Flowing Streams 2024

FLOWING STREAMS is a multi-residency project designed and developed by EUNIC Romania. It involves seven cultural institutions operating in Romania, each engaged in supporting one residency.

EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture – is Europe’s network of national cultural institutes and organisations, with 39 members from all EU Member States and associate countries. The project was framed by this consortium of European partners, in collaboration with curator Adelina Luft.
In the context of the climate emergency and shrinking mobility opportunities for pan-european exchange, FLOWING STREAMS aims to harbour meaningful collaborations between artists, architects, anthropologists, hydrologists or community organisers and the local partnering organisations from Romania. The programme intends to create space for co-learning, mutual listening and exchange of knowledge and practices, centred around the theme of water – the cultural embeddedness of local or traditional approaches to water management and water conservation, the social and environmental sustainability of these practices, and their adaptability to changing environmental, political and economic circumstances.

Seven European practitioners, selected through the open call, will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the daily life of the Romanian village and explore the context of water specific to each location, hosted and mediated by a partnering organisation. Located in different rural areas of Romania, the host organisations have been running dedicated programmes around notions and practices that recontextualize the rural space and the natural environment through a reorientation of sensibilities and from a new paradigm of ecological knowledge. Through the residencies, participants are encouraged to explore local cosmovisions and practices around water, its relationship with customs, traditions, or occupations, by listening, sharing and exchanging with the spaces as sites of interpellation. These encounters are intended to open up new possibilities of reclaiming knowledge linked to a territory, historical memory and ecology, and to map a network of existing or potential socio-ecological practices that restore our relationship with water.

The call is open to applicants of all ages, genders and linguistic, cultural and other minorities. The applicants must be citizens or permanent residents from the following countries: Czech Republic, Italy, UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and Romania.
Each residency space is targeting applicants from one country and will select one applicant. Please check the list of host organisations and the country eligibility.

They encourage applications from practitioners with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and artistic approaches: interdisciplinary and socially engaged artists, architects/landscape architects, hydrologists, anthropologists, or community organisers with a minimum of 5 years of experience in their respective fields. Please check the eligibility of applicants for each host organisation.
The project is particularly encouraging applications from practitioners who showcase an ability to work collaboratively and flexibly across disciplinary boundaries; have practices aligned to ecological and sustainable principles of thinking and working; ground their work on decolonial and critical perspectives that acknowledge the interdependencies of different life forms; have experience or interest in working in rural settings.
The resident must stay for the entire residency period (between 10 to 14 days) within the time span proposed by each host organisation. The resident must organise one public event during the residency (workshop, discussion, gathering, cooking session, or any other type of public format) that will take place in relation to the local community or the residency space. The costs of the event will be supported from the production budget. No other outcome is expected.

The residency covers travel costs from the applicant’s country of residence, accommodation within the premises of the host organisation and some meals, a fee of 700 EUR and a 300 EUR production budget. The programme encourages and assists the insertion of the artist into the everyday life of the village. The host organisation will provide mediation and knowledge of the local context, connect the resident with the local community, document the process of the residency and share available resources for research. Communal meals will be organised on occasion. Depending on each host organisation, means of transportation can be put at disposal (bicycle, car, or information to public transportation).
Only individual applicants can apply. Selected residents are allowed to travel with their partners.

Please apply for the residency by filling out this application form in English by the latest Friday, April 21st (extended deadline), 2024, 23:59 CET.