[AIR@EU] SERDE
Features
StudiosAvailable
AccommodationsAvailable
Presentation(exhibition, performance, and open studio)Not available
Grants and subsidies for travel expensesNot available
Grants and other financial supports/ Support by coordinators and art professionalsNot available
Art genresVisual arts/ Fine arts , Performing arts , Craft / Applied arts , Film / Video
RegionsOutside Japan
| Program | |
|---|---|
| Application period | Jun. 12, 2024 (Wed.) - Mar. 31, 2025 (Mon.) |
| Description | In 2002 a collective of young artists founded NGO Interdisciplinary Art group SERDE and did their first art project “Other Goods”. With this project in specially designed tent they brought modern art works to the Latvian rural areas for public events such as City festivals or fairs. One of the place was small rural town Aizpute. When the SERDE team went on a walk though the town they found an abandoned yard with empty warehouse build in German fachwerk style. As all their previous attempts to find an artist studio in the capital city Riga was not successful, they decided to ask the Aizpute municipality about the possibility to rent this warehouse and use it for an artist studio. The first meeting with authorities of Aizpute was very successful and the head of the town offered all of the historical house complex that was abandoned at that time and meant to be demolish. As the house complex had a historical value and has been listed in the National State Monuments list the town didn’t get permission to demolish it. The SERDE artists initiative came as a great solution for the municipality as what to do with these abandoned buildings. The house complex indeed was in very bad condition but SERDE artists had jumped into the cultural heritage adventure without prior knowledge what does the culture heritage mean in reality and how to maintain the historical houses. From their artist education they only had experience from art history classes and some artwork copies what they did in their art studies. Thanks to the local monument inspector and researcher who did research about the house complex constructions and historical values the SERDE team got to know with what to start. From the SERDE team members who only had a career and experience in art, they quickly got turned into restorers and builders. Most of the work what was done in SERDE house complex, was done by SERDE team members and enthusiasts during the International restoration workshops, what were organized as an annual summer camp. The main goal was not to damage the historical house complex with modern additions but to preserve it for the next generations and give a new function to these old houses. The history of this house complex starts at the beginning of the 18th century and until the very end of the 20th century there were mostly shops on the 1st floor and apartments on the 2nd floor. The biggest damages to the building were made during the Soviet era when almost all of the house was remodeled in small apartments called “living room kitchen”, leaving alcohol and household good shops in the 1st floor. In 2002 SERDE team started restoration and preservation works in the house complex with an aim to create an environment for artist residencies and workshops centre. The first artist symposium already happened in 2003 when the first 2 rooms were ready to use. Step by step with respect to the cultural heritage the historical house complex SERDE residencies and workshop centre developed, and nowadays it has the possibility to host about twenty artists and cultural workers, has studios for work with ceramics, metal, wood materials and largest analog photo studio in Latvia. |
| Residency location | SERDE (Latvia) |
| Residency period | SERDE residencies program is open for residents from 1st of May until 1st of October |
| Qualification | n/a |
| Pay by artists / Support for artists | see the website:https://www.serde.lv/?q=node/19 |
| Selection process | you have to send the project proposal (max A4; idea and technical specification), CV and 5 examples of previous works (photos, videos, links) to e-mail |
| Contact | SERDE E-mail smg.serde@gmail.com WEBhttps://www.serde.lv/ |