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 programme de Résidences Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora 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 programme Residencies Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora, will host 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:

Programme SOLO

A 3-month residency, programme is open to artists from Albania and the Balkans (50%) and to international artists.

Programme COLLECTIF

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

Programme CROSS

This programme residency program is a programme crossover: residents will benefit from both a 3-month residency in Paris as part of the programme de Résidences Cité internationale des arts x Art Explora, and a 3-month residency in Tirana as part of the programme de Résidences Tirana - Vila 31 x Art Explora.
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 programme Europe Créative, Art Explora has joined forces with the Ecole nationale supérieure d'arts de Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Skopje (MoCA) and Oral History Initiative (OHI) - Pristina, to encourage dialogue and mobility between artists in the Balkan and European Union cultural scenes, 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.

The selection committee  

• Pierre Bal-Blanc (France): Independent curator and essayist  

• Sam Bardaouil & Till Fellrath (Lebanon / Germany): Directors of Hamburger Bahnhof: National Gallery of Contemporary Art, Berlin

• Adela Demetja (Albania): Curator, author and director of Tirana Art Lab - Center for Contemporary Art, Albania

• Katerina : Curator, lecturer, educator. Director of ΕΜΣΤ | The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens

• Alicia Knock (France): Curator in the Contemporary Creation and Prospective Department of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris

• Hans Ulrich Obrist (UK & Switzerland): Art historian, contemporary art critic, curator and artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries, London  

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