FORTHCOMING PROGRAM

We are pleased to share provisional details with you on several forthcoming projects…

 

SONGS OF THE EARTH, INTERNATIONAL MAHLER RESIDENCIES

Bringing together leading musicians from Europe to China for a unique set of cultural encounters fostering creative excellence, openness, professional collaboration and friendship. Over a five year long series of residencies at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios, participants will create a 21st century ‘Song of the Earth’ inspired by Gustav Mahler’s ground-breaking symphony of the same name, a work that combined ancient Chinese poetry and European music with unique depth and sensitivity. The residencies will culminate in a land journey from Budapest to Beijing via Istanbul, Yerevan and Tashkent, where the ensemble will perform their new work alongside Mahler’s original. For each residency a composer and a traditional-instrument soloist from

one of the five cities will be invited to create a movement of the new piece: sharing melodies, ideas and techniques from their various traditions and cultures. Key part- ners: The Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra, Budapest Music Centre, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Yerevan International Music Festival, Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, Beijing Music Festival.

 

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE AND BRONWYN LACE:
THE CENTRE FOR THE LESS GOOD IDEA

The Mahler & LeWitt Studios will host The Centre for the Less Good Idea for a workshop residency. Founded in 2016 in Johannesburg (South Africa), The Centre for the Less Good Idea creates space for responsive thinking through experimental, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary arts practices. Both an incubator for artistic projects and a place for creative encounters, it is aimed at young artists – musicians, dancers, playwrights, choreographers and more – from the local and international scene, many of whom hail from the African continent. The methodology and philosophy of The Centre for the Less Good Idea is based on the conviction that pursuing the ‘less good idea’, i.e. the one born on the margins by chance or due to an error, very often paves the way for the most inventive works. Led by William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace, artists from South Africa will come together with European artists, as well as students from Italian schools and universities, undertaking collective explorations and sharing their experiences with the public.

 

SOL LEWITT SCHOOLS PROJECT

Building on the success of our Anna Mahler Schools Project in partnership with the Liceo Artistico di Spoleto, we will design a year-long syllabus for high-school students, of all the arts, inspired by the work of Sol LeWitt. The project will be led by Mahler & Lewitt Studios curators and former artists in residence, as well as the liceo professors. Forty 16–17 year olds from the school will gain a deep understanding of LeWitt’s work whilst developing their own projects exploring related themes. At its conclusion, Spoleto’s gallery of modern art will host a related exhibition. Key partners: Liceo Artistico di Spoleto, Musei Civici di Spoleto, Comune di Spoleto.

 

SHOCK FOREST GROUP

Shock Forest Group (SFG) is a decentralized collective con- sisting of artists, activists, ecologists, musicians and research- ers who believe in the spiritual and material entanglement of the world and see creative emancipation in acts of collective thinking, which exceed strict categories and divisions. SFG is an experiment in presence, open research and improvisation that involves opportunities for community engagement, public performance, collective improvisation, and other forms of experiments in radical presence. SFG will participate in a two-phase residency project at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in partnership with Viaindustriae, Fuori Festival, and the Spoleto Festival. In the first phase, the collective will explore their key research areas – relationships between technology, ecology and violence, and the radical potentiality of the collective imagination in addressing these themes – whilst drawing on local histories and geographies. The second phase will take a pedagogic approach: SFG will form a New Temporary Shock Forest Group, open to all applicants. Participants will join a collective learning environment and an open research process to reflect on questions at the centre of SFG’s investigations. The active members of the collective are: Katya Abazajian, Sheryn Akiki, Axel Coumans, Susanna Gonzo, Nicolas Jaar, Daria Kiseleva and Jelger Kroese. Key partners: Fuori Festival, Spoleto Festival dei Due Monid, Viaindustriae.

 

PREMIO CARANDENTE

The Musei Civici di Spoleto (which includes Palazzo Collicola Galleria d’Arte Moderna G. Carandente) and the Mahler & LeWitt Studios will co-host the Premio Carandente (working title). An artist will be awarded a long-term residency, up to 4 months across a 9 month period, during which time they will develop a new body of work to be exhibited in several of the Musei Civici (Palazzo Collicola, Chiesa SS Giovanni e Paolo, Casa Romana, MUTECO, Museo delle Miniere). Giovanni Carandente curated the visual arts aspects of the first editions of the Spoleto Festival, giving the town an international repu- tation for supporting cutting edge art. The permanent collection at the Palazzo Collicola draws heavily on his personal collection and archive, which he gifted to the city. In particu- lar, Carandente is remembered for placing contemporary art in the public realm, for example with his major 1962 exhibition, co-curated with Alberto Zanmatti, ‘Sculture nella città’. The Premio Carandente residency commission asks artists to take a 21st century approach to Carandente’s legacy, questioning the role of art in the public realm today and proposing new types of engagement with the social, architectural and environmental fabric of the city.

 

OPEN CALLS

Whilst also developing new Open Call partnerships, we will continue a number of our established opportunities including:

  • Andrew Mangold music residency at Casa Mahler A research residency open to all composers.
  • Ivan Juritz Prize: Two week workshop for graduates of European arts university courses with prizes in Image, Sound and Text.
  • Fitzcarraldo Editions / Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize Residency and book deal award for unpublished writers.
  • Yale School of Art x Yale University Art Gallery: Research residency for graduates of YSA with mentoring from YUAG curators.