Artist Community

During Soviet times, arts and culture were promoted, financed and used by the state and the communist party as an instrument to underpin the state, their party values and ideology. Cultural content had to align with ideological propaganda and be broadly understood by the general public. It also had to instill into people a feeling of being a part of the USSR family alongside its objectives and achievements. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the concomitant economic dip and scarcity of state resources in the newly independent Kyrgyz Republic, the arts and culture community and Kyrgyz Union of Artists not only lost its financing but more importantly its role in society and the state. Twenty years after independence, like other newly independent states, the multi-ethnic Kyrgyz Republic is still struggling with a new national identity appealing to all constituent parts of the country. There is also a lack of understanding of citizen responsibility in a pluralistic market economy. Б’Art Contemporary was founded in 2007 by Shaarbek Amankul as an artistic research project and mobile art practice aimed at developing and promoting contemporary art in Kyrgyzstan as an alternative to the traditional view of and approach to art. VISION: […]

  kimyo is an Art and Design Gallery. Contemporary textiles, material and craft based art and design projects. Rotating exhibitions of 3 weeks, showing works of emerging artists. An artist community and a gallery space where artists have more authority to curate one’s own exhibition.  

  ERGO Collective is a creative platform founded on the premise of collaboration. We approach collective creativity as mode of encouraging dialogue and triggering stimulating ideas on the critique and collapse of borders between Art’s disciplines. Our team is formed by permanent and guest artists and other curious people from various places and spaces. Our journey began in a nomadic manner with an emphasis on site specific shows. Today ERGO occupies a physical space in Athens making its first steps as an artist-run-space. Our new space allows the collective to be more spontaneous on realizing projects, ideas and activities. To have a home, means to be a host and therefore ERGO is welcoming creatives from around the world to share and propose ideas on exhibitions, performances, workshops, symposia, screenings or any other intriguing event. ERGO Collective (Non-profit Organization) was initiated in September 2017.  

  As the longest-running ARI in Perth, Paper Mountain is a highly reconfigurable studio collective and gallery with co-working and event spaces. Constantly evolving, our core ethos aligns with queer, decolonialist, anti-patriarchal, and anti-ableist ideas and working methods. Our priority is supporting underrepresented and courageous new voices, for learning as we go and adapting to the realities of a damaged world by generating experimental structures and creative solutions. We welcome artists, community groups, organizers, and workers in other disciplines.

  From 2010, W is the collective of artists and the art studio dedicated to working, meeting, research, experimentation and diffusion of contemporary art. Artists from different plastic backgrounds (sculpture, painting, video, photo, performance) shared their desires and the values to create a place for work, exchange of ideas and diffusion of contemporary art. On two floors, we have from the outset dedicated the first floor of 110m2 to artistic practice and the ground floor of 80m2 to exhibitions, projects and monthly events. Beyond our individual practices, this space welcomes artists from all horizons and geographies, rich exchanges and meetings without partitioning between the actors of the project (artists, children, neighbors, musicians, craftsmen, artists…).    

  The Concern Newsstand has such a name because of a concern that the world is falling to distracted mindlessness and that we’re all reading from physical, paper objects less and less. A ‘concern’ is also the name of a ‘business’. The Chapel Hill / Carrboro, NC area no longer has m/any used book or magazine stores. The Newsstand is offering this service to the community. It is also a venue for local artists & artists from beyond to sell their printed materials & limited edition products. Housed in a gallery & among artist studios, it is a meeting spot & hang out place. The curated focus is to expand one’s mind in some way beyond the mundane via artist books, comics, art books, magazines, small press publishers, used books, vintage magazines & more. The curator & artist behind this project is Orvokki Crosby. The Concern has a long-term outpost at Lump Gallery (505 S. Blount Street, Raleigh, NC 27601) where materials can be browsed and purchases can be made during gallery hours (Thu- Sat, 12-6pm) AND a showroom/ reading room/ workshop at Attic 506 (506A W. Franklin Street), in Chapel Hill, open during events (second Fridays 6-9pm) & by […]

  Newcastle-based artist-run gallery housed above Bar Loco. Proud to offer exhibition opportunities to emerging artists.  

