Special Residency Programs for Arquetopia Alumni

Arquetopia Lab Alumni Residency Program 2023-2024: Women, Cyborgs, and the Roots of the Rebel Body
6-Month Advanced Program
3-Week In-Person Instructional Residency, and 6-Month Long-Distance Advisory Process
Instructor: Francisco Guevara
Online component August 2023 through January 2024
On-site Instructional Residency spring or fall 2024

PROGRAM GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Arquetopia Lab Alumni Residency Program is designed as a 6-month critical hands-on experimentation laboratory that includes a long-distance advisory process, and an instructional on-site component either in Puebla, Mexico or Cusco, Peru, focusing on a specific chosen technique (Electroetching Printmaking, Organic Painting, Natural Pigments, Gold Leafing or Andean Weaving). As an overall theme, the program will concentrate on the roots of the rebel body, as it intersects with questions of time/space and the production of non-dominant local knowledge.

PROGRAM CONTENT
The beginning of the 21st century has presented new questions as we continuously face the challenge of embodiment. From the perspective of social change and justice in this world, the falling of monuments, the #MeToo movement, and Black Lives Matter, have set the stage to rethink this new century, taking into account the long history of colonialism, imperial expansion, nationalism and globalization. However, is social justice achievable when considering what John Stuart Mill pointed out more than a century ago: everything which is usual appears natural, and any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural.

“Body”, even in the 21st century, has continued to be an artistic and academic fetish, failing to convey the complexity of our individual experiences, our interconnection with diverse communities, and our shared histories of extermination. Images, and especially art, have the power to fix the body in place and in history. However, we are much more than a body, and prior to language there is no choosing, nor a constitutive agent; therefore, body is an illusory idea of who we should be. In fact, body is a cultural interpretation, a historical situation, rather than a natural species. It is a manner of doing, dramatizing, performing in public, and an active process of embodying certain cultural historical possibilities. However, the active process of moving (embodiment) makes us powerful and capable of provoking change; or as RuPaul says, “We are all born naked, and the rest is drag.”

For 2023-2024, the Arquetopia Lab Alumni Residency Program will explore the roots of the rebel body, as it intertwines with historical ideas, invention of place and history, while intersecting with local knowledge as means of resistance. The program will emphasize the difference between artistic intention and artistic agency, by offering individual support in the process of conceptualizing and formalizing art and design practices. This program considers diverse potential ethical questions arising from process and artistic technique, alongside a research component to help consolidate ideas. It is designed as an experimental laboratory offering the possibility of hands-on research and experimentation through a 6-month critical long-distance advisory process, and an instructional on-site component focusing on a specific artistic technique. The Arquetopia Lab Alumni Residency Program is only offered either in Puebla, Mexico or Cusco, Peru, and applicants will choose one of the following instructional programs:

Arquetopia Puebla:
Electroetching Instructional Residency (3 weeks)
Organic Painting Instructional Residency (3 weeks)
Gold Leafing & Estofado Instructional Residency (3 weeks)
Printmaking (3 weeks)

Arquetopia Peru:
Natural Pigments Instructional Residency: Fiber Dyeing (3 weeks)
Peruvian Textiles Instructional Residency: Andean Weaving (3 weeks)
Gold Leafing & Estofado Instructional Residency (3 weeks)

PROGRAM GOALS
The Arquetopia Lab Alumni Residency Program 2023-2024 is a special academic program for the most outstanding Arquetopia Artist-in-Residence alumni. Designed as invitation-only, it offers a 6-month program combining an in-person, on-site instructional residency with a flexible duration of 3 to 4 weeks, and a 6-month long-distance advisory process. The goal of the program is to consider the legacy of visual culture and explore the diverse ethical challenges arising from diverse art practices, while considering non-dominant knowledge in the process of resistance, movement and embodiment.

During the long-distance advisory process mentored by Arquetopia founding Co-Director and curator Francisco Guevara, and Programs Director Nayeli Hernández, each artist and designer will set individual artistic and project goals. The process includes an on-site instructional residency at Arquetopia Puebla, or Arquetopia Peru, where each artist/designer will fully dedicate a minimum of 3 weeks, up to 4 weeks, to consolidate their ideas and project(s). The program includes a research component, access to Arquetopia’s online classroom platform, critical readings, advisory sessions, and general professional guidance for the entire duration of the program.

