With the last day of 2024, the project Artists for Artists Residency Network (AFAR), aimed at improving the mobility of contemporary visual artists and curators while creating greater opportunities for women in art, comes to an end. The project was implemented in four European partner countries: Romania, Germany, Croatia, and Austria. The consortium consisted of the project leader (ARAC) in Bucharest, Romania, and three partners: the Goethe Institute network, the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) in Zagreb, Croatia, and Künstlerhaus in Vienna, Austria. An additional associated strategic partner was La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, which also serves as the Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Intérêt National de la Ville de Mulhouse, located in a former industrial building shared with the University of Haute-Alsace, the city archives, and the Ateliers Pédagogiques d’Arts Plastiques.

The project focused on developing new international exchanges and transcultural dialogue, providing a range of new opportunities for art practitioners of all ages and disciplines, with a particular emphasis on women in art and gender equality. It included a series of artist and curatorial residencies, discussions, and three international exhibitions. The overarching goal was to create self-sustaining models of mutual support and collaboration and to foster long-term cultural and social international relationships, emphasizing themes of ecology and inclusion.

Key elements of the project included:

• 12 artistic residencies in Zagreb (Croatia), Mulhouse (France), Bucharest (Romania), and Săcel, Maramureș (Romania).
• 4 curatorial residencies in Zagreb and Bucharest.
• 12 discussions in Zagreb, Bucharest, and Vienna.
• 3 exhibitions in Vienna (Austria), Zagreb (Croatia), and Bucharest (Romania).

As Josip Zanki, the project’s artistic director, notes in the preface of the exhibition AFAR: Topography of the Project held at the Bačva Gallery, Meštrović Pavilion in Zagreb (October 24–November 24, 2024), the Croatian Association of Fine Artists focused its part of the project on establishing an international residency in Zagreb. This included collaboration with students from the Academy of Fine Arts, engaging cultural workers and policymakers in the presentation of residents, and organizing specialized textile workshops.

The selection committee for artists and curators (Anca Poterașu and Josip Zanki) chose the following participants for the Zagreb residencies: artists Larisa Crunțeanu, Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol, Megan Dominescu, and Iza Tarasewicz, along with curators Eve Woods and Sarah McNulty. The curators’ residencies resulted in a research text on the art scene in Zagreb, while the artists produced new artworks during their stay in the Zagreb residency.

The residency program was inaugurated by curator Eve Woods in January 2024, followed by curator Sarah McNulty in February. Subsequently, the artist residencies took place: Larisa Crunțeanu in March, Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol in April and May, Megan Dominescu in May, and Iza Tarasewicz in June 2024.

During the curatorial and artistic residencies, a special program titled AFAR Talk was organized, serving as a model for presenting curatorial and artistic practices. Each session featured an expert in cultural education and cultural policy engaging in dialogue with the residents. These discussions were conducted in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, as part of the activities of the Discursive Program of the Doctoral Studies in Fine Arts and the course Introduction to Art Theory (led by Associate Professor Dr. Josip Zanki).

The discussions included:

• A Selection of Irish Eco-Artists with Eve Woods, moderated by Luja Šimunović.
• Shared Space – How Do We Co-create and Co-opt Space? with Sarah McNulty, moderated by Deborah Hustić.
• Topographies of Love with Larisa Crunțeanu, moderated by Professor Dr. Nevena Škrbić Alempijević.
• Speechless with Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol, moderated by Leila Topić.
• Slowly But Boldly Going Nowhere: A Map of Artistic Practice and Visual Upbringing with Megan Dominescu, moderated by Sven Jozić.
• “your type of unity”: Art Practice as a Way to Hold Yourself Up with Iza Tarasewicz, moderated by Professor Dr. Leonida Kovač.

Since one of the focal points of the AFAR project was work with textiles, the residency program in Zagreb featured three artists whose artistic practices are either entirely centered around textiles (Megan Dominescu) or include textiles as part of their oeuvre (Larisa Crunțeanu and Iza Tarasewicz).

During their residencies, specialized workshops on Weaving Techniques were organized, led by Nikolina Hrgović Knežević, mag. art. edu., from the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb. These workshops included participation by the artists, students from the Academy of Fine Arts, and interested cultural workers. The aim was to introduce participants to traditional weaving techniques.

During the artistic residencies, special fieldwork activities were organized in consultation with the residents. As part of this fieldwork, the residents were able to conduct artistic research necessary for creating their works or document their experiences of being in a specific environment. Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol participated in fieldwork at the locations of the Carmel of St. Elijah (Buško Lake) and Veli Zaton (Pag Island), while Megan Dominescu conducted her fieldwork at the Kamačnik location.

It is important to emphasize that the activities AFAR Talk, Weaving Techniques, and the fieldwork, while primarily designed for residents, also served as educational and extracurricular activities for students of the Academy of Fine Arts. These initiatives expanded the scope of artistic education and frameworks for artistic research.

University studies have traditionally been oriented toward the institutionalized education and development of students, promoting knowledge of the scientific world and involving students in scientific projects. However, the contemporary era calls for new perspectives that go beyond limited, reductionist scientific approaches to include qualitative, phenomenological research and perspectives. Exploring the sociocultural environment today requires the incorporation of innovative and rarely used strategies.

While the degree of rationality in such strategies may be debated—science is often regarded as a bastion of reliability, whereas art (or the newly established field of artistic research) is sometimes criticized for its subjectivity and lack of validity—it is crucial to understand that different disciplines employ diverse methodological research strategies and levels of rationality.

The AFAR Talk, Weaving Techniques, and fieldwork represent precisely such an innovative format: a comprehensive research project that highlights the personalized experiences of participants within a specific space and time.

The project concluded with the exhibition AFAR: Topography of the Project, which was held at the Bačva Gallery (Meštrović Pavilion) from October 24 to November 24, 2024.

The exhibition was curated by Josip Zanki, and the artists featured were: Željko Beljan (HR), Bik Van der Pol (NL), Tanja Boukal (AT), Larisa Crunțeanu (RO), Megan Dominescu (RO), Nikolina Hrgović Knežević (HR), Zoya Laktionova (UA), Sarah Mcnulty (DK), Iza Tarasewicz (PL), Eve Woods (IE)

Video: Marta Dijak

Narration: Astrid Jakšić

Within the project:

Project partners:

HDLU part of AFAR project is supported by:

Co-funded by the European Union – CREA-CULT-2022-COOP. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. [Project number: 101100309 ]

The views expressed in this announcement are the sole responsibility of HDLU and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.