Kunsthuis SYB

Open call for contemporary visual artists living and/or working in the Netherlands.

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About Kunsthuis SYB
Kunsthuis SYB is an open, hospitable artist residency; a temporary home and workplace for visual artists in a quiet corner of the art world, where experiment, research, development and collaboration are a main focus. Kunsthuis SYB offers resources and possibilities; residents are given the time, space, budget, feedback and support to take the next step in their work. Kunsthuis SYB has been a residency since 2000, and has been an important place of development for many artists. Kunsthuis SYB is structurally supported by the Mondriaan Fund and the Province of Fryslan.

Selected artists are invited to work and stay in the house on the Hoofdstraat, in the middle of the village centre of Beetsterzwaag (Friesland) for six weeks. Every weekend, the doors of SYB are open to the public so that locals and interested audiences have the opportunity to follow the work process. The work period is concluded with a presentation.

Beetsterzwaag is located between Drachten and Heerenveen, in south-east Friesland near the Frisian Forests: an ancient cultural-historical landscape shaped by the way people lived – it reflects the history of the region. The village itself has 3500 inhabitants. SYB’s (local) network provides access to all kinds of associations, organisations and companies and people with special (old, disappearing, specific) skills and knowledge (such as the eel fisherman, the reed museum, growers of old indigenous seeds, the tropical greenhouse, farmers, etc.); cultural organizations that fulfill an important regional function such as Tresoar or nearby museums; a large network of North-Netherlands art institutions and artists and contact with the North-Netherlands art academy (Minerva, Groningen); and the University of Groningen.

For the programming of 2023 and 2024 SYB is looking for artists or artist duos who want to carry out a project to take a new step in the development of their work, or who want to use the space and environment of SYB to realize ambitions that cannot be realized elsewhere.

What are we looking for?
In addition to formal criteria like quality and exceptionality, we prefer project proposals that clearly show why the project must be carried out specifically in SYB (and its surroundings). In addition, we like to see artists enter into a substantive collaboration within the project. Either with an audience (such as a school, association or specific target group), an external partner (such as a specific organization, entrepreneur or scientist), or one or more artists.

With the residency, SYB especially wants to promote the production and development of new work through research and experimentation. This means that SYB is open to changes and unplanned outcomes. A final presentation of your project takes place in the last weekend of the residency, and is linked to the development of the project: it can therefore take the form of an exhibition, artist talk, guided tour or otherwise.

SYB offers:

• A free living and working space during the residency period: the house consists of a large working and exhibition space on the first floor, a kitchen and living room on the second floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second. There are four permanent sleeping places. There is a garden behind the house. See photos of the first floor here;
• an artist fee (100% of the artist’s fees guideline – depending on subsidies);
• feedback on your plans and process, active support by team SYB;
• artistic reflection on the project by SYB Circles in the form of an essay, podcast, interview or conversation;
• marketing and communication (advertisement, social media, website, newsletters);
• a (final) presentation in SYB (see above);
• participation in the Triennial of Beetsterzwaag (in 2024);
• the possibility to bring family members to the residency: there is a crib and a high chair and Kunsthuis SYB will gladly think along to make a stay with a family possible.

Do you have other questions about the facilities SYB offers? Then please contact info@kunsthuissyb.nl.

Application procedure:
If you’re interested in a residency at Kunsthuis SYB, please send us*:

1. A project plan defining the research, goal, working method and desired collaboration (max 1000 words). Please indicate in your proposal when you would be available for a residency in SYB in 2023-2024.
2. Documentation (PDF) including an artist statement (max. 600 words)
3. Motivation letter; the reason for your interest in a residency in SYB and in which way you would like to develop your work or practice during the residency in SYB (max. 500 words/ 1A4)
4. A CV provided with the following information: full name, date and place of birth, nationality, place of residence and work.

Click here for the form

Procedure
Your proposal will be carefully reviewed by the team of SYB, consisting of the director and the programming committee and SYB Circles. By the end of February at the latest, we will let you know if you are selected for the shortlist. After the shortlist is determined, interviews will take place with the candidates, and the final selection will be announced.

*Project proposals that are late or incomplete will not be considered.