  In 2007, the KUNSTTANKSTELLE OTTAKRING was founded in memory of the Dichter family (www.sammlungdichter.com) by the artists Roland and Richard Schütz (co-founder of MASC FOUNDATION). The former gas station was available as a precariat for exhibitions until 2014. In 2014 the KUNSTTANKSTELLE OTTAKRING was saved for artists all year round for presentations, lectures, exhibitions, low budget productions. Roland Schütz born 1962 in Schwanenstadt OÖ studies at the university of applied art, vienna – Gestaltungslehre/Prof. Maria Lassnig{(painting & experimental animation) scholarship new york lives and works in vienna Richard Schütz born 1965 in Linz, 1992 diplom at the university of applied art, vienna produktdesign ceramik/glass/Prof.Matteo Thun-Hohenstein, scholarship at glass school Pilchuck/USA, lives and works in vienna  

masc foundation 39 dada are an artist group (Roland Schütz – Kurt Mayr – Richard Schütz – Arno Schmid †2016) which works intensively, since its opening in June 1999, on the integration of fine arts and their various expressions. Our artist run spaces were located vis a vis at grundsteingasse. We were founded as artistic counterparts in this street in Vienna Ottakring. Since the death of Arno Schmid (39dada) in June 2016 the art project is continued by masc foundation. For a long time, the Brunnenviertel, the area around the Viennese Brunnenmarkt in the 16th district, has been an ideal place of work and living for many artists. The artists of our association have come together here to find common possibilities of artistic expression and presentation. The advantages of the area are innumerable: the cosmopolitan social climate, the successful, multicultural mutual stimulation of the most varied cultures represent an ideal nurturing ground for the art, which always also intends to explore the human being in its expressions, desires, hopes and capabilities. Many members have lived and worked in this area for a long time. A dense network of social contacts and mutual support has been created in this way, which […]

Flat Octopus is an international artist- and curator-run collective in Stockholm, Sweden. Flat Octopus organizes exhibitions and workshops in apartments in Stockholm and Uppsala, as well as external projects, events and collaborations locally and internationally. The Name The title, Flat Octopus, points to the main concept of apartment (flat) exhibitions and the flat hierarchy structure of the collective. The octopus is a playful twist, as ‘octopus’ commonly refers to large scale business corporations, an opposite to the nature of the collective. The Concept Flat Octopus works with apartment exhibitions. For each exhibition the members of Flat Octopus invite an artist or curator to take over one of their members’ or guest apartments where he/she stays for a period and produces an exhibition. Aside from this the collective organizes workshops and external projects and collaborations locally and internationally.  

  Resident Arts is an artist-run nonprofit which cultivates aspiring and emerging artists, and engages supporters of the arts to strengthen Mid-MO’s community. Our professional development and skill-building programs empower and educate to help create and sustain fulfilling careers in the arts. We help artists create sustainable careers right here in Mid-Missouri by 1) helping local artists professionalize, 2) engaging young people in learning about creative careers, and 3) helping non-artists appreciate and support local art.  

Founded in 1976, Touchstone Gallery is located in a custom-built street-level space at 901 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Since the beginning, Touchstone’s mission has remained unaltered: to enrich the lives of the community through diverse contemporary art exhibitions; to promote a rich variety of art talent in the DC region; to showcase national and international artists whenever possible; and to foster continuing artistic and career growth of its 50 member artists through encouragement and support. The gallery is centrally located in Washington, DC, between the White House and the United States Capitol. Close to the CityCenterDC development, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, this venue is easily accessible by public transportation and a perfect modern backdrop for contemporary art. As a member owned and managed gallery, Touchstone artists enjoy the right to guide gallery policies and control their solo exhibitions. The support and camaraderie of the membership is an important benefit. From the start, Touchstone has been involved with the DC community and with philanthropic outreach in and beyond DC region. The gallery is part of local, national and international art scene, balancing its members’ shows with ongoing art […]

  window is a site-specific, minimalist exhibition space envisioned as a platform for contemporary image makers who engage with issues of re-production and re-presentation within their practice via political, philosophical, theoretical, poetic and/or process-based frameworks.   window welcomes two-dimensional printable works that repurpose found or archival source materials, challenge notions of originality and authenticity, stimulate perceptual phenomena through reiteration or duplication, implement re-photography as a critical component, or embrace re-production as essential to the work. window installs 4-6 new artworks per year, designed exclusively for the space by the artist, or in collaboration with the curator.  The site consists of a 58 in x 51.5 in surface area of a downtown Asheville, North Carolina storefront with ample visibility to the passing public. window invites artists to realize new works, designed and conceptualized to complement the discourse and format of the site, and also encourages the re-contextualization of pre-existing works. Mission Statement window values original objects and aesthetic precision, but does not find these aspects essential to every viewing experience. window promotes the exchange of ideas and dialogue through engagement with visual representation. window does not fetishize process or material and disavows the treatment of artworks as precious and unique. window does not promote commerce. window celebrates re-production.  

