The Swedish Institute presents CREATE IN RESIDENCE platform 02 Jul 2014

CREATE IN RESIDENCE is a new, multidisciplinary international program initiated by The Swedish Institute dedicated to residential stays of artists from Serbia with partnering institutions in Sweden, as well as of Swedish authors in Serbia. Create in Residence presents a new model of within the field of artistic residency, that will bring together six partners form Sweden and three partners from Serbia with a focus on mutual exchanges, professional and personal development of emerging talent from Serbia and Sweden. Interdisciplinary work and tailoring of each residency stay towards the needs of its participants and the specifics of the host organizations are the main specifics of this approach.

The format of the residency within this program is treated as an important instrument of cultural diplomacy and international collaboration, but also as a platform that will place the residency format into a new context by developing a model of collaboration that may be applied to other creative and geographical domains. Create In Residence is the “umbrella” project that will, as part of its pilot phase (May – December 2014), be focused on two central fields – literature and design – through the programs Writers in Residence and Designers in Residence.

Three authors from the fields of literature and comics, as well as three designers from Serbia, will have the opportunity to spend one month in Sweden, with covered travel and accommodation costs, workspace and stipendium. Furthermore, the local partners will provide additional support when it comes to networking with colleagues and Swedish institutions and organizations that may be of interest for the participants. The program is of an open-end character, which means that production of completed projects is not expected, while the program is specially seeking out emerging talent and motivated young professionals and authors who would like to establish connections between the creative scenes in Sweden and Serbia. The same goes for Swedish authors who will be hosted by partners in Serbia in the same fashion.

The partners for the field of literature are the Belgrade-based Krokodil Literature Festival, The Baltic Center for Writers and Translators based on the island of Gotland and the Comics Studio housed at the Comic Art Centre in Malmö. In the design field, the Serbian partner is the Design incubator Nova Iskra, while the Serbian authors in Sweden will be hosted by three distinguished innovation centers in Malmö – Form/ Design Center, the cultural center Stpln and University College of Malmö. Beside the Swedish Institute as the initiator, the program is supported by the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade.

The shortlist of candidates from Serbia will be selected by local partners, while the final selection will be made by Swedish hosts, while the corresponding principle will be applied in the other direction, when selecting Swedish authors who will spend one month each at Krokodil’s House for Writers and Nova Iskra. The program of House for Writers was started in October 2012, and has so far hosted 20 writers from 11 different countries. Among them were also five authors from Sweden form the domains of fiction, essay, journalism and children’s books, while the program of House of Writers is also entering the Create In Residence project as of this year.

The Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators (BCWT) is an international residential center for writers and translators. It is located in Hanseatic town Visby on the island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea, and offers a workplace, international meeting point and stimulating environment for literary professionals. BCWT comprises two houses with 11 studios/rooms, a multilingual library and common facilities. Since 1993, BCWT hosted more than 4.200 authors and translators from all over the world. Valued in books – as many as 3.500 books have been developed, written or translated here. As part of the residency for comics writers at the Comic Art Centre in Malmö, the artists get a workplace with other comics professionals, as well as the opportunity to take part in comics-related activities such as networking meetings, exhibitions and comics festivals. The monthly stipendium for both residencies is 10.000 Swedish crowns, or 1.100 Euros per month.

Society KROKODIL proudly announces the open call for residency stays in Sweden intended for writers and comics authors of all generations and artistic styles from Serbia. Two writers and one comics author will have the opportunity to spend one month in Sweden over the course of Fall 2014.

The online application form can be found on the following linkhttp://tinyurl.com/createinresidence-krokodil, while the final deadline is August 17th. The candidate selection will be finalized by September 1st, after which logistic details will be specified. The open call for the field of design, coordinated by Nova Iskra, will be announced on July 9th, and also run until August 17th.

By transforming cultural differences into an open field of creative possibility, Create In Residence aims to incite the personal development of young authors through education, production, creative collaborations and exchanges.

Project presentation and consultations with interested candidates will be held at Nova Iskra (Gavrila Principa 43, Belgrade) on Thursday, July 10th at 5.30 PM.