The artists were selected by a committee composed of Agnieszka Kubicka-Dzieduszycka, Berenika Nikodemska, Piotr Czerniawski, Maciej Masztalski and Kostas Georgakopulos.
The artists are going to visit San Sebastian as part of the collaboration between two ECC offices, San Sebastian and Wroclaw sharing the duties of the European Capital of Culture in 2016.
"We've received 16 different applications. This year's project is aimed at individual artists," says A-i-R Wro Coordinator Dominika Nikodemska.
"I think artist-in residence programmes are vital because they allow artists to explore the city and connect to other creative people," explains Kostas Georgakopulos. "We've selected three artists whose projects focus primarily on the creative process. For us, the process is more important than the work.
Anna Nosowicz has graduated from the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the "Błond w sztuce" group and the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, and a co-founder of the Wroclaw-based PANATO creative cooperative. Apart from painting, she also creates sustainable light installations with recycled materials, and she designs murals, too. She has also taken part in social projects such as "Moje Magiczne Nadodrze", "PA-NA-TO Podwórko". While in San Sebastian, she is going to focus on a project called Portraits, the aim of which is to collaborate with the local community to produce an installation. The artist is planning to run a series of consultations with the residents about their life in the city. "Workshops and meetings with residents are an inherent part of my project," says Anna Nosowicz. "My goal is to create a series of portraits with an exploratory technique of my own."
Gerard Lebik is a sound artist and musician from Wroclaw, and a graduate of the local Academy of Music. His focus is on musical improvisation and sound experiments, and he has created a series of sound installations in the public space. While in San Sebastian, he is going to pursue a project called "El peine del viento" (Sound Hardened in Time), the title of which is inspired by the works of Basque artist Eduard Chillida. "My point of departure are three monumental sculptures by Chillida," says Gerard Lebik. "I would like to explore the effect of time on these sculptures, their social context, and the effect of their natural setting. I'm planning to find people who actually installed these sculptures," he adds. His project is all about sound.
Aleksandra Wałaszek has graduated from the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Arts, and she pursues photography, installations and performance. While in the Basque Country, she is going to develop her "Panorama/Memorama" project based on the recordings made both in Wroclaw and San Sebastian. The artist is planning to combine these stories into a map. The aim of the project is to foster creative dialogue with the residents of both ECC 2016 host cities.
While in residence, the artists will be offered to work with coordinators whose task to organised meetings and provide networking opportunities. The artists are provided with food and accommodation, and they also receive 30 euros daily allowance and 2 thousand PLN gross remuneration for their work. Their projects will be presented both in San Sebastian and in Wroclaw. Last year, Wroclaw hosted a group of Basque artists whose works were on display at the BASK Basque Culture Laboratory.
