Experience of a virtual artist residency during lockdown

At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak I had been booked in to attend a module of a forensic science MSc at Cranfield University. With this cancelled and facing a length of time in lockdown I was keen to see what else was available to me.

I came across a post in Instagram calling for artists to attend an online virtual residency. The post was from a residency space in the North of Spain who would normally be booked with physical residency artists and I thought that potential of a virtual residency was fantastic! I submitted an application and was accepted.

The residency lasted 1 week and was fully booked with 6 other artists all with varying but complimentary practices and was led by Odette Brady https://celdelnord.com/coachinga creativity coach who owns and runs the space.

• Parikshit – https://parikshitpisal.com/
• Josine – http://www.josinevissers.com/
• Çaglar – https://cargocollective.com/caglartahiroglu
• Sine – https://www.sineicli.com/
• Helen – https://helentj1.wixsite.com/helenmandel
• Nihan – Art & psychology writer

Each day started with a google meetup group discussion about what we planned to do with the day. We then had a series of creative sprints organised via a WhatsApp group where we all worked on our own projects knowing that the others were all working at the same time. Each day ended with a presentation from one of the artists.

The residency was a fantastic way to feel connected to an art community whilst also remaining focused. The other artists where from countries ranging from India to The Netherlands, Turkey and France and so also offered an insight into how all of these places were coping individually with the crisis.

Overall, I feel that the residency supported me to remain focused on my work whilst making some valuable new artist connections. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and I actually miss it this week. Give it a go if you fancy being part of one, they are still running the virtual residencies during the pandemic and simply ask for a donation if you have enjoyed being part of it.

https://celdelnord.com/virtual-residency