Language:
English, Greek, French, Italian and Swedish
Founded:
2006
Duration:
two weeks
Paid by host:

Room and board is covered by Medea Electronique, travel from Athens to Sparta and back.

Paid by artist:
  • Personal expenses like visits to coffee shops, local stores and restaurants.
  • Travel to Greece
  • Material costs (if any)
Application guidelines:

Your application should include a statement of your interest in this year’s theme, and a sketch of a way you might want to explore it collaboratively with other artists across disciplines and media. It should foreground the way in which you view your creative practice as different from/complementary to/ an expansion upon/ adding to, the creative practice of Medea (based on your knowledge of Medea as found in our archive, link above). They are looking for artists excited by the idea of collaborative artistic creation, grounded in an improvisatory spirit and practice. In particular, please describe your creative practice, and how it both relates to and differs from, that of Medea Electronique, and outline the sort of collaborative work you wish to create.

To apply, send an email to [email protected]. Alternatively, send an email to [email protected]. In the email you are expected to include the following material:

  • A personal statement detailing why you wish to participate (which should address the 2023 residency theme)
  • A small sample of your individual work (site, demo, pictures etc.)
  • Your C.V.
Deadline:
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Medea Electronique

Medea Electronique

Koumaria Residency
a misty hill with a building on top of it and terraces on the slope
Description

Medea Electronique was formed in 2006 in Athens, Greece, inspired by a play on words between Medea and Media. Comprising of a wide range of individual artists working collectively under the Medea Electronique name, the group shares a predisposition for innovation in the performing arts. Working in fields like music, video, design, painting, multimedia, robotics, interactive technology and media production, they allow the integration of their distinctive areas of research and practice to define a unique style in the realisation of their collective projects - these range from multimedia theatrical plays to experimental audio-visual shows, and from improvised noise music through to field recording and electroacoustic composition.

Since 2009 the artist collective Medea Electronique has organized annually an experimental artist residency, Koumaria, near Sparta in Greece, focusing on improvisation and new media practices. Avant-garde artists from all over the world, inspired by the Greek natural landscape, come together to create a multicultural and cross-media ‘dialogue’ culminating in a collective presentation in Athens at the end of the residency.

The goal of the residency is the creation of an educational experience for the participants that will inspire and exalt their future work. The cross-cultural dialogues that the residency engenders both create new artistic speculations and smelt older assumptions. Past residents have formed lasting friendships and new artistic partnerships. Medea Electronique, being an eclectic art collective, is interested in people from diverse cultural and artistic backgrounds.

Outcome

The 2023 residency will be conjoined with the Medea “Trials”. Medea is always looking to expand its own creative practice, and those it collaborates with, beyond the forms of creative expertise found within the collective. That is to say, Medea is looking to expand the particular way it focuses on new media art, electronic and electro-acoustic music, and other digital forms of creative expression. And so, the first 12 days of Koumaria will be spent at the residency site described above, where members of Medea will work with the residents to produce 4 distinct works (with distinct groundings in particular art forms or combinations of art forms). You will then move to Athens for 5 days, where these four works will be presented/performed as four “trials”. These are trials in the following senses:

  • They involve Medea members collaborating with new artists for the first time (the residents). These collaborative works will engage Medea members in creative environments new to them, and to the collective as a whole.
  • These collaborative works may serve as the beginning of longer-term collaborations, including looking for ways to fund more expansive and new versions of the works in the trials.
  • These four “trials” will be presented/performed in Athens at Plyfa Factory, where there will also be a discussion with the audience afterwards (a distinct form of trial). They hope these trials will be but the beginning of longer-term collaborations, and new more expansive projects.
  • You will also present your works in Sellasia, prior to returning to Athens, there taking advantage of the distinct sites the village and its surroundings offer for presentation and performance.

To get a sense of the historical range of Medea projects, they invite applicants to explore pasts Koumaria performances/projects.

Studio Information

Shared studio space.

Accommodation Information

The residency is held at an organic olive oil farm at the foot of Mount Taigetos in Sparta. The residency, a modern and comfortable house, features dormitory-style bedrooms, large and comfortable common rooms (featuring fireplaces and magnificent views of the surrounding mountains and fields), two primary spaces for project development and practice, terraces, rooftop overlooks, and a large and modern kitchen.

The surrounding hills, mountains, villages and the not too distant sea, coupled with a vast expanse of sky, stars, and ever-changing mountain vistas, afford the residents amble space and opportunity for creative work. Meals are taken communally, with an emphasis on fresh and local produce and traditional recipes. In this environment artists not only have the chance to live and work together interacting with the Greek landscape, but also to terchange their experiences on everyday life and culture.

5-6 shared rooms, around 16 artists can be hosted at the same time.

Technical Information

Large farm house with studio space.

Location

Village of Sellasia in Sparta, Greece.

Contact information

Ypsilandou 14
15122 Marousi
Greece

Email
info [at] medeaelectronique.com
Website
http://www.medeaelectronique.com