artists, students, autodidacts,
amateurs, young writers or Story Tellers, as well as applicants for the
"Helen's Dress" AIR/Workshops/Exhibition programme who have not been
admitted or cannot afford to follow the whole program, may apply for
participating in the Followers' Fee Free Workshops Program.
Followers follow the same workshops program together
with the selected participants, ask questions and add their comments or
observations; however, they do not enjoy consulting or curating services
nor show their work in the exhibition/presentation.
HOW TO APPLY AS A FOLLOWER?
1. A short bio (150 words maximum) written in the first
or the third person singular and highlighting the major events or
achievements in the applicant's professional career and/or life.
2. An answer to the question (100 words maximum): What is the applicant's positive impact on the program, if selected?
3. Visual artists or Performers or Story Tellers should
submit: Six (6) sharp and on focus photos of the applicant's work or
one(1) video (3 minutes maximum). Writers or art theorists submit: One
copy of text or a text fragment (350 words maximum).
4. A Cover Letter mentioning that the candidate submits a Follower application for the workshops program.
5. The applicant should also include the following
information in his/her Cover Letter: Name, Age, Address, Country of
Origin, Profession.
8. Application language is English or Greek.
The candidate may also include in his/her application portfolio (non obligatory):
1. A weblink/website/blog with pictures/text/documentation of previous events or projects
2. Weblinks or PDFs with articles on his/her work or relevant interviews.
3. Whatever he/she thinks it is of importance for the best pesentation of his/her application.
The candidate e-mails his/her Follower application (via WeTrasfer) to:
FOLLOWER APPLICATION DEADLINE:
Selected Followers will be notified per E-mail by the
end of May 2020. The names of the selected Followers will be posted in
the website and social media of "Vamvakou Revival".
The next OPEN CALL for the fee free programme on
"Jewellery and Ecology" (Septemeber 2020_Greece) will be published in
January 2020.
