
We are looking for an artist to develop a three-year collaborative project based at the Medias synagogue complex (synagogue, garden, community offices and clergy residence) beginning in May 2016. The artist will collaborate with a researcher and an on-site administrator in developing long-term participatory art projects. The bulk of the collaborative work is expected, but not required, to take place in the context of three two-month residencies from 2016-2018. This is a paid engagement with allowances for travel (within Romania) and a production budget (€1800 annual residency honorarium; €750 annual production budget; travel and living allowance). Please see project abstract at the end of this document for details.
Download the entire document here.
We are looking for an applicant (individuals or collectives) working in any artistic medium who:
- is interested in developing a long-term collaboration with a historian and administrator to develop the project (see abstract)
- is interested in engaging with the community at large, whether through participatory art practice, dialogue, or volunteerism
- understands the importance and complexity of multiculturalism in Transylvania
- is interested in and willing to incorporate historical topics in their work
- has a sound grasp of regional history and some knowledge of central European Jewish history and culture
- is fluent in Romanian
- has conversational fluency in English
- ideally speaks one other Transylvanian language (Hungarian, German, Yiddish, Romani)
- can attend an annual meeting with TRACES partners (outside of Romania) and several meetings a year with the administrator and researcher in Medias (travel covered)
- can attend the TRACES Kick-off meeting 9-11 May, 2016 in Klagenfurt, Austria (travel covered)
The application must be in English. The due date for applications is midnight, (EET), 1 April 2016.
Selection will be announced by 11 April 2016.
To apply, please send the following material in PDF form to [email protected].
- CV
- Artist statement: please describe your work, medium(s), themes. (400 words)
- Why does this residency interest you? (250 words)
- What has been your experience with collaborative projects in the past? (250 words)
- Please provide a link to or send via email a portfolio of your work.
You will be working with:
- Julie Dawson, researcher and archivist at the Leo Baeck Institute (NYC/ Berlin), director of Leo Baeck Institute’s ongoing survey of Jewish archives in Bukovina and Transylvania.
blog: http://jewish-transylvania-bukovina.tumblr.com/
twitter: @jbat_lbi - Anda Reuben, administrator of Medias synagogue and archives and coordinator of local events.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sinagogamedias/
PROJECT ABSTRACT
Absence as Heritage
Visualizing a Shared Past, Creating a Common Future
Through Archives and Architecture of Vanished Communities
at the
synagogue complex in Mediaș, Romania
Employing a contemporary artist and a researcher to explore and exploit the built heritage of the synagogue complex (with garden, ritual bath, clergy house) and the documentary heritage of archives and religious and secular printed material, the project Absence as Heritage questions the value of the heritage of absent populations to those that remain. In a region of shifted populations, a territory indelibly altered by the mass population movements brought on by wars and regime changes of the early 20th century, how can disappearing cultural heritage(s) be preserved, explored, and understood? How can these places, items, or traditions of “abandoned” heritage be used to understand a collective past and how can they be employed to create a future of positive, multifaceted European identities? Spaces and material of “Jewish Medias” and the pre-World War II multiethnic character of the town will be used as platforms to develop participatory, collaborative projects involving the local community and school classes. Transylvania’s intrinsic multilingualism will be plumbed using archival material in German, Hungarian, Romanian, and Yiddish. Questions of identity and the possibility of myriad identities – Romanian, Hungarian, German, Jewish, European, Transylvanian, will be probed throughout the project.
For extended project description, please email [email protected]
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TRACES
Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts
From Intervention to Co-Production
TRACES aims to provide new directions for cultural heritage institutions to contribute productively to evolving European identity and reflexive Europeanization. To do so, it deploys an innovative ethnographic/artistic approach, focused on a wide range of types of ‘contentious heritage.’ Through rigorous and creative in-depth artistic/ethnographic research, TRACES will provide a systematic analysis of the challenges and opportunities raised by transmitting contentious, awkward and difficult pasts. It will do so by setting up Creative Co-Productions (CCPs) in which artists, researchers, heritage agencies and stakeholders work together in longer term engagements to collaboratively research selected cases of contentious heritage and develop new participatory public interfaces. TRACES involves a multi-disciplinary team, bringing together established and emerging scholars and cultural workers, and providing high-level expertise, relevant experience and creative energy, to provide a rigorous and innovative approach to the transmission of European cultural heritage.
Partners
- UNI-KLU | Universitaet Klagenfurt (Austria)
- POLIMI | Politecnico Di Milano (Italy)
- UBER | Humboldt-Universitaet Zu Berlin (Germany)
- UNIVERSITY OSLO | Universitetet I Oslo (Norway)
- ZHDK | Zurcher Hochschule Der Kunste (Switzerland)
- Hosman Durabil (Romania)
- NHM | Naturhistorisches Museum (Austria)
- UEDIN | The University Of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
- UJAG | Uniwersytet Jagiellonski (Poland)
- Ulster | University Of Ulster (United Kingdom)
- DRS | Drustvo Za Domace Raziskave (Slovenia)
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693857. The views expressed here are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.