One Stay, One Art PARADISE AIR is an artist-in-residence program located in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, conveniently close to yet comfortably removed from the bustle of central Tokyo. The program is held on the vacant floors of a former hotel, a setting afforded to us by the Rakuen pachinko parlor (a pinball-gambling establishment) that occupies the bottom floors of this building owned by Hamatomo Corporation. We launched the program in 2013, naming ourselves PARADISE AIR after this “Rakuen” – “paradise” in English – combined with “AIR,” the acronym for “artist-in-residence.” Artist-in-residence programs provide artists a place to stay and create art for a given period, supporting their travel and artistic activities. Situated along the old Mito Road, Matsudo thrived during the Edo Period (1603–1868) as one of the route’s “post towns”– stop-off points punctuating major roads – where travelers would stay on their journey between Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Mito. Countless travelers came and went past where Matsudo station stands today, including artists – poets, painters, calligraphers and the like – who would sometimes leave pieces of their own art as payment for lodging. Some of these works can still be found today, preserved in local residents’ homes. In the spirit […]

  “Hlebzawod” art space was created on abandoned factory territory in the summer of 2016. Its mission is educational activity in contemporary art. Also combined with the formation of the exhibiting activity in Ukraine, promotion of contemporary art, as a necessity of modern retell of our cultural and historical content. It contains programs of familiarization of audience with the tendencies of Ukrainian contemporary art, and the disclosure of its social and cultural significance, formation of audience’s outlook and tastes, the search and help in growing of young talents.  

  Videokaffe explores the intersection of handcraft and modern technology through exhibitions, art residencies and connecting artist studios worldwide. Since 2011 Videokaffe has exhibited at galleries and art residencies in Japan, Russia, United States and Finland. The members show their individual works and together build workspaces / labs onsite, where they work collaboratively and create artwork. During the exhibitions, Videokaffe invites the audience to enter the workspace to witness, learn about, and participate in the art making process. Between exhibitions, Videokaffe members meet regularly online by connecting their studios via webcams and video projectors. Through this process, the members work together as if they are sharing the same space. Videokaffe seeks to build bridges among cultures and to collaborate through the universal language of art.  

HIER & JETZT: Connections is an exchange and residency program for artists in exile. The initiative was launched in 2017 by artists of B.L.O. Ateliers in Berlin-Lichtenberg. We collaborate and exchange ideas on a collegial and informal basis and thus create a platform for art, learning and communication. We define exile as the involuntary loss of one’s social context and working environment in the country of origin for an uncertain period of time. Our structure supports the arrival and artistic production of those who recently came to Berlin. With help of our cross-cultural network we organize workshops, artist talks, film screenings, open studios and exhibitions – and sometimes we just have a coffee on the premises of B.L.O. Ateliers. We invite experts and the public to share new social footholds and artistic incentives with people from, among others, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Involved artists: Rula Ali, Omar Alshaer, Shirin Ashkari, Mika Clemens, Christa Fülbier, Halim Karabibene, DIE KOMPANIE, Zoltan Kunckel, Irina Novarese, Ramin Parvin, Dachil Sado, Yaser Safi, Özlem Sariyildiz, Uli Westphal, Ali Yass. Since 2003 the B.L.O. Ateliers offer space for workshops and studios to a great variety of international artists and makers. Around 60 people work here, […]

Indie Photography Group gallery (a registered Non-Profit Organization) was founded in 2010 by a group of visual artists to provide an artistic platform for young and established contemporary artists in the medium of Photography and Video Art. Indie aims to promote and broaden the discourse on Photography in Israel, Without any dependency in financial and commercial issues that could affect the process of the artwork.

WYKWIT is a place of artistic activity and exhibition. It came to be out of the potential of the cellar space in the post-German mansion we inhabit. The creators of WYKWIT are inhabitants of the house. The building on the Aleja Kochanowskiego street dates back to roughly 1900 and was erected in the Wilhelmsruh district. Back then Wroclaw was the German Breslau. Currently, the house is in a quite dilapidated condition. The original furnishing outside is damaged in many places. Inside there are many brutal rearrangements made by countless tenants. The mansion is surrounded by a large garden. WYKWIT is opposite to a typical white-cube arrangement. Projects presented in WYKWIT should consider its potential, specific and/or contexts. Parallel to the WYKWIT’s activities of an art gallery WARSTWY (Layers) have born- a concept-experimental project focusing its activity on intervention in already existing situation and playing with it. WYKWIT consists of: Karolina Balcer Michal Kamiński Martyna Muth Krzysztof Rubach Janusz Czyżewicz Layers (Adam Martyniak, Michał Mejnartowicz, Karolina Włodek)

  A network of independent artists and curators based in Johannesburg, South Africa, that organize and facilitate pop-up exhibitions and art related events for and with other independent artists. Dead Bunny Society was founded in 2015.