Special Residency Programs for Arquetopia Alumni

The Arquetopia Special 15th Anniversary Alumni Residency Program — Intercultural Poltergeist: Take Action, Make Noise is a special anniversary alumni residency program and collective yearlong art exhibition focusing on Arquetopia’s methodology to understand images as text, or as Jacques Rancière would put it, as “sentence image.” Designed as a long-distance collective dialogue, a 4-week critical program and a yearlong art exhibition, this program emphasizes action and noise as the notion of rhythm, the energy that drives creative practices. The program will highlight intuition while questioning images to understand and explore the roots of concepts and ideas within artistic practices, including “body” or “identity,” to understand them as historical ideas rather than natural species. By offering collective and individual support in the process of conceptualizing and formalizing art and design practices, this residency program will address diverse potential ethical questions arising from the creative process and artistic techniques, alongside a research component to help consolidate ideas. The program includes an ongoing yearlong exhibition in diverse locations, such as galleries and museums, presenting one piece of each artist in dialogue with an art or historical collection, or a larger cultural context. This is an exceptional opportunity to engage each participant artist, their vision, and their artistic practice with larger ideas, historical narratives, as well as local diverse audiences. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a public educational component curated by Arquetopia, where artists will have a chance to present their work in a critical conversation, expanding concepts of their practice, and extending dialogues and discussions to local diverse audiences, including local artists and students. The program as a whole is designed as a critical space where experimentation and research intersect with multiple conversations and open-ended questions, to produce new ways of understanding artistic practices while also engaging with the public.

PROGRAM CONTENT
As Maria Stepanova writes, “What do I have against images? Perhaps it is that they all have the same flaw: euphoric amnesia. They no longer remember what they signify, where they come from, who they are related to, and yet none of this bothers them.” Images are like shadows; they are not transparent signs pointing towards an object, but rather resemble them without fully being what they resemble, yet having profound effects on our experiences. In that sense, Jacques Rancière identifies three major categories of images: the naked image, the ostensive image, and the metaphoric image, to question their effects in our lives by disclosing the language of power, desire, and vitalism. Over the course of the program, participants will question images by engaging in a deep analysis of their practice through the lens of radical theory across research, production, and recontextualization.

Images, and especially art, have the power to fix the body in place and history. However, we are much more than a body, and prior to language, there is no choosing or constitutive agent. Therefore, the body is an illusory idea of who we should be according to Empire. In fact, the body 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.

Becoming an Intercultural Poltergeist means making noise or causing an uproar, throwing things into confusion. Borrowed from performance art and honoring the artistic practice of Guillermo Gomez-Peña, it is a term that emphasizes a space of growth between sowing and harvesting, while also making noise. This space of confusion becomes an occasion to appear and interrupt the continuity of Empire and following the Nietzschean strategy, we should strike art as an idol with a hammer, not to destroy it, but to make it ring and reveal its resonant hollowness. Even better, we should play it with a tuning fork so the sound of the image is transmitted to the hand of the beholder. Rhythm is that space in which we relish, as Elsa Barkley Brown writes, allowing our work to always be new, challenging, and surprising by not assuming that any issue has been settled, conversations ended, or scores finished. In this sense, 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.

PROGRAM GOALS
Intercultural Poltergeist: Take Action, Make Noise is a special anniversary academic program for the most outstanding Arquetopia Artist-in-Residence alumni. Designed as invitation-only program, it offers on-line component, a 4-week on-site residency, and an on-going yearlong art exhibition and public component that combines radical theory, experimentation, research and exhibition, to produce new ways of understanding artistic practices. The goal of the program is to reconsider the tension between the process of producing an image and the ways in which viewers become engaged, as an opportunity to question the legacy of visual culture and explore the diverse ethical challenges arising from the notion of art. The public educational component will also engage artists and audiences in conversations about non-dominant knowledges, processes of resistance, movement, and embodiment.

This program will serve as an extension of the critical discussions that were initiated in the alumni’s first or second on-site residency, adding a hands-on component culminating in a collective exhibition and a community-based public component. The program will begin with online sessions, starting with an individual meeting to determine personal goals, followed by three collective methodological and critical sessions geared towards the production of each piece that will be included in the exhibition. Participants, artists, and designers will set individual artistic and project goals in this online introductory session, which will be accompanied by critical readings and advised and mentored by Arquetopia founding Co-Director and curator Francisco Guevara.

