The aim of the Indo~European Residency Project Kolkata is to provide a platform for cultural exchange and engagement - with the arts in all forms, with international and local artists, and with the city itself. Kolkata is steeped in a deep and overwhelming cultural history and has at the same time been a pivotal point of generating new ideas in the field of contemporary art.
This Residency offers a space for artists to engage in cultural exchange and discourse with India and Europe. The participating artists get immersed in the city of Kolkata and its cultural scene, while creating an opportunity for artists from Kolkata to gain exposure to global developments in the arts. This also places Kolkata, a cultural hub, in a more prominent place on the world map as a thriving place of interest with immense potential to be explored.
The first edition of this Residency started in 2017 with three partners, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata and Alliance Française du Bengale in collaboration with Kolkata based art gallery CIMA (Centre of International Modern Art), with the kind support of the Franco-German Elysee Fund. The third Indo~European Residency in 2019 grew from strength to strength with the addition of The British Council. The present edition welcomes the Consulate General of Italy to the team of partners.
In 2020 the Residency could not be organized due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
This year the partners came together with EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture providing support to create a unique digital format for the Residency to take place notwithstanding the prevailing COVID situation.
Five artists practicing different art forms (from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and India respectively) will be selected to work and explore Kolkata from September-December 2021 through a digital platform.
Physically being in the city is a very important part of the Residency. In the previous editions, the artists would share a living space and together explore the social, cultural, political and economic fabric of the city. Hence, this edition is created using a specially designed digital interface which aims to virtually transport the artists to the city of Kolkata. It will incorporate all possible elements which would be a part of the Residency had it been physically possible.
This digital platform aims to give the participants the feel of actually experiencing the city of Kolkata.
The Residency will end with an exhibition of the collective or individual works that will be created on a digital platform, with the aim of presenting the exhibition physically in the city at a later point in time.