Category: Residency

Visualist-in-Residence Project

all_good_menCD-VIR-w

PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived Call for Applicants from the 2014 VIR season. The VIR program is currently part of the With Everything but the Monkey’s Head project. We are  not taking any new applications at this time.

CALL FOR APPLICANTS

The ICI is happy to announce the launch of its Visualist-in-Residence (VIR) Project for artists, art theorists, filmmakers, writers, and other visual researchers and cultural producers who are committed to studio-based research and the production of knowledge. The VIR offers visual researchers (or research teams) an opportunity to collaborate with the ICI for 6 – 8 weeks as they develop their work within a visual research template. We encourage you to read our brochure on visual research and to explore this topic on our website. Applications are currently being accepted for visual researchers whose cultural investigations, analyses, examinations, and experimentations are sympathetic with the Institute’s formulation of Visual Research. We encourage proposals from artists, writers, scholars and serious tinkerers who work in mediums or with ideas that typically fall outside traditional visual genres. For 2014 we are especially interested in projects that address the Institute’s current research theme: PHANTOM, MIRRORED, AND DOUBLED WORLDS. We are looking for adventurous residents who are interested in bringing new energies, concepts and ideas to the organization.

THE VIR FACILITY

The ICI provides a well-equipped study and production facility in the Institute’s main building . The VIR will have a private, dedicated space that can function as an artist’s studio, a writing room, a space for gathering data or a quiet space for evaluation and contemplation. The resident will also have access to the ICI’s equipment including a wireless network, computers, scanners, printers, analog film and movie cameras and, upon request, a photographic darkroom. The resident will have unrestricted access to their work space but the ICI does not provide room and board. Residents are prohibited from living in their workspace due to strictly-enforced fire safety codes.

THE RESIDENCY

Over the course of the residency it is anticipated that the resident will engage physically or psychically with the topography of the ICI space either through an active engagement with objects from the ICI library or Repository or through manipulation of the ICI physical space which includes a large garden and patio. In addition to the research space and publicity, the Institute will provide planning assistance, manpower and limited financial assistance to help realize the VIR project. To aid you in your research, we also offer a small collection of antique devices, arcane apparatuses, old-fashion interfaces, a library filled with books and esoteric pamphlets and a repository with a host of cultural detritus from the last two centuries. The in-progress Institute residency project will be open to the public by appointment every odd Thursday and Saturday. There will be a public event towards the end of the residency so that the resident can share his or her ‘findings’ with the public. Choosing from a variety of formats (lectures, performance, film screening, symposium), the resident will be encouraged to engage ICI associates and the organization’s curious spectators in a manner that eschews traditional exhibition practices. At the conclusion of the residency, the resident will be asked to create a material trace of their project for the ICI repository where it will become a part of our visual culture laboratory and/or traveling collection. In addition, the resident will be expected to document their research on a dedicated VIR blog during the course of their residency.

 FEES

The VIR space is offered free of charge and unlike most residency programs, we do not require an application fee. There is a $75 lab fee to be paid by each resident to help defray costs for maintenance of our computers and equipment. If this fee is prohibitive and/or dissuades you from applying, please contact us. Limited assistance might be available to help defray this cost. The ICI will also work with out-of-area residents to help them secure housing for their tenure at the ICI although this responsibility ultimately rests with the resident. We encourage the use of social media and housing sites such as airbnb.com. There is no funding from the ICI for room and board.

 APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applications for the VIR project can be found here. In addition to the completed application, please supply us with a current CV and up to 5 samples of your previous work that we can easily access through an internet interface such as dropbox. Applications for the 2015-2016 VIR session are no longer being accepted. 

For more information contact us at info@culturalinquiry.org.

Press Release: Inventing Immanence

Join Us during the conjunction of the Autumnal Equinox & New Moon as Maya Gurantz shares her research at the ICI

ICI-VIRmaya_event-w

 Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 6-8 pm
(in)formal program begins at 7:00 pm

The Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) is pleased to present an evening with Maya Gurantz, the current resident in our Visualist-in-Residence (VIR) project. Beginning at 7pm and with a ritual acknowledgement of the new moon, Gurantz will lead visitors through elements of her practice-based research in a form that reflects her interest in accessing immanence.

Gurantz applied to the VIR project hoping to take advantage of ICI’s extensive collection of esoteric, spiritual, and philosophical literature for her ongoing research on the history of spirituality, mysticism and gurus in early Los Angeles. In an act of fortuitous synchronicity, which is central to the ICI process, a collection of books connected to the history of women’s magic and witchcraft were donated to the organization just as Gurantz started her residency. After delving into this treasure trove, she quickly shifted the focus of her residency to vanished archetypes of the female storyteller and ways of inventing ritual forms as a means of accessing immanence.

