Create an art project which you will present at Malta Festival Poznań 2020! We have started recruiting artists, musicians, researchers and activists to create art projects for Generator Malta, the festival’s community art programme. Water Is You will feature projects from the field of art and activism set within the local context of the bodies of water in Poznań. We are waiting for your applications until 15 April.
We are seeking artists, musicians, researchers and activists to submit their ideas for Water Is You, a project comprising community art and educational activities, interactive installations and interdisciplinary events, which tell our stories from the perspective of water. Each project should focus on one of the bodies of water in Poznań: a lake, pond or wetland, a river, stream or brook or a swimming pool, canal or reservoir. The selected projects will feature in the Generator Malta programme. Each will receive funding of up to 3000 zlotys (gross). For more details please see the recruitment terms available on www.malta-festival.pl.
For eight years now, Generator Malta has been a temporary community centre on Liberty Square, as well as the Malta Festival community art programme. The programme focuses on various themes, including human rights, urbanisation, migration and nature, thereby promoting social empathy, dialogue and the value of art. This year, Generator Malta will focus on water. The programme is organised by Joanna Pańczak.
– When the water level in the Rusałka lake falls, it exposes the matzevot placed there to build the bottom of the artificial lake by the Jewish prisoners of Nazi labour camps. When the Konin Lignite Mine razes yet another village to the ground pumping out hectolitres of groundwater to build more mines, the piers on the surrounding lakes look as if they had been washed ashore and thousands of plants and animals die. When the World Bank coerces the Bolivian government into privatising water supplies, the price per litre divides people into those who enjoy running water, those who queue for water with their canisters, and those who have lost their lives fighting for public access to water. When water starts to take the shape (and chemical composition) of plastic bottles, the UN proclaims it a human right and Slovenia is the first EU country to include it in its constitution as a common resource, not a commodity. When a Poznań-based feminist group teaches freediving to people of different levels of ability, the classes start with empowerment, Wen-Do and stress management, and end with rescuing the coral reef off the Mexican coast.
Neutral water is entangled by people in political games, the sins of capitalism and holiday fantasies, as if its physical properties were there to exploit them; properties that let it resound with its surroundings, record their shape and temperature, reflect the landscape and witness situations, both ordinary and unthinkable.
Water is an environment, a tangible document of our activity. Water tells our story. It is a boundary that marks the divide into ‘us’ and ‘them;’ an obstacle for those who seek shelter from wars and dictators; an archive of the Anthropocene; a mirror of climate change; a common resource which we can kill for. It is a privilege and a right. It is a risk and a pleasure. It is an element and a victim. It is a challenge. It is life. Water is You – the idea of the open call.
Malta Festival Poznań will take place between 19 and 18 June in Poznań. We look forward to seeing you at our special 30th anniversary edition.
The deadline for submission of projects has been extended to 15 April 2020. The announcement of results has been postponed to 20 April.
IMPORTANT DATES
Recruitment: 10 March to 15 April
Recruitment results: 20 April
Realisation: Malta Festival Poznań 2020 (19 to 28 June 2020)
COSTS
Maximum cost per project: 3000 zlotys (gross), including 1600 zlotys (gross) for the project creators’ fees and a production budget of 1400 zlotys (gross).
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for Water Is You, please fill the application form (download here) and email it to generator@malta-festival.pl by 15 April 2020.