Application Guideline: Artist in Residence Program 2025 “CAMP”

Since its opening, Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (ACAC) has conducted an Artist in Residence (AIR) program via open call nearly every year. This year’s open call AIR is intended to provide people involved in a wide range of cultural and artistic pursuits – including artists, curators, and researchers – with an opportunity to engage in creative activities while residing at ACAC. Residents will conduct research, create artwork, hold various events, and eventually present their results, all while receiving continuous support from ACAC’s curators, technicians, and staff. The activities of the residents will also be made available to the public through our website and program catalogs. The results – which may consist of artwork exhibitions, performances, workshops, presentations of research or production processes, or other formats – will be presented at this year’s presentation venue. The residence period consists of a core period lasting for 52 days (51 nights) from October 11 to December 1, 2025, during which the participants will, in principle, reside at ACAC. If desired, participants may reside at ACAC for a maximum of 92 days (91 nights) from September 15 to December 15, 2025. Please select a residence period appropriate for your desired activities. Due to scheduled renovation work at ACAC, the venue for the 2025 Results Presentation has been moved from our Exhibition Hall to the Aomori Citizens’ Art Gallery, inside the JR Aomori Station East Exit Building, although participants will still be able to use the Creative Hall and Residence Hall during this year’s program. ACAC’s Exhibition Hall – an enormous, 6-meter-high horseshoe-shaped space surrounded by the natural environment of the Hakkoda Mountains – has always had a considerable influence on the creations produced by past residents. However, since the facility is located far from the heart of Aomori City, it is not easily accessible for many citizens. The art gallery which will be used as this year’s venue is on the 4th floor of a building occupied by a large number of retail establishments, with windows looking out over the city center. The artists will be forced to find ways to work around the constraints imposed by the architectural differences between the Exhibition Hall and the art gallery. But we consider the new forms of communication that will emerge from such challenges to be another unique aspect of this year’s program. Each year, the AIR program is given a different title, but these titles are not themes intended to prescribe the contents of the participants’ activities. Rather, you should think of the program title as just one clue when conceptualizing the activities you plan to engage in during the residency. For ACAC, 2025 will be a period of maintenance, a period of restoration and care meant to ensure the continued use of the facilities in the future. This year’s title, “CAMP,” is an English word which carries several meanings: a temporary place of shelter; a place for conducting training in specific skills; a group sharing a given sensibility or doctrine; and the name of a subversive aesthetic style historically shared by various minority groups. “CAMP” represents the nature of ACAC as a place for artists to gather, stay, and confront their own expression while isolated from the comforts of city life; at the same time, it is also a means for surviving states of emergency and exception. In 2025, this same “CAMP” concept will also act as the framework for nomination-type AIR events, as well as for an additional AIR by an artist to be recommended by our international AIR partners. This year’s open-call AIR will be very different from past years, but we hope you can develop activities that take advantage of these unique circumstances and help you discover new perspectives.