"The residency aims to collectively and collaboratively address these and other key questions, challenges and themes in the area of embedded and socially engaged art practice offering perspectives, case studies and mentoring opportunities from practitioners, curators/arts organisers and theorists that will enrich and help frame their own practice and projects.
Through the lens of a "post pandemic" future, participants will gain practical and theoretical knowledge about the past, present and future landscapes of art for responsible transformation of society that they can then apply in both the postindustrial context of Biella and their own locale."
Andy Abbott - Visiting Research Curator of the UNIDEE Residency Programme 2020
The global Coronavirus pandemic created new conditions for arts and culture. Those who wish to effect social change through their practice are left with questions: "What can we do from here?" and "What future can we help to build?”.
The UNIDEE 2020 programme ‘embedded arts practice in a post-pandemic future’ brought together over 40 residents from across the world to engage in a 10-week hybrid programme (of virtual and physical presence) to explore the questions of ‘where next’ for socially engaged and embedded practice and ‘what future can we build together’ under unfolding conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Informal and Self-Organised Learning. When present physically the small groups in their one-week intensive would meet local initiatives live, eat and spend time recreational together outside of the scheduled programme.
In the cases of partially or entirely virtual one-week intensives the residents were encouraged to create a forum for informal communication (WhatsApp group, Facebook group etc) and self-organise opportunities for collective activities that they could do ‘together-apart’ such as movement, yoga, word puzzles, walks in their respective places and so on.
What is, was and could be the future for socially embedded practice, now lives, work, institutions and communications are mediated by technology, glitches and fragmentation?
How do we document, make visible and preserve living (and changing) processes of work?
How do we demand or create new methods and channels for our own voices and experiences?
RESIDENTS
Francesca Fiordelmondo (Italy), Federico Pozuelo (Spain/Italy), Alice Pedroletti (Italy), Dafne Salis (Italy), Tatjana Schaefer and Catalin Pislaru (Germany / Uzbekistan and Moldavia/Romania), Camila Aguais (USA/UK), Elena Blesa Cábez (Spain), Sophie Skellern (UK), Rachel Grant (UK), Francesca Carion (Italy), Katja Verheul (The Netherlands), Laia Ventayol (Spain), Irene Angenica (Italy), Miriam Rejas del Pino (and TBD Ultramagazine) (Spain/Italy), Livia Daza Paris (Venezuela/Canada), Reyhaneh Mirjahani (Iran/Sweden), Daniela Delgado Viteri (Ecuador/Spain), Stefano Volpato (Italy), Christine Mackey (Ireland), Tiara Jackson (USA), Orecchie D’Asino (Ornella De Carlo and Federica Porro) (Italy), Eddie James (New zeland/Australia), Kirila Cvetkovska (Macedonia), Jade Blood (UK), Lauren Hollowday (UK), Tizo All (Brazil/Germany), Antonio di Biase (Italy), Weronika Zalewska (Poland), Annabelle Craven-Jones (UK), Ginevra Ludovici (Italy), Giulia Menegale (Italy), Zina Zarour (Palestine), Aadita Chaudhury (India/Canada), William Rees (UK), Francesco Pavignano (Italy), Sarah Dixon (UK), Andra Nedelcu (Romania), Erica Ferrari (Brazil), Aïda Diop (France), Ayesha Mukadam (South Africa), Yuliya Say (Ukraine/Italy), Marco Ranieri (Italy), Henry Palacio (Colombia), Catalina Gómez Rueda (Colombia), Marilou Van Lierop (Belgium).