ISCP Research

The field trip was a unique experience. It was easier to break the ice and talk to the artists because most of them were in their studios. It was cool to see the diversity of artists and their work. I met artists from Taiwan, Portugal, France, Canada, Burma, China, Mexico, etc. It was a little hard to understand some of the artists broken English, but I still managed to get info out of them. I now understand a little more about the process of getting into a residency. While conversing with different artists I found out that the residency lasts anywhere from 6 weeks to a year. It depends on your sponsor. The women from Burma told me that her 6 months was up in December so, she talked to her sponsor for more time and they are paying for her for another 6 months. Everything resides on a sponsor. Some artists were sponsored by their country and some by private parties. Rena talked about how you can apply directly to the residency, but if they accept you, either you have to pay out your pocket or you have to find a sponsor, which wouldn't be that easy to do. While conversing with the artist from Canada she talked about the experience and how she has been at the residency for three months and didn't make a damn thing. She is using the residency as a networking tool to meet different curators, artists, and just to explore the city. It seems the sponsor is losing money. Another question I asked was if they live there. I found out that the sponsor also, pays for an outside apartment on top of the residency.