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS & DURATION
Candidates are nominated based on exceptional aspects of their artistic practice, reflecting a high level of commitment to social change and specifically to Arquetopia’s mission, taking into consideration their level of engagement during their residency, goals achieved, and unexpected outstanding outcomes of their previous residency. This program is offered by invitation only, taking into consideration alumni from the immediate past five years of residencies. Selected artist will begin the program in the fall of 2023 and will complete their on-site residency component within 2024. This program is offered only at Arquetopia Puebla or Arquetopia Peru.

REQUIRED TEXT
There will be no required text; however, in order to expand on the practice and better understand the topics that pertain to the focus of this program, a series of methodological, historiographical and philosophical texts will be provided. The books and essays will be made available to the artists electronically via Google Classroom.

TIMETABLE
Sessions will be scheduled monthly and bibliography will be assigned individually for each individual session. Program content will be covered in a total of 6 sessions, plus the in-person on-site residency. All sessions will be scheduled a month in advance.

WHAT THE ARQUETOPIA LAB ALUMNI RESIDENCY PROGRAM 2023-2024 IN-PERSON, INSTRUCTIONAL ON-SITE RESIDENCY INCLUDES
• Each resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique;
• 27 hours master instruction (9 hours per week)
• Introductory sessions
• Monthly critical readings and online meetings for the long-distance phase of the program: Regular, individualized meetings with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique for a duration of 6 months.
• Access to Arquetopia’s online resources (classroom platform, video calls, email address, etc.)
• An individualized curriculum organized in periodical chapters combining diverse critical readings
• An on-site instructional production residency at Arquetopia Puebla or Arquetopia Peru, with a standard duration of 3 weeks, up to a maximum of 4 weeks, choosing one of the instructional programs listed above

Accommodation and Studio Workspace (Puebla, Mexico):
Detailed on this page of our website: https://www.arquetopia.org/puebla

Accommodation and Studio Workspace (Cusco, Peru):
Detailed on this page of our website: https://www.arquetopia.org/peru

The Arquetopia Honors Alumni Residency Program is a special academic program for the most outstanding Arquetopia Artist-in-Residence alumni. Designed as an invitation-only, long-term residency, it offers an 18-month program combining an on-site residency with a flexible duration of 4 to 8 weeks, and up to a 17-month long-distance advisory process.

The program is aimed to expand artistic and design practices by emphasizing the difference between artistic intention and artistic agency while tackling larger questions such as “sustainability,” “embodiment,” “nature/natural,” as well as the arts and their capacity to perform and occupy bodies. By offering both individual and collective support in the process of conceptualizing and formalizing art and design practices, this program considers the potential ethical questions arising from process at the intersection of technique, form, concept and context, alongside a research component to help consolidate ideas.

During the long-distance advisory process mentored by Arquetopia founding co-director and curator Francisco Guevara, and Programs Director Nayeli Hernández, each artist and designer will set individual artistic goals and projects. The process includes an on-site residency at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Peru or Arquetopia Italia, where each artist/designer will fully dedicate a minimum of 4 weeks to consolidate their ideas and project(s). With the goal of building and expanding the transnational community, as part of the online sessions, every other session will be held as a virtual group/collective session with all of the honors alumni to exchange ideas, expand on questions, and share the development of each individual project. The program includes a research component, access to Arquetopia’s online classroom platform, critical readings, advisory sessions, and general professional guidance for the entire duration of the program.

Candidates are nominated based on exceptional aspects of their artistic practice, reflecting a high level of commitment to social change and specifically to Arquetopia’s mission, taking into consideration their level of engagement during their residency, goals achieved, and unexpected outstanding outcomes of their previous residency. This program is offered biennially and by invitation only, taking into consideration alumni from the immediate past five years of residencies. Selected artists have the flexibility to start their residency within the next 12 months and fully complete the program within a period of 18 months in total.

This program is offered only at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Peru, or Arquetopia Italia.

WHAT THE ARQUETOPIA HONORS ALUMNI RESIDENCY PROGRAM INCLUDES
Staff Support:

• Each resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique
• Access to individualized readings and materials through our online classroom platform
• Monthly critical readings and online meetings for the long-distance phase of the program