LUMEN
ITALY RESIDENCY
About the Italy Residency Programme
Register interest for these below, more information available soon.
Lumen have been running artist residencies in Italy for over four years in collaboration with Natasha Sabatini, a London based artist, originally from Atina, Italy. In previous years, we have held our residency in the peaceful village of Atina, situated 154km from Rome in the province of Frosinone-Lazio. Frosinone-Lazio and many areas of central and southern Italy, benefit from natural darkness, natural beauty and is a great place to visit for viewing the Moon, stars and meteor showers.
Our residencies are unique in that they are set up to help like-minded artists from multi-disciplines develop their practice in a relaxed, yet productive environment. Artists have the opportunity to create works responding to the variety of astronomical sights, which are then showcased in exhibitions in Italy and London. For each residency we aim to offer ample studio space, observatory trips, telescope access, close proximity to small local bars/restaurants and film screenings.
Typically Included
Shared Accommodation (2 weeks on site)
Shared Studio Space
Telescope Access
Basic Darkroom (No Enlarger)
Access to local Darkroom with Enlargers
Alternative Photography Workshops
Craft Workshop by Local Artist
Previous Trips
Visit to Campo Cassino Observatory
Visit to Montecassino Abbey
Visit to Santa Maria Assunta
Visit to Local Observatory in Atina
Visit to CAMUSAC Gallery
Exhibiting Opportunities
Exhibition in Italy towards the end of the Residency
Exhibition in London
Inclusion in a Residency Publication
Events in Italy during the Residency
For the last few years our residency has coincided with cultural events such as The White Nights Festival and Festival of Fireworks, as well as weekly markets and feast days.
Workshop Bursary
For each residency depending on the format, we award a reduction in an artist’s residency fee in exchange for providing a workshop for the other artists on the residency, with a contribution towards materials.
Solo Show in Lumen Crypt Gallery
One artist from the residency will usually be selected for a Solo Show in the Lumen Crypt Gallery later in the year, or in the year following their residency.
Deadline: Check back in June 2019 for updates or register your interest to hear first about Forthcoming Residency Opportunities using the form below.
Accommodation
Lumen residencies are held in unique locations, usually with unique accommodation which may change year on year. In the past four years we have occupied a former Asilo (Italian for 'Nunnery') that provides comfortable single sex dorms and large shared studio spaces in the rolling hills of a traditional agricultural village. High quality food and drink can be bought very cheaply from local shops and bars, providing the option of eating out or cooking in the large shared kitchen. We aim to provide a relaxed and respectful atmosphere where residents can come and go as they please and feel free to socialise or work as it suits them.
Each resident will be responsible for their own travel to and from the residency address.
2018
Rachael Allain • Sakchin Bessette • Mark Cheverton • Tim Corne • Kimberley D'Adamo • Dovile Dagiene • Nettie Edwards • Sarah Gillett • Luke Harby • John Hooper • Risa Simone Horowitz • Marty Langthorne • Becky Lyon • Hanna Mattes • Heather Merckle • Aliya Orr • Phil Power • Hannah Pratt • Arezu Salamzadeh • Harry Stevenson Miller • Armelle Tulunda • Katharine Vega • Brenda Vega & Sergio Sarango • Georgia Watkins • Adele Watts • Won Young Chang
2017
Mario Abela • Jenny Akerlund • Stephen Bennett • Sarah Bissell • Chiara Bugatti • Helen Cawley • Victoria Doyle • Nettie Edwards • Carly Florentine •
Juan Garza • Frankie Gao • Anna Gray • Aria Kiani • Bonnie Levinthal • Jill Mueller • Priya Odedra • Julie Pasila • Silvano Roque •
Arezu Salamzadeh • Olga Suchanova • Diego Valente • Charmaine Watkiss
2016
Madeleine Botet de Lacaze • Rachael Burns • Alice Cazenave • Andrew Chisholm • Rachael Dease • Sarah Duncan • Magali Duzant • Nettie Edwards • Steve Follen • Julie Hill • John Hooper • Eunjung Kim • Ellie Kyungran Heo • Maria Luigia Gioffre • Clare Lymer • Mahmud Manning • Scott Massey • William Mokrynski • Diego Valente • Emma Whitehead • Sisetta Zappone
2015
Naomi Avsec • Molly Behagg • Samuel Brzeski • Mahal De Man • Alice Dunseath • Nettie Edwards • Osheen Harruthoonyan • J. J. Hastings • Emilia Izquierdo • Claire Krouzecky • Peiwen Li • Yaz Norris • Lisa Pettibone • Marta Pinilla • Eva Rudlinger • Alice Serraino • Joshua Space • Sisetta Zappone • Qing Zhou
Name: Clare Lymer
Website: www.clarelymer.ie
Your practice?
