Creative New Zealand will next be accepting applications from visual artists in 2013 for the Berlin residency which will run September 2014–August 2015.

Transporting the artist to a different environment is expected to have many benefits including developing the potential of an artist through exposure to new cultures and new ideas, and an increased awareness in Berlin of New Zealand’s visual arts.

What's on offer?

Creative New Zealand will offer the resident:

• A stipend of NZD $40,000 for the twelve-month residency to be used for living and material costs plus travel and insurance
• A one bedroom, 60sqm flat in the district of Friedrichshain in former East Berlin

In addition, Creative New Zealand will cover the Künstlerhaus Bethanien studio and administration fee which includes a contribution towards the costs of an exhibition, its promotion and a publication.

Expenses not covered by Creative New Zealand and the Künstlerhaus Bethanien are the responsibility of the artist selected for the residency. For example, it is necessary for the selected artist to have health insurance that covers the period of the residency.

About Künstlerhaus Bethanien

For more information about the Künstlerhaus Bethanien and its programmes please refer to their website at www.bethanien.de/kb/index/trans/en .

The following information has been drawn from their website and gives a snapshot of the institution:

With its 25 studios, Künstlerhaus Bethanien represents one of the largest establishments among international residency programs. The selection of artists – predominantly in the area of visual arts – is carried out according to the standards of originality and creative quality.
Individual applications are not accepted by the Künstlerhaus, which owes its international renown as one of the most prestigious institutes for the support of contemporary art to the stringency of its selection criteria.

Among Bethanien's most important services are its support activities. Artists are advised in respect to their projects, and suitable partners, organizations, and sponsors are recommended and introduced.

An extensive publishing activity counts among Bethanien's services. Over the 25 years since the institute's founding, approximately 190 works have been published: books and catalogues on projects of every discipline, catalogues of resident artists, and magazines.

Since 1994, the Künstlerhaus has been publishing its ambitious "Be Magazine," which is produced in German and English, as are the majority of Bethanien's catalogues, making its current exhibitions and topics of discussion well-known on the international art scene. "Be Magazine" constitutes the core of Bethanien's theoretical work and reflects phenomena of the current art scene from the perspectives of international critics, theoreticians, and writers.

Due to its status as artists' residency program, Künstlerhaus Bethanien is a location of curatorial practice where the curatorial staff, together with guest curators and curatorial assistants, work in close dialogue with invited artists.

Background

The Creative New Zealand Visual Arts Residency in Berlin was established by the Arts Board in 1999/2000, to provide a unique opportunity for a New Zealand visual artist. It is a biennial residency that alternates with the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers’ Residency.

Previous recipients have been: Peter Robinson; Michael Stevenson; Ronnie van Hout; Mladen Bizumic, Sara Hughes and Alicia Frankovich.

The 2012-13 recipient of Creative New Zealand’s Visual Arts Residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien is Ben Cauchi.

For more information contact:

Kate Montgomery (Senior Arts Adviser - Visual Arts)
Phone: (04) 498 0732
Email: kate.montgomery@creativenz.govt.nz