Call for Artists and Collaborators
I am a Brooklyn based artist, whose own artwork centers around social connections, solitude, loneliness, and familial bonds. I am seeking artists who are interested in collaborating on an evolving, artist-driven idea I am titling the Socially Distant Artist Residency. As the COVID-19 pandemic develops over the next few months, we are facing substantial effects on our social lives. As social gatherings and events have been cancelled, and public spaces have closed, we may find ourselves in solitude more than ever over the coming months.
The Social Distancing Residency is of a currently undefined length, with a structure that is still being developed. While the world works to resolve the COVID-19 outbreak, I am looking for artists who are interested in dedicating time to making work about their experiences in solitude and social disconnection.
Through the Socially Distant website, Artists in Residence will have the opportunity to contributor to our blog with works in progress, writings, recommended readings, finished works, etc. I hope at the end of this undetermined time period, to organize a collaborative exhibition (physical and/or digital.) I admit that this is an idea that is still forming, but I’m hoping to find a group of artists who will help me to flesh it out.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
All artists – visual artists, writers and poets, musicians, filmmakers and video artists, performance artists – are welcome to participate! The Social Distancing Residency is self-driven and runs until W.H.O declares the COVID-19 pandemic officially over. Artists who choose to participate should make work about their experience with solitude, loneliness, and social connection or disconnection during the pandemic. Since this is a collaborative project, that is still evolving, participating artists should be flexible, and willing to help develop the end result of the residency.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
If you are interested in participating in the Social Distancing Residency, please fill out the form on our contact page and include the below information. Please feel free to share any ideas you may have to help develop this project.
Please email me with the following information: Short Artist Statement and Bio, Work Samples or Artists Website, where you currently live, and link to your instagram (If you have one.)
ABOUT ME
As a woman on the Autism Spectrum, I have always held a deep desire to be connected to others, while often struggling to make lasting social connections. Most of my life has been defined by alternating states of comfortable solitude and painful loneliness. While many autistic people often feel anxiety around the elusiveness of social relationships, many of us also cherish time spent alone. Though this dichotomy may be common among autistic people, the interplay between loneliness and solitude reaches far beyond those on the spectrum. I thrive on solitude – however, I’ve also learned the importance of community through many failed social interactions, friendships, and family relationships. Social connections keep us afloat in times of hardship and grounded in the world beyond ourselves – loving others and being loved is essential to maintaining our humanness.
I am keen to examine subjects such as social connectedness, family bonds, isolation, and solitude from an autistic perspective, but with the hopes that it speaks to many.
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