Language:
English
Duration:
2 or 3 months
Paid by host:
  • A letter of invitation and any document that could help you in your visa application and financial support for your travel expenses to Switzerland.
  • Transportation from Sierre/Siders train station to Chandolin, Anniviers on the day of your arrival. Transportation from Chandolin to Sierre/Siders train station on the day of your departure.
  • Housing in Chandolin.
  • A Pass Anniviers, which gives you free access to the buses and a 50% discount at the ski lifts to get to the mountain huts, different regions and villages of the valley, lakes, summits or other destinations for your research. This pass also offers discounts or free access to various places or activities in Val d’Anniviers.
  • A monthly stipend of CHF 1.500 per person. You will be required to purchase liability, medical, and accident insurance.
  • Ongoing support in facilitating meaningful connections and learning exchanges with residents.
  • Occasional access to certain tools and spaces, such as basic audiovisual equipment, local wood or metal workshops, and common spaces.
  • Connection to local and international researchers from the Université de Lausanne’s Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur la montagne (CIRM), whom you may invite to participate in the labs, transmissions and events and/or your final presentation.
  • Audio, photo, and video documentation of your research.
  • Coordination, logistical assistance and technical support for one-off events, labs and transmissions.
  • The co-production of your final project during the last week of the residency for CHF 5000.
  • Continued promotion of your project on this page and via their newsletters and Instagram account.
  • Integration of your project in an international network of research on high-mountain transitions.
Paid by artist:

Residents are welcome to receive additional funding from external resources. However, residents are fully responsible to find and apply for other funding opportunities. Under no circumstances will ALTER- apply for external funding on behalf of the residents.

Application guidelines:

Teams must be composed of three to five visual/performance/sound artists, scientists, writers or other professionals who have an established relationship of at least three years and existing work that reflects artistic and environmental themes that resonate with those of ALTER-. The team must include at least one French-speaking member who will provide translation between the residents and the inhabitants of Anniviers.

What does the application include?

  • A summary in which you introduce yourself, your work, and what motivated you to apply to the residency.
  • A detailed description of the specific issue you plan to undertake, its challenges, your creative/research process, and the final project you envision developing. Address why this specific region is important to realising your project.
  • Supporting materials that help illustrate your work, such as a website, CV, a PDF of your portfolio, photos, videos, articles, social media posts, or media coverage.
  • In preparing your application, consider what makes your work innovative; how it engages with pressing environmental issues; how you will collaborate with local inhabitants; and, ultimately, how your residency could contribute to understanding the impacts of — and adaptations to — social, economic, and environmental shifts in mountain regions.

Please note that candidates who do not follow these specifications will be disqualified.

 The deadline for applications is December 31, 2022, at 23:00 CET. A jury representing various disciplines will review the applications. The selected team will be notified by February 1, 2023.

Deadline:
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ALTER-

ALTER-

Courtesy of ALTER-
Photo by David Zehnder
Description

ALTER- is a collaboration among artists, researchers and local inhabitants that responds to environmental crises in high-mountain communities. It is an annual program that takes place from the beginning of June to the end of August in the Val d’Anniviers in Valais, Switzerland.

ALTER- invites a group of artists and researchers (a group of 3 to 5 people already constituted) from another mountain region of the world to settle down for three months in Chandolin (2000m. of altitude) and to listen to and enter into dialogue with the Val d’Anniviers and its inhabitants. The objective is the active sharing of challenges, knowledge and possible solutions for the period of transitions – cultural, climatic, energetic, economic, and social – that all high mountain regions are going through simultaneously.

ALTER- encourages this cooperation by supporting three types of activities developed in parallel during the summer:

  • The Lab: observations and research in the field by artists and researchers
  • The Transmissions: common activities between the artists in residence and the inhabitants of the valley
  • The Events: regular sharing of the project’s progress with the public, in partnership with Swiss scientists and artists

In 2022, ALTER- brought together five artists and researchers from Bolivia (Group Sonandes), Swiss guest artists, researchers from CIRM-University of Lausanne, HES-SO Valais, and communities from Anniviers.

Each year, the residency is offered:

  • either for 3 months, from June 5 to August 30  
  • or for 2 months, from July 3 to August 30.

All residents must arrive between June 3 and 5 or July 1 and 3 and leave on August 30 or 31.

Outcome

At the end of the residency period, you will present a final project in Chandolin for a large audience of the whole region.

Studio Information

Please note that there is no fixed workshop or office available to the team in residence.

Accommodation Information

Housing in Chandolin is arranged by ALTER-. You will be responsible for your meals and household. Additional guests outside of the residency team are not allowed unless you have pre-arranged and approved your guests with ALTER-.

Location

ALTER- is a two- to three-month residency in Chandolin, a village perched at an altitude of 2,000 meters in the Val d’Anniviers.

The Alps are legendary for their majestic peaks and fierce, unforgiving nature. For centuries, the people of the Val d´Anniviers, a valley in the Swiss Alps, embraced this harsh environment — living sparingly, though comfortably, off the land. They relied on transhumance, the annual migration of entire villages from the highest pastures in the spring to the valley below in the fall, to thrive on natural resources. This nomadic lifestyle shaped the land, relations among people and animals, and local practices and traditions.

Nomadic life was gradually abandoned during the 20th century. Ski resorts and mass tourism, hydroelectricity and industry brought new sources of income and the promise of an easier life. But this progress also took people away from the land and impoverished the ties that bound communities together. Today, as climate change accelerates, snow is disappearing, extreme weather events are multiplying, and life for both humans and non-humans is becoming more complex and fragile. Can we imagine and create a more hopeful, healthier future?

Contact information

Chandolin
Switzerland

Email
residency [at] alter-anniviers.com
Phone
+41 78 772 10 20
Website
https://www.alter-anniviers.com/residency/