The Paths Crossing project unites the forces of five North European artist-in-residence centres to invite twenty young and emerging visual artists and art professionals from new and applicant EU Member States. This project of residencies and cooperation is co-funded by the European Union’s Culture Programme for the years 2011–2012.

Coordinated by HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme (FI), the project includes the participation of the Baltic Art Center, Visby (SE), Fabrikken for Kunst og Design, Copenhagen (DK), Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin (IE) and Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen (NO). The central purpose of this collective endeavour is to discover and support new talent, providing international mobility to visual artists and art professionals from Eastern and Central Europe. New networks of cooperation with the participating countries will be built. Together the five artist-in-residency centres are able to provide for twenty individual production and research residencies, each from one to six months in duration. Artists, curators, critics and researchers based in Europe (see countries below) are all eligible to apply.

The core of the project is to offer a dynamic working environment to the resident art-practitioners, in which they are enabled and encouraged by creative encounters with international colleagues and local art scenes. They will be enabled in critical discussions and given the resources for a period of intense work by curatorial support during the production process. Throughout the project the personal, professional and artistic aspirations of the residents will be the focal point of the residency centres. The Paths Crossing project offers its participants the opportunity to acquire professional knowledge and international contacts, as well as to develop new works: from conception to finished piece.

Critical considerations on nationality and culture, so topical in the European context today, gave rise to the ideas behind the project. Its aim, to search for solutions and offer innovative approaches to the international mobility of artists, is motivated by the specific artistic circumstances of individuals and their professions rather than national or state-specific culture-political agendas. Paths Crossing furthermore aspires to build a platform for critical discussion on various ethical, practical and artistic challenges that artist-in-residence programmes face today.

The partner-institutions are committed to establishing their cooperation in the form of a permanent European AIR programme network. New models for collaborative process on both the individual and organisational level will be the natural outcome of the project, enhancing the outcomes of the organisers’ existing residency activities.

Complemented by workshops, lectures, screenings, exhibitions and other public events, the processes, networks and artworks created within the project will be made accessible to the wider communities of the host cities. The contents and results of the Paths Crossing will also be visible to a wider international audience via the development of open web-based resources.

Project Time-Frame
November 1, 2010 – October 31, 2012

Eligible Applicant and EU Member States
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia

Project Coordination
HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme
Cable Factory
Tallberginkatu 1 C 97
00180 Helsinki
Finland
www.hiap.fi

Project Partners
The partner-institutions have substantial experience in running public arts programmes and hosting international visual artists within their artist-in-residence programmes. All partners will contribute to the Paths Crossing project on all levels, within the guidelines agreed upon in the project plan, including hosting individual residencies.

The Paths Crossing project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.