HDLU LAUNCHES CREART ART IN PUBLIC SPACE 2024: KARAS+KVART

DESCRIPTION:

Karas Gallery is an exhibition space of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) with a long tradition of activity in the contemporary art scene. After many years of activity at Praška 4, since 2018, it has been operating at the address Kralja Zvonimira 58. Recognizing the need for redefining and creating a new cultural identity for the neighborhood where Karas Gallery is located, within the EU project CreART 3.0, a collaborative artistic program titled KARAS + KVART is organized, envisioned in a collaborative and co-creation model between one local artist and one artist from the network. Artists will explore the neighborhood for 2 weeks, and the final result will be an artistic work or initiative in the public space of the gallery neighborhood in October. As part of KARAS+KVART 2024 project, Luana Lojić has been invited to participate, and an international artist will be selected through an Open call.

Preference will be given to artists who are interested in and express themselves through innovative visual, auditory, multimedia, and research practices, or who contemplate the function and activation of public space, responding to the concept of the artist Luana Lojić, which is envisioned as a series of performative actions in the neighborhood in the format of a con-event, simulating cultural content. In its absence, the concept compensates with temporary and exaggerated performances in the form of film projections, spoken word poetry, parties (VJ/DJ session), podcasts, and dances that convince viewers that they are really happening (e.g., projection on a factory, podcast at the market, contemporary dance around and through the square, party in one of the vacant spaces, etc.). The artist imagines ‘scenes’ or ‘illusions’ unfolding simultaneously while the content’s focus is dispersed, and the theme plays with performance options and hallucinations of unused spaces and public areas. Fictional events would rely on confusion inductions (methods of verbalizing nonsense in a monotonous tone, used in hypnotherapy to put the rational part of the brain to sleep). Themes and formats, as well as additional collaborators and performances/scenes, would be developed in collaboration with the selected artist.

Luana Lojić (1991) deals with applied cosmophilia and internet nomadism. From poetry for stones to live installations, videos, films, voiceovers, and live art addressing the relationship between humans and the systems, perceptions, and materialities surrounding them, her work seeks to understand natural processes beyond and within the concept of senses. She has received numerous awards for her work.

WHO CAN APPLY

• Artists born or residing in one of the cities in the project network: Kaunas (Lithuania), Liepaja (Lithuania), Skopje (North Macedonia), Aveiro (Portugal), Valladolid (Spain), Lublin (Poland), Venice (Italy), Clermont-Ferrand and Rouen (France), České Budějovice (Czech Republic), Oulu (Finland), Regensburg (Germany)
• Ukrainian artists through our collaboration with the Lviv Artistic Council “Dialog”

GRANT CONDITIONS:

The Organizer (HDLU) will provide:

• Three-week accommodation for artists in residence (October 2024)
• Round-trip ticket expenses to and from Zagreb up to a maximum of 400 EUR
• Artistic fee in the amount of 1,200 EUR/gross
• Daily allowance of 30 EUR/day
• Production cost of new artwork(s) in the amount of 5,000 EUR/gross, resulting from the joint action and collaboration between artists.
• Report: Upon return from the residency, artists are required to submit a brief narrative report containing evidence of newly created works (in English), and boarding passes if traveling by plane.
• Contract: Before going to the residency, the artist will sign a contract with HDLU, committing to participating in CreArt promotional activities until the project ends in 2026, in agreement with HDLU.

Only complete and timely applications will be considered.

Selection Committee: Nika Šimičić, Mihaela Zajec, and Luana Lojić

The Committee is not obliged to justify the selection decision.

HOW TO APPLY:

Send an email to: karas.hdlu@gmail.com with the subject: KARAS+KVART, including the following documentation:

• ID card or passport (scanned)
• Motivational letter (max 500 words) and a brief written project proposal (one A4 page)
• Curriculum vitae in English
• Portfolio of works and artistic activity (in PDF, max 7 MB; for video works – include links to online publications in the PDF)
• Artists need to register on the CreArt website and upload their portfolio: LINK

DEADLINES:

Applications accepted until: June 7, 2024

Announcement of results: no later than June 15, 2024

Contract signing with HDLU: two weeks before departure

Submission of report: 1 week after the end of the residency

QUESTIONS:

The contact person for all questions is Mihaela Zajec, karas.hdlu@gmail.com. Questions will be accepted only via email.