Prior to their residency, each artist will produce one unique piece in their own studio for a specific location, whether a local museum or gallery in Puebla, establishing a conversation with the larger collection of the institution or a broad cultural and artistic context. The piece will be exhibited for the duration of their residency (4 weeks) and will be accompanied by an open dialogue with the artist, engaging diverse audiences. The themes, ideas, and dimensions of the artwork will be determined in the first individual online session. However, the piece will not exceed 11” in any dimension to facilitate transportation but could be conceived as a polyptych, a series, or even a miniature. The following three collective online sessions will help consolidate ideas through Arquetopia’s critical methodology and will also be spaces where participants present their ideas and work-in-progress, establishing a dialogue with their peers. Francisco Guevara, who will be responsible for the curation of the show, will facilitate these sessions.

The exhibition is planned as an ongoing yearlong flexible space, allowing artists to select diverse dates and extend artistic conversations throughout the year. Therefore, there is no requirement to coincide with specific residency dates. The on-site residency will take place in Arquetopia Puebla where each artist/designer will fully dedicate a minimum of 4 weeks to continue expanding their practice, ideas, and projects. As usual, 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 the most outstanding alumni from the journey of fifteen years of Arquetopia. Selected artist will complete their on-site residency component between spring of 2025 and the fall 2026. This program is offered only at Arquetopia Puebla due to the exhibition component.

REQUIRED TEXT
Required texts will be assigned individually by Arquetopia founding Co-Director and curator Francisco Guevara 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 also be provided. The books and essays will be made available to the artists electronically via Google Classroom.

WHAT THE SPECIAL 15TH ANNIVERSARY ALUMNI IN-PERSON, ON-SITE RESIDENCY INCLUDES
• An online individualized session to determine artistic goals, and parameters of the piece that will be produced for Arquetopia’s anniversary yearlong exhibition. The session will be followed by critical readings
• Access to Arquetopia’s online resources (classroom platform, video calls, email address, etc.)
• An individualized curriculum organized in periodical chapters combining diverse critical readings
• Three online critical collective sessions facilitating discussions and geared towards the completion of an artwork to be exhibited in Puebla, during the on-site portion of the residency. These sessions will have their corresponding readings
• An on-site residency at Arquetopia Puebla, with a standard duration of 4 weeks, up to a maximum of 6 weeks, choosing one of the instructional programs listed above. Resident artist meets weekly with our directorial and curatorial staff for personalized mentoring, research assistance/resources, project guidance, and critique

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

Unburdening the Practice: Art, Ethics and Radical Kindness

 

The program is aimed to expand the notion of art by placing an emphasis on the artistic practice, rather than the discourse of art. The goal is to apply new critical methodologies in the process of conceptualizing the work, expanding the visual vocabulary through artistic techniques and materialities. The program will emphasize the artistic voice through intuition in the process of research, learning and art making, also tackling larger questions of the artist’s own unique journey. By offering both individual and collective support in the process of conceptualizing and formalizing art 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.

PROGRAM CONTENT
During the long-distance advisory process mentored by Arquetopia co-founding director and independent scholar Francisco Guevara, and Arquetopia’s educational staff, each artist will set individual artistic goals and projects. The process includes an on-site self-directed or instructional residency at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Oaxaca or Arquetopia Peru, where each artist will fully dedicate a minimum of 4 weeks to consolidate their ideas and projects. 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 previous 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. The online program will begin in March of 2024 and artists will be able to complete the on-site component within the following year (between April 2025 and March 2026). The program will be completed within a period of 18 months total plus the 4-week on-site residency at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Oaxaca, or Arquetopia Peru.

PROGRAM GOALS
The Arquetopia Honors Alumni Residency Program 2024-2026 is a special academic program for the most outstanding Arquetopia Artist-in-Residence alumni. Designed as invitation-only, it offers an 18-month program combining an in-person, on-site residency with a flexible duration of 4 weeks, and a 18-month long-distance advisory process. The goal of the program is to consider radical agency in the practice of art while tackling the burden of history and place as art and ethics intersect.

During the long-distance advisory process mentored by Arquetopia founding Co-Director and curator Francisco Guevara, and Arquetopia’s educational staff, each artist will set individual artistic and project goals. The process includes an on-site residency at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Oaxaca or Arquetopia Peru, where each artist will fully dedicate a minimum of 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. Selected artists will begin the program in the spring of 2024 and will complete their on-site residency component within 2025. This program is offered at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Oaxaca 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 every 2 months and bibliography will be assigned individually for each individual session. Program content will be covered in a total of 13 sessions, plus the in-person on-site residency. All sessions will be scheduled a month in advance.

WHAT THE ARQUETOPIA HONORS ALUMNI RESIDENCY PROGRAM 2024-2026 IN-PERSON, 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
• 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 production residency at Arquetopia Puebla, Arquetopia Oaxaca or Arquetopia Peru, with a standard duration of 4 weeks, up to a maximum of 6 weeks. Residents could also choose to add an instructional residency in addition to the program.

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