My photographic practice is informed by an interest in the scientific and creating images that are temporal events. Interventions within the frame examine photography’s relationship with light, truth and presence.
Your experience in Atina?
The setting of the residency in Atina provided inspiration for new work as well as the space to create the work. Surrounded by 20 other creatives with similar interests and diverse practices allowed for lively discussions and reflections as well as wonderful support and encouragement.
Best thing about the residency?
Hard to choose! The night sky from Atina (I literally got a sore neck!) and the other artists.
Do you think the residency impacted your practice? If so, how?
Definitely - weather and lunar phases changed the work I had planned on making. I ended up making video work for the first time which opened up my practice and fostered dynamic change in my process.
Would you recommend the residency to others?
Yes it was hugely beneficial to my work and I got to meet the best humans.
Name: Mahmud Manning
Website: www.mahmudmanning.net
Your practice? Painting
Your experience in Atina?
It was an informing and well led residency. Organised visits were well led, with space and time per personal work to occur. Everyone worked well together, it was great to stay in a small town and experience local genuine friendliness and hospitality.
Best thing about the residency?
The chance to reflect and develop new work and importantly to meet professional artists who were also interested in astronomy and their surroundings.
Do you think the residency impacted your practice? If so, how?
It helped me focus on my own practice and I achieved my private goals in developing new way’s forward which I was aiming for. This came out of the practical development of materials, their use and their combination.
Would you recommend the residency to others?
I would recommend the residency, it was focused, yet open, it allowed support and friendships to occur and was responsive to people’s needs in a friendly and informal way. I think it was a remarkable experience, the people and their work making something special and worthwhile. It struck a great balance between providing opportunity and letting the project breathe with the creative inputs brought by the visiting artists.
Name: Alice Dunseath
Website: alicedunseath.com/installations/
Your practice? I am a London based filmmaker and animator. I work with materials, liquids, chemicals, crystals or elements that have a life of their own. Choreographing them around the screen to music or sounds to make visual poetry that encourages viewers to contemplate the bigger picture.
Your experience in Atina?
It was a very inspiring time - to be able to relax and focus entirely on your work in a beautiful setting, surrounded by creative, star-loving, like-minded people. I feel very lucky to had had the opportunity to go.
Best thing about the residency?
So much! The huge studio spaces, the weather, the food, the people.....
Do you think the residency impacted your practice? If so, how?
The residency allowed me to create, make and play in a relaxed environment for a good period of time. I didn't write a do-do list for two weeks and it was wonderful. It is something I find hard to do in my day to day in London, where there are often so many other distractions. I always work with local materials, but this was the first time I used local foods to create the majority of my work.
Would you recommend the residency to others?
Yes! And I have been!
Name: Claire Krouzecky
Website: clairekrouzecky.com
Your practice? I am interested in the poetics of the everyday, the romance of the forgotten, the beauty of the overlooked. I work across disciplines that include installation, video, sound, performance and photography to frame alignments of light, document small discoveries and trace histories and processes that point to a greater picture of our place in the universe.
Your experience in Atina?
I loved it so much! The location was beautiful, the space and time to work freely on new projects was invaluable, and the opportunity to connect with so many like-minded but diverse practitioners was beyond inspiring.
Best thing about the residency?
The closeness that developed between everybody in the group, and the new environment to draw from.
Do you think the residency impacted your practice? If so, how?
Yes, absolutely. It gave me a unique distance from other contexts I've situated my work in previously, which offered a new kind of freedom to explore and push myself to work in new ways. I also learnt many new practical skills from the other participants and organisers.
Would you recommend the residency to others?
100%
Name: Peiwen Li
Website: donnne.com
Your practice? Experimental photography exploring light and forms in a spiritual consciousness in response to the contingent nature of the present
Your experience in Atina?
Amazing little town, just the right atmosphere for artists to explore and meditate their practice.
Best thing about the residency?
Well organized schedules yet flexible enough for each individuals' needs.
Do you think the residency impacted your practice? If so, how?
Yes indeed. Being exposed amongst the artists who have the same interests as I do helped me to have a better understanding of my own practice.
Would you recommend the residency to others? Absolutely!