Open Call: Zu Gast im Healing Complex

Urbane Künste Ruhr invites artists who are interested in working with local networks and public meeting places to take part in a three-month residency for the upcoming 2024 season. The residency is part of the Healing Complex project. Two positions will be allocated for the residency. Interested artists can apply individually or jointly; applications from collectives are also very welcome.

Since June 3, 2022, Urbane Künste Ruhr has been running the project Healing Complex (2018–ongoing) in Gelsenkirchen, which was initiated by the artist Irena Haiduk based on the model of antique building complexes that combined art and healing. Irena Haiduk's artistic practice links the symbolic capital of the art field with real economies, which is particularly relevant in a post-industrial region such as the Ruhr area. The economic cycle of the Healing Complex is not about ownership, but about use and working on a common exchange economy. To this end, Irena Haiduk has redesigned the interior of the former church, which was closed in 2007 and profaned in 2014. The Healing Complex is therefore also a model for the conversion of vacant churches, which could be filled with new life as abandoned buildings in many cities.

The residency at the Healing Complex offers the opportunity to intensively explore the project, the existing networks and the urban-social context in Gelsenkirchen Erle over twelve weeks. The stay is divided into two phases: The first six weeks lend themselves to an examination of the location and offer the opportunity to use the Healing Complex for research and as a studio in order to develop a situation-specific project. This conception phase is
followed by a six-week implementation period, during which the previously conceived project is to be realized on-site and addressed to a broad public.
Based on the results of the first two exhibition phases at the Healing Complex in 2022 and 2023, the guest artist residency offers the option of exploring forms of networks and testing the opening and activation of artistic institutions and urban spaces. However, the Healing Complex is just as well suited for an examination of the architecture of the modern church building, which was erected in 1963, as well as the history of the Erle district, whose origins are shaped by mining.

The residency is open to:

• professionally working international and national artists and collectives who are interested in social, situational and site-specific contexts in their artistic work
• the basic requirement is that the artists spend at least 75% of their time on site

The guest artist residency at the Healing Complex offers:

• A work and production residency from April 2 to June 30, 2024 with content supervision and close ties to Urbane Künste Ruhr
• A guest artist's fee of €4,500 gross
• Accommodation in Gelsenkirchen will be provided
• Costs for arrival and departure will be covered once
• Travel by public transport for research purposes can be reimbursed
• Shared use of the office space on site (Cranger Straße 338, 45891 Gelsenkirchen)

They welcome applications from all people regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religious affiliation, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity. They offer support in finding suitable solutions for individual needs, for example with regard to accessibility.
 

The deadline for applying is 5 January 2024. Submission of application documents is done via this website form. Application Documents:

• Brief summary of the project (three sentences)
• Concept of work for the project in the Healing Complex (max. 2 pages)
• A schedule of cost for the project proposal (submitted project proposals may not exceed a gross production budget of up to €5,000)
• Curriculum vitae (max. 1 page)
• Portfolio or an overview with two to three meaningful projects (max. 15
  pages)

Applicants are asked to compile the application documents as one PDF file (maximum file size 8 MB).