Residenzprogramm Berlin-Lagos 2022:
Coherent and Peaceful Cities

The Goethe-Institut Nigeria, in cooperation with hFACTOR / plan-b residency in Lagos and the Berlin art institutions, ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics and SAVVY Contemporary is offering residencies for artists / curators from Lagos and Berlin. The call is aimed at artists, architects and curators living and working in Lagos or Berlin. The selected residents will present their findings with the Berlin and Lagos audience respectively. 

Residency for Lagosians in Berlin (01.09.–30.11.2022)
Through the collaboration of ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics and SAVVY Contemporary  an artist / architect / curator from Lagos will be welcomed in a residence program in Berlin. In addition to living and working in Berlin, this residency offers insights into the work of two Berlin cultural institutions. The resident has diverse opportunities for consultation and networking and can present their work to the public on various occasions. 

Residency for Berliners in Lagos (01.11.–15.12.2022) 
A residence program for an artist / architect / curator from Berlin takes place in Lagos. Through the cooperation of Goethe-Institut Nigeria and hFACTOR / plan-b, this residence offers not only the possibility of working in Lagos, but also insight into the work of two important cultural institutions in Lagos, a variety of consultation and contact opportunities as well as the possibility of a final presentation at hFACTOR 7 plan-b with the Lagos art community. 

The 2022 residency exchange Lagos/Berlin
This year´s applications are encouraged to be inspired by Diébédo Francis Kéré (2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient) idea of coherent and peaceful cities as a new paradigm for the role of design and art in relation to urban space. The Berlin-Lagos Residency Program 2022 seeks a reconceptualising of commercial cities by embedding artistic and creative practice in their construction. Through art activism, knowledge-based policies, and architectural innovation, how are art entrepreneurs, architects, and artists negotiating space and negotiating for space in the frantic economies of cities as modern, futuristic and as diverse as Berlin and Lagos? 

This open call seeks art activists, architects, art entrepreneurs, and artists that engage in the question of space in the creation of art spaces – physically, digitally and/or metaphysically. We encourage applications to engage with the topic of space and its limitations in relation to commercialisation – how have art entrepreneurs and artists negotiated for space?

For individuals traveling to Lagos the questions of space must be taken into the context of a city occupied by oil and gas, banking and finance, as well as manufacturing and real estate concerns. As individuals traveling to Berlin would be working closely with the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics and SAVVY Contemporary, they are invited to engage with the themes, discourses and projects these spaces are invested in. The question of space is one of the biggest challenges of small institutions, which are by default fragile and vulnerable, and which are constantly interrogating what an institution can be. 

Residency dates
In Lagos  01.11.–15.12.2022
In Berlin  01.09.–30.11.2022

Costs
The following costs are covered by the exchange program: accommodation and studio in Lagos or Berlin, flight costs Berlin-Lagos/Lagos-Berlin (economy class), visa fee, per diems and some research costs (such as books, materials, tickets to exhibitions). Please note that group/duo applications are not possible, due to limited funding resources and space in the residencies. The artists will have access to a private room, access to a kitchen for cooking.

Information about Project Partners

Goethe-Institut Nigeria: The Goethe-Institut e.V. is the globally active cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Goethe-Institut Nigeria organizes and supports a wide range of events for the presentation of German culture in Nigeria and implements projects for intercultural exchange with Nigerian partners. It offers consultation and contact opportunities during the residencies.
www.goethe.de/ins/ng/de/index.html

hFACTOR / plan-b residency: hFACTOR is a collective of creative minds that proposes engaging with art in order to create long lasting solutions for developing society, both local and global. Our primary approach is through the practical and creative use of space. All our programs are built to engage people within a space of some sort – whether physical or conceptual, contested or under-utilized. 

plan-b is hFACTOR’s new incubator space at the nexus of art & design, agriculture, wellness and city resilience. Using creative educational practices, we hope to create new spaces of sustainability (both social and economic), relationality and play. The artist-in-residence spaces located here support contextual and critical overviews of the city by giving visiting artists direct access to two central modes of enquiry at plan-b: art and design practices via a plastic maker space and carpentry workshop; and agricultural processing via a fermentation lab. However, artists are not limited to these modes of enquiry and are free to explore through hFACTOR’s larger creative network.
www.hfactorcollective.com 

ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics: ZK/U is a residency and platform for creative and urban experimentation. ZK/U is generally interested in bringing together global discourses and local practices. More specifically, it’s looking at how art and culture can be a catalyst for transformation in the urban sphere. In this context we are facing various challenges. How can we facilitate collaborations between cultural, public and private sectors to achieve sustainable, inclusive urban development allowing local culture and voices to participate in the decision-making processes?The residency program is open to artists, scholars and practitioners that concern themselves with the phenomenon of ‘the city’.  It is possible to participate in bi-monthly presentations and consultations within a group of international residences.
www.zku-berlin.org

SAVVY Contemporary | The laboratory of form-ideas was founded in 2009 by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung as an art space, discursive platform, place for good talks, foods and drinks – a space for conviviality. SAVVY Contemporary situates itself at the threshold of notions of the West and non-West, to understand and deconstruct them. SAVVY Contemporary has realized a kaleidoscope of art exhibitions, performances, film screenings, lectures, concerts, readings, talks, dances. It has established a participatory archive on German colonial history, a performance arts documentation centre, a library, a residency program, a series of publications, a record label (SAVVY records), a radio platform called SAVVYZΛΛR as well as educational projects with schools. The art space engages in its neighborhood's history and socio-political realities which are entangled with the reflections and discourses of the project.  As an independent art space questioning fixed notions we are constantly becoming and endangered through taking risky positions and moving on a path of radical conviviality.
www.savvy-contemporary.com