Fieldwork: Marfa
Fieldwork: Marfa is the joint project of three leading European schools, ESBA Nantes Métropole, HEAD – Genève and Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. This international researcher-in-residence program is dedicated to the practice of art in public space, critical approaches to landscape/ borders and artistic projects based on field investigation methods. Located in Marfa, Texas, USA, this outstanding platform is intended for emerging artists, critics and/or researchers. Residents are selected on the basis of the singularity of specific projects they present.
Fieldwork: Marfa caters to emerging artists, critics and/or researchers whose projects require immersion into the specific environment of Marfa and Texas territory, necessitating movement through geography as well as time and space for the purposes of specific research work. The program comes with a research grant, enabling the applicants to produce theoretical and/or practical work using their own methodologies, with support from a number of professional partners, specialized stakeholders and educational institutions.
Fieldwork: Marfa is an inter-school research group that provides a framework for the incursions and endeavors of researchers-in-residence. The work itself fuels various joint projects, in the form of an ongoing annual program based on the participants’ residency schedules. Researchers will present the output of their residency projects in the context of:
· A series of workshops and symposia alternating between the three schools, including working sessions held before and after the residency in Marfa
· A schedule of exhibitions and meetings based on the research projects, held on home ground, in Marfa;
· An editorial program with an annual publication showcasing the contributions or reports from various researchers, students or occasional guests.
The program relies on a collaborative network of like-minded international art schools and universities, research-based structures, art institutions and cultural events (Chinati Foundation, Ballroom Art Center, Marfa, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Los Angeles and more to come). Estuaire Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, is a founding member. Outside residency periods, Fieldwork: Marfa welcomes a platform of off-site workshops driven by each of the three schools: “Accident de parcours” (changing course) Master’s research program (ESBA – Nantes), “ALPes – Art, Lieu, Paysage, espaces sonores” (Art, Landscape, Place, sound space) postgraduate program (HEAD – Genève) and “Lectoraat Art and Public Space” (Gerrit Rietveld Academie – Amsterdam).
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