Kosice 2013 introduces "Shaping The New"

What is the influence of artistic residencies on the community? What is their influence on art? These are the key questions on which participants of international conference about artistic residencies and mobility were attempting to find answers. The conference SHAPING THE NEW has taken place in Kosice at the end of June 2011.  

The conference was a part of the project SHAPING THE NEW which is an integral part of the program of residencies KOSICE A.I.R.(Kosice artists in residencies). Cultural managers and artists from Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Slovakia have been talking about the sense of residencies, their impact on the local community, on artists themselves and they have been trying to find an ideal model of residencies.

„Our main goal is to find out what residencies can give artists, how they can influence their art and the social environment of the city in which they are staying. The name of the project SHAPING THE NEW is therefore closely connected to the process that is happening during the residence and that is creating something new. Our foreign guests were shown an interesting history of the city of Kosice. We have shown them the city which will become the European Capital of Culture in 2013 and the cultural bridge between the East and the West,“ says Ludwig Henne, coordinator of the project.

Residencies are very important part of the project Kosice 2013, European Capital of Culture. The overall vision of the project is not only to engage all the countries of Central Europe but also the partners from Eastern Europe such as Ukraine and Moldova. At the same time we want to create an international network in a broader scale which would allow artists from all over the world to come to Kosice and create their art here in this city and to participate on the change of the local environment. The next goal of the project is to actively incorporate the incoming artists in to the local community where they will actively interact. The key vision is to set a creative environment that will be able to actively begin the new residencies event after 2013.