Call for Application: Artist in Residence at the National Museums of World Culture, Sweden

The Swedish National Museums of World Culture in Stockholm and Gothenburg, an ASEMUS member, are opening their archives for an artist in residence. The residency includes a grant as well as workspace and access to collections and exhibitions at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm during September through November 2015. The residency is positioned within the EU-project 'Sharing a World of Creativity, Inclusion and Heritage' (SWICH), an initiative of ten museums of ethnography and world culture that aims to develop collaborative and inclusive practices which investigate the potential of shared authority in the museum context. Other ASEMUS members, including the Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Germany, the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands, and the Luigi Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnology, are also partners within SWICH. The organisers encourage artists with a diaspora background who want to develop historical as well as inventive relations to the archive and its (im)possible futures. The beneficiary artist will be selected on the basis of his/her social engagement and critical reflection, and his/her awareness of power imbalances embodied in the museum archive. Potential material fields of knowledge and experimentation are for example photography, textile and body ornaments. The residency is offered during September through November 2015. The Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm will provide a workspace on site along with technical assistance in explorations of the fragile collections. The Museum of Ethnography manages a wide variety of collections mainly from regions outside of Europe. Consisting of 220,000 objects, more than 500,000 photographs and substantial archival material, the collections pertain to academic disciplines like archaeology, anthropology, ethnography, ethnology, art history and history as well as to diverse collectors active in colonial military/administrative, missionary, trade, diplomatic, scientific and adventurer/explorer contexts. Applications should be sent by 1 May 2015. For additional information and details on the application procedure, please visit http://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/etnografiskamuseet/research-collections/collections/call-for-application-artist-in-residence-at-the-national-museums-of-world-culture/ Pictured above: La Jardinera, performance with Valeria Montti Colque, 2011. Photo: Karl Zetterström, via National Museums of World Culture