Artists' residences Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora

Located in the heart of Vila 31, the former home of dictator Enver Hoxha, the Tirana Artists' Residence - Vila 31 x Art Explora aims to prolong the local dynamic of reopening and reappropriating this historic site by the public. The architectural project chosen to renovate Vila 31 is led by NeM architects, who wanted to maintain a balance between the need to preserve the site and its problematic history, and the need to create neutral spaces - white bubbles - to rewrite new, plural histories.

This center for residency, research and artistic experimentation aims to be a new platform for intercultural exchange on a local, national and international scale. It will support contemporary creation in all its forms from a transdisciplinary and transgenerational perspective. The Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora residency program will host a dynamic cultural program designed in collaboration with local players, schools and associations, including exhibitions, workshops, film screenings, discussions, symposia and festivals open to all.

The Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora residency program will welcome up to thirty artists and researchers for 3-month residencies spread over 3 sessions per year. Each resident will benefit from studio accommodation, production and exhibition spaces, as well as a living and production grant to develop his or her research. Particular attention will be paid to artists and researchers based in the Balkans, while welcoming international artists.

Terms and conditions

The first call for applications will open from April 30, 2024 to June 5, 2025, for the first three residency sessions with the possibility of applying for three different types of residency programs:

SOLO program

This 3-month residency program is open to artists from Albania and the Balkans (50%) and to international artists.

COLLECTIVE program

A 3-month residency, this program is open to a duo/collective formed by an artist and a researcher
or a researcher/scientist/curator.

CROSS program

This residency program is a crossover program: residents will benefit from both a 3-month residency in Paris as part of the Cité internationale des arts x Art Explora residency program, and a 3-month residency in Tirana as part of the Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora residency program.
Alongside these 3 residency programs, curators, art critics and international researchers will be invited to Vila 31 for short-term research stays.

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Seminars

With the support of the Europe Créative program, and in order to encourage dialogue and artist mobility between the cultural scenes of the Balkans and the European Union, Art Explora has joined forces with the Ecole nationale supérieure d'arts de Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC), the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje (MoCA) and Oral History Initiative (OHI) - Pristina, to organize a series of transdisciplinary seminars and performance festivals over a three-year period (2023 to 2025) in Paris, Skopje, Pristina and Tirana.

The first edition of this transdisciplinary seminar, entitled "Réveil sur Mars", was held on June 30 and July 1, 2023 at the Gaîté Lyrique, Paris.

On May 24 and 25, 2024, Pristina will host the second edition of this transdisciplinary seminar organized by the Oral History Initiative (OHI), focusing on the potential of oral and written archives as political tools. The performance festivals will take place respectively in October 2024 in Skopje and spring 2025 in Tirana, in parallel with the museum boat's stopover in Durrës (Albania). A third transdisciplinary seminar will be held in Tirana in 2025.

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