The ICI’s “Visualist-in-Residence” (VIR) project offers artists, art theorists, writers, and other visual researchers and culture producers a chance to participate in studio-based visual research in a richly layered and mutable environment. The VIR ‘laboratory’ may function as an artist’s studio, a writing room, a space for gathering data or a quiet space for evaluation and contemplation depending on the needs of each individual project. At the Institute, VIRs are actively encouraged to expand current definitions of visual research. At the end of each residency, the VIRs are invited to discuss their newly found ‘research methods’ in a public event/forum.

Maya Gurantz is a Los Angeles-based artist and writer. She interrogates how constructions of gender, race, class and progress operate in American communities, shared myths, public rituals and private desires, drawing formally on her years in dance and experimental theater, as well as a deep knowledge of American vernacular forms of manipulating sensation. Her projects often emerge through the process of excavating and recasting historical material in new and unsettling conceptual frameworks.

Maya Gurantz’s residency at the ICI will continue through September 28, 2014. For questions regarding this or other ICI events, please contact info@culturalinquiry.org.

All ICI events are free to the public.

 

Press release

The Ephemera(l) Institution

An Evening with Visualist-in-Residence, Martin Gantman

ICI-BLOGgantman_eventpostacrd-w

January 11, 2014, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. –Yogi Berra

The Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) presents the Ephemera(l) Institution, a public presentation of Martin Gantman’s practice-based research at the ICI through its Visualist-in-Residence Project. The findings of his “archeological” undertaking will be presented at a public event at the Institute on January 11, 2014 from 7 – 9 pm. The evening will include an artist action in the ICI garden at 8 pm: the permanent interment of Matchboxes-in-another box: testimony, a work completed during his residency. Transformations to physical elements of the Institute that have materialized as a result of Gantman’s tenure will also be on display.

According to Gantman, a long-time Associate of the organization, the ICI is unique in how it co-opts cultural artifacts for use as foils to pierce the veil that constrains contemporary thought. He asks how the method of the Institute contributes to such results? And in the long term, how does the Institute frame itself so that its contributions, and in particular its singular methods, contribute to the production of knowledge after its demise?

Martin Gantman is a Los Angeles based artist and writer who has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. In 2012, he chaired a panel session entitled: Tracking the Movement of Investigatory Art at the College Art Association Conference in Los Angeles. In trying to address these issues, Gantman brings his interest in investigatory art to service during his residency. Digging into the Institute’s distinct approach to its organizational construct, language, and activities, he has fashioned a commentary on the Institute’s practices and devices. What does it mean to have an Ephemera Kabinett, which has the potential to contain evidence of almost anything? And how is it mobilized in the effort to produce knowledge? These are questions that Gantman has attempted to answer.

Martin Gantman’s VIR workspace and the materials associated with his residency will remain on display (by appointment only) until January 31, 2014.  For appointments or questions regarding the Visualist-in-Residence project or other ICI events, please contact info@culturalinquiry.org

 

Visualist-in-Residence Project

ICI-PROJ100_10_5_lab-w

Due to space limitations, VIR applications for 2016 are currently not being accepted. This project may resume in 2017.

The VIR residency offers local artists, art theorists, writers, and other culture producers an environment that is oriented towards knowledge production through its well-equipped study and production facilities. Resources include a 3,000-volume library; an Ephemera Kabinett that contains cultural residue from the last 100 years; a collection of arcane visual tools or their handbooks (sometimes both); and a unique physical site with its own collection of phantom histories and secrets. 

Froebel Star Folding

We are looking for adventurous ‘visualists’ to help us ‘theorize the materials’ or ‘materialize the theories’ of the various processes of knowledge production that are ‘visually orchestrated.’ These are activities that interrogate and extend current conceptions of ‘studio-based research’ as they are being extolled in the academy.

Some of the features of the Residency include:

• The VIR laboratory is available for residencies lasting between 1-4 weeks. We can only offer a work space at this time (no live-in) but access is 24/7 to accommodate residents who have a ‘day job’ or other demands on their time during ICI’s normal business hours.

• At the very least, each resident will arrive with a single question to jump-start her or his visual research but, more often, the resident arrives with a project already underway that will benefit from an investigatory period at the ICI.

• The Institute will provide limited manpower and, at time,  financial assistance. We will also facilitate partnerships with a roster of highly skilled ICI Associates and supporters to enrich the VIR residency experience.

