We Only Want The Earth: Residency Award Two

A4 Sounds in partnership with Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS) and Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland (MASI) invite applications from artists who have sought or are seeking international protection in Ireland for a six-month residency award as part of the We Only Want the Earth 2022 programme. The residency will run from July to December 2022. The residency opportunity aims to support an artist based in Ireland to develop their arts practice.

About

The context for We Only Want the Earth is ongoing, unpredictable social change. The neoliberal order and the unipolar system of US hegemony are collapsing. Climate change is accelerating, and alongside it eco-fascism and “lifeboat ethics” are growing in Europe and elsewhere. The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the crises of inequality and homelessness. We are living through Gramsci’s interregnum: the old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. New opportunities for radical social change present themselves, but they are accompanied by reactionary violence that seeks to return to an imagined idyllic past. In this context, deliberative and discursive arts practices are urgently needed.

We Only Want the Earth is a yearly programme of awards, exhibitions, and events that seeks to interrogate the goals and strategies of social change: what kind of society do we want and how should we get there?

The Award

A central aim of the We Only Want the Earth programme is to give material support and a platform to artists who are often ignored, or who are spoken about rather than listened to. As part of meeting this aim, this 6-month residency award will support an artist who has sought or is seeking international protection in Ireland to develop and exhibit a body of work, and will provide the selected artist with an opportunity to make contacts and identify resources that might help them to further develop their artistic practice.

Please note that the artist is free to work on any topic of their choosing; there is no requirement that the work deal with issues of seeking international protection or the direct provision system.

The award includes:

• Free 24-hour access to studio space at A4 Sounds.
• A monthly stipend of €1,500 towards materials and residency costs (Total €9,000).
• Artist fees of €700 for exhibiting a body of work and artist talks
• A dedicated website for outcomes and digital dissemination
• Access to a range of professional development, training and technical supports.
• Access to the facilities at A4 Sounds, including personal and shared workspace, sculpture workshop, photography darkroom, printing suite and equipment.
• Gallery space and a materials/exhibition budget of up to €2000 will be provided to support an exhibition or series of dissemination events during the last month of the residency.
• Access to all A4 Sounds public workshops and courses for the duration of the residency.