The Roberto Cimetta Fund and Biennale Warszawa are collaborating to offer travel grants in the framework of the Biennale Warszawa in May and June 2019, thus facilitating and increasing mobility and creativity of artists between Central Eastern Europe and the Arab-Middle East region. 

Biennale Warszawa is a public institution focusing on a long-term work plan and operating on 2-year work cycles, which terminate with a festival lasting several weeks. Its aim is to integrate research, activism and artistic work all in one. The main idea behind the Biennale Warszawa concept is to aggregate and structure expertise on present-day culture and art, as well as politics. From this base, new artistic, political, social, economic and ecological ideas are created and deliberated, building alternative models of functioning in the post-crisis world. The curatorial concept for the Biennale Warszawa focuses on the institution’s activities around three dualities: art / culture, research / discourse and activism / politics. Integrating these dualities of expression leads to mutual strengthening of capacities and synergies, and avoids already worked out ideas, artworks or initiatives. This way of working allows the ideas, knowledge and concepts to flow both ways between science and art. It makes it possible to include art in intervention and activist actions in the public space and to conduct art-based research projects. This model supports the process of creating new, alternative and positive projects for human life, politics, communities, economy and culture. It is essential that, when providing many different viewpoints and experiences, one does not create divisions, then impossible to overcome, but designs a new world with a vision focused on that which is common and universal instead of that which divides and disconnects. 

This call is open to applications until 31st December 2018. 

Applications can be made in Arabic, English or French.

The applicant must directly address the context presented by Biennale Warszawa, as indicated below and focus on future possibilities for transnational commons, translocal politics beyond nation states, Central Eastern European and Arab-Middle East relations. 

 
SPECIFIC BIENNALE WARSZAWA CRITERIA
From the end of WWII till the transition period in 1989, Poland developed strong relations with North African and Middle-East countries. Polish Communist government represented the Eastern Block and led diplomatic and economic relations with Arab countries. These relations have been strong especially in 60s, 70s and 80s when trade, economical and technological exchange was happening. As a result of this cooperation, Polish specialists in industry, economy, science, infrastructure and medicine went to work in Arab region. From 70s, Polish foreign trade company POLSERVICE sent several thousands of Polish specialists to African and Middle-East countries. At the same time, many special scholarship programs at Polish Universities were created for foreign students from these countries. From the 60s, the Department of Undeveloped Countries at Warsaw School of Planning and Statistics (SGPiS) created by Michał Kalecki and Ignacy Sachs accepted many students from Africa and Middle-East who later took on many important positions in their own homelands. 
Rediscovering those historical relations that were suddenly cut in 1989, due to the change of the Polish foreign policy, could be a starting point for a new set of artistic and political projects that will create imaginary future-oriented scenarios of trans-regional and trans-local bonds between Central-Eastern Europe and Arab-Middle East region.
We would like to invite curators, artists, researchers and cultural operators to take up this challenge and design different alternatives for today’s social, political and economic order; new institutions, organizations, imaginary scenarios, provocative and experimental worlds related to the given context. Our programme expects that artistic tools (performance, visual arts, music, etc.) work together with political, social, economical, ecological and activist actions. We aim to reclaim the past context and imagine new transnational and translocal relations.

If you want more information on this call please click on the "Mobility programme" section in the header. If you want to apply click on "apply for a grant".

share