How does a factory town that produces glass become a factory town that produces refuge?
Rejmyre Art Lab invites artists from fine, performing and craft backgrounds, who are engaged with conceptual and contextual practices, to participate in a funded eight-week, production-based residency in Rejmyre, Sweden, in the spring and summer of 2023. Rejmyre has, since 2009, played host to a long-term, place-based, artistic research project with a focus on site-responsive practice.
Rejmyre itself is located amongst the forests and lakes two hours southwest of Stockholm. With a population of approximately 1000, Rejmyre is a small factory town centred around the Reijmyre Glasbruk, a glass factory founded in 1810 and still in operation.
One of the Rejmyre Art Lab’s primary research themes has, since 2018, been refuging: an exploration of how giving/taking refuge, as an act and practice, can be developed and facilitated through multiple artistic interactions and interventions. The theme has been developed by the project’s research leader Daniel Peltz, who, together with artistic director Sissi Westerberg, will introduce the theme and projects developed thus far during the residency.
The residency itself consists of a funded eight week working period, with six weeks on site in Rejmyre:
- One week of Ensemble Residency: 24-30 April 2023.
- Individual research and production on site in Rejmyre: 1 May - 5 June 2023.
- Reflection and post-production, off site: two weeks of work spread out over the summer and autumn of 2023.
Applications are invited from artists, working in any medium, who are interested in engaging their practices in exploring the research topic of ‘refuging’. International and Nordic/Baltic artists receive a participation stipend of 24,000 SEK, material/production stipend up to 12,500 SEK, travel stipend, housing in Rejmyre (individual bedrooms with shared bathroom and shared communal spaces), shared production space in historic early 20th century factory buildings with the possibility of individual (bookable) space, and 1 communal lunch per week.
