Netherlands | NEARCH fellowships for archaeology-oriented visual artists

The Van Eyck invites visual artists with a strong interest in archaeology as a method for their own artistic practice to apply for a fellowship for a period of 6 months in the framework of “NEARCH - New scenarios for a community-involved archaeology”. The Van Eyck is a post-academic institute in Maastricht, Netherlands.

The Van Eyck invites visual artists with a strong interest in archaeology as a method for their own artistic practice to apply for a fellowship for a period of 6 months in the framework of 'NEARCH - New scenarios for a community-involved archaeology'.

DEADLINE: 1st May 2014

The Van Eyck is a partner of NEARCH, a prestigious European project-based network of archaeological institutes and university departments. NEARCH is funded by the EU through 2018. We are convinced that with all differences visual artists and archaeologists share many similar attitudes, modes of thought and outlooks – amongst them the importance of looking, researching, finding, creating, interpreting, presenting.

THE MATERIALITY OF THE INVISIBLE is one of the themes the partners of NEARCH aim to explore. This theme offers a hitherto unknown opportunity to research in practice the interaction between artists and archaeologists, to work together in close confines, to profoundly exchange information and to thoroughly questioning both professions in an age of change and fluctuating cultural attitudes.

The starting point for this fellowship is the idea that all that is visible expresses what is invisible – be it a photograph, a house, a fragment, a day in my life, an artwork, a car in the street. And, similarly, all that is material stresses its immateriality - be it a ruin, a beam of light, a polished surface, a movie, a church. This is the tension of THE MATERIALITY OF THE INVISIBLE and of the working processes of artists and archaeologists.

What we are offering:

• 4 positions at the Van Eyck for a period of 6 months with the possibility of an extension depending on your project. The starting date will be fixed in mutual agreement

• A monthly stipend, a studio and a working budget

• A travel budget to visit excavations and to collaborate closely with one of NEARCH's partners

• The support of Jan van Eyck's advisors, the use of its Labs and its multidisciplinary community

• Participation in the general meetings with NEARCH's partners

• Presentation of your work at the 2017 exhibition

Please note: there is a mandatory application fee.

The NEARCH programme brings together the following research organizations, universities and European cultural institutions :

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece ) Heritage Institute of Science - National Research Council (Spain ), Institute of artistic, cultural and natural heritage of the Emilia -Romagna region (Italy); Culture Lab (Belgium ) Faculty Archaeology at the University of Leiden (Netherlands ) Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland ), Archaeology Data Service , University of York ( UK ) German Archaeological Institute (Germany ), Jan van Eyck Academie (Netherlands ) CENTQUATRE - Paris ( France ), University of Oxford ( UK ), University of Gothenburg (Sweden). - Associated Partners : Archaeology Unit of the city of Saint- Denis , EAA - European Association of Archaeologists , ICAHM - International Scientific Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management.