Cognac Residency Fellowship: Research, Production & Writing

Call is launched for projects to host designers, artists, architects, curators, writers and researchers in the humanities and social sciences for research-experimentation, production and writing-curation residencies in Cognac.

The Foundation offers residency fellowships in three areas: research & experimentation (6-8 weeks), production (2-6 weeks), and writing and curation (2-4 weeks). The call for projects is open to all nationalities, all professions in the visual arts and humanities, and all levels of experience . Intersections with other disciplines and bodies of knowledge, especially in the realm of the natural sciences, are encouraged.

The Foundation contains fully equipped working spaces in which creators and scholars may conduct their projects: the glass workshop, the wood workshop, the ceramics workshop, the moulding workshop, the textile workshop, the Fablab and the Almanac Lab, a space created at the outcome of an inquiry into the diversity of resources available in the Charentes region. It also features a digital photo studio and a French-English library of books on art, design, ecology, and environmental, economic, and social policies that residents may borrow.

The selected projects will address the major challenges of our era. They will contribute to the artistic and scientific invigoration of the Charentes region. On the theme «Creation & Transitions», the residency projects can get inspiration from the following areas: ecological and social transformation and transition; developing the local and the global; rootedness in a geographic area; the timeframes of a geographic area; transformation of landscapes and environments; inter-species relations; exploring materials, techniques, and modes of production; the tension between industry and craft, and questions of scale; memory and transmission.

During the stay, the residents get:

• Professional support from the Foundation’s team (practical and conceptual)
• A private room in a house located 10 minutes on foot from the Foundation
• Access to the company restaurant at lunch on weekdays (residents are responsible for all other meals)
• Coverage of one round-trip ticket between the resident’s home and the Foundation for each residency period, within the limit of 2 round trips within France or one round trip internationally
• A weekly stipend of €375 consisting of maintenance expenses €175 per week per person (€25 per day) and work stipend €200 per week
• Production budget Within the limit of €2,500 – the production budget covers all expensesfor equipment, tools, and skills not already present at the Foundation
• Access to the Living Archive and the library
• Use of the Foundation’s vehicle Communications
• Access to the digital photo studio to document work in progress and objects produced
• Recording of a professional interview that will be posted on social media

After the stay, the residents get:

• Publicising of the project on the Foundation’s social media and website
• Partial coverage of the cost of transporting objects, financed with the remainder of the production budgetSupport for promoting the project past the residency period

Expected resident contributions:

• Presentation of the creation process to the general public (in any format: lecture, screening, installation, performance…), which will be audiorecorded for inclusion in an additional online archive
• Contribution to the Living Archive: submission of prototypes, samples, and results of the work process; recording of the resources, contacts, and know-how tapped during the residency
• Preparation of a display table at the Almanac Lab
• Conditioning of the objects produced and organisation of their transport
• Optional: Artistic workshop during or after the residency