•The VIR quarters will be open to the public as part of regularly scheduled ICI tours at least one Saturday per month (depending on the concurrent ICI project) and/or by appointment.

• The Resident will interact with the ICI staff and/or Associates on a regular basis to discuss the Resident’s work, either through meetings or online interactions,

• At the end of the residency, the VIR will be encouraged to summarize their research processes and findings during some type of recorded discussion with ICI staff and/or associates. This exchange might include an interview, a non-verbal demonstration, an exchange on social media, or some other recorded form based on the scope and range of the residency.

• In addition to ‘documenting’ their residency on the ICI’s website, the Resident will also be asked to create a material trace of their tenure to be placed in a special box that will become a part of the ICI repository.

VIR Residents have included:
Julene Paul, Spring 2012
Jared Neilsen, Summer 2012
Greg Cohen, Winter 2012-13
Christel Dillbohner, Spring 2013
Martin Gantman, Winter 2013
Maya Gurantz, Summer 2014
Anna Ayeroff, Summer-Fall 2014
Jaime Knight, Fall 2014
Amy Kaczur, Spring 2015
Christopher Handran, Summer 2015

Find more information about the VIR Project at http://www.culturalinquiry.org/blog/activities/2014-visualist-in-residence-project
or email us at info@culturalinquiry.org

 

 

Christel Dillbohner at the ICI

ICI-VIRchristel

Mit dem anderen Blick
2 May – 21 May, 2013

“I want to come and look with a fresh eye … then translate, transform, ferry across that deep river of inquiry.”

Visualist-in-Residence and longtime ICI associate, Christel Dillbohner, spent two weeks of  inquiry and discovery at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry. On Saturday, May 18, she shared her processes of visual research along with her unique, ephemeral findings with an enthusiastic audience. Dillbohner documented her residency on the VIR blog.

You can also read or download an e-book of Dillbohner’s residency at Bookleteer: http://bkltr.it/17rSovG

Read more about the Visualist in Residence project.

 

 

Press Release

Mit dem anderen Blick

ICI-VIRchristel

May 18, 2013, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
At the Institute of Cultural Inquiry
Presentation and Discussion will begin at 6:30pm

The Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) presents Mit dem anderen Blick, a public presentation of our current Visualist-in-Residence, Christel Dillbohner’s practice-based research at the ICI.

The ICI’s “Visualist-in-Residence” (VIR) program offers artists, art theorists, writers, and other visual researchers and culture producers a chance to participate in studio-based visual research in a richly layered and mutable environment. The VIR ‘laboratory’ may function as an artist’s studio, a writing room, a space for gathering data or a quiet space for evaluation and contemplation depending on the needs of each individual project. At the Institute, VIRs are actively encouraged to expand current definitions of visual research and to borrow freely from ICI research practices as they develop aspects of their project in one or more of the following areas: Field work and Data Acquisition; Research and Analysis; Manipulation and Experimentation; Knowledge Transmission and Production; and Public Presentation and Publication. At the end of each residency, the VIRs are invited to present their ‘research’ in a public event/discussion session.

Christel Dillbohner’s VIR workspace and the materials associated with her findings will remain on display (by appointment only via info@culturalinquiry.org) until May 25, 2013. New applications for the Institute of Cultural Inquiry’s VIR program are being accepted through May 31, 2013. To apply, please send a detailed letter of interest to info@culturalinquiry.org.

All ICI public programs are free. Prompt arrival prior to program time is recommended. For questions regarding Mit dem anderen Blick or other ICI events, please contact info@culturalinquiry.org.

ICI New Visualist-in-Residence Julene Paul

The ICI would like to welcome our newest Visualist-in-Residence, Julene Paul.

Her proposed project is an exploration of memory and its visual representation in space, taking the visual exterior of a city as a starting point and investigating the worlds that lie beneath the present and what they represent in the past as well as future. Her project hopes to create an ambitious representation of how memory can be represented visually and spatially.

The ICI is looking forward to development of Paul’s project and hope the experience proves illuminating for both parties.

 

 

Visual Researcher-in-Residence

The Visual Researcher-in-Residence program is designed for artists, writers, scholars or serious tinkerers, whos work or ideas fall outside of the typical bounds of recognized visual genres. We are looking for a visual researcher(s) whose cultural investigations, analyses, examinations, and experimentations are sympathetic with that of the Institute. The visual researcher will be offered a research space and access to the ICI library as well as the ICI’s collection of visual tools.
The ICI’s current research theme is PHANTOM, MIRRORED, AND DOUBLED WORLDS and the resident will be encouraged to interface with this theme.