HECTOLITRE

Residence of reflection

HECTOLITRE is a venue under development dedicated to artists who wish to delve deeper into their projects, experiment with transdisciplinarity and connect their art form / research to the neighborhood. The artists living and working at HECTOLITRE are co-joining interconnected community rings, together with involved neighbors, socio-cultural activists, local and international artists/curators. HECTOLITRE is also an unusual building in the heart of the Marolles neighborhood undergoing a radical change of identity. Former swingers club, then storage for antiques, the space is filled with peculiar Art Brut interventions, resembling a kind of «memory forest». The visually and symbolically complex surrounding is not perceived as an obstacle, but rather as a living systems who accepts, associates, questions and experiences. Hectolitre hosts exhibitions, performances, musical encounters, film projections, debates and other initiatives; the complementarity among its artists, curators, creatives and neighbors inhabits the place and catalyzes exchange.

Residence of Reflection is a two months long residency programme dedicated to research artists, curators, writers, critics and thinkers interested in working in Brussels. Six international artists/curators have participated in Residence of Reflection during the initial year of 2019: Federica Buzzi (Italy), Patrice Qi (Netherland), Leïla Guinnefollau (France), Anna Ill (Spain), Danielle Freakley (Australia/Seychelles), and Federica Fantini (Italy).

The residency invites artists/thinkers to reflect on the subjects of community and/or memory, as these are the two main challenges of the project of HECTOLITRE. How to connect communities that coexist in a single neighborhood? How do we speak about an unusual building with a peculiar memory? How do we go beyond the legacy of the building? What does it mean to create a memory of growing relations and exchanges? How to place an artist within a community and strengthen a collectivity within art?

Candidate’s profile:

• There is no specific medium or discipline, but writing, audio/video, performance-based works are preferred.
• There is no subject or method preference, but portfolios rendering contextual and participatory reflection, as well as a research approach, will have advantage.
• The residency is open to people from all-over the world, regardless of their nationality, gender, religious or ethnic background.

Residence’s environment:

• Artists/thinkers-in-residence will have a cozy room in a flat-share with two other artists, access to a rooftop and the shared living spaces within a co-working space oriented toward graphics and image.
• The kitchen and the living room are shared with the Playful studio, which is a collective working in the field of visual creation.
• Artists/thinkers-in-residence will have access to a working space, either in Shared Atelier Partagé (shared art-studio), or Trait d’Union (open community space), depending on the nature of the work.

Time frame and workflow:

• The duration of the residency is two months.
• Applications are currently open for the periods of: February - March; April - May; June - July 2020.
• Artists/thinkers-in-residence are invited to participate in weekly team-meetings (if possible).
• At the end of the residence, the public presentation/talk or exhibition/performance will take place at HECTOLITRE.

The research should be an independent and site-specific initiative, adjusted for a 2-month residency, but resulting in a concrete reflection communicated publicly trough a talk, performance, installation or screening.

Artists/thinkers-in-residence will have a cozy room in a flat-share with two other artists, access to a rooftop and the shared living spaces within a co-working space oriented toward graphics and image. The kitchen and the living room are shared with the Playful studio, which is a collective working in the field of visual creation.

Artists/thinkers-in-residence will have access to a working space, either in Shared Atelier Partagé (shared art-studio), or Trait d’Union (open community space), depending on the nature of the work.

An atypical building with venues adaptable to shared studios, exhibitions, performing arts, encounters and presentation, vitrine art, co-working.