LIA-PROGRAMME

LIA is a non-profit residency programme that fosters artists internationally by providing them with spacious studios and cultural support, as well as opportunities to exhibit both locally and abroad. The programme links young artists with the regional and international art community associated with the Spinnerei, connecting them with galleries, collectors, museums and art institutions.

In 2008 the programme helped its residents to become regulars at galleries, to exhibit in German museums, and show as guest artists in Galerie EIGEN + ART.
At LIA, both open studios and interdisciplinary panels offer the opportunity for a wider audience to access the world of art and to experience the place where art is created. In this way LIA aims to build a more personal connection between the artist and the audience encouraging discussions about art in the artists actual studio. Guest critics, such as professor of aesthetics, Bazon Brock, who attended in November 2008, are invited to contribute to these discussions.

LIA enjoys fruitful partnerships with prestigious international art institutions such as: The Christoph Merian Foundation, Basel; The Japan Foundation, Tokyo; The New York Academy of Art, NYC; and The Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam. Together, alongside the programme’s main sponsor, BMW Plant Leipzig, our partners made it possible for fourteen artists from nine different countries to take part in the LIA programme in 2008. Artists from Australia, Japan, Ireland, China, Switzerland, Sweden, Puerto Rico, the USA and the Ukraine were included. In 2009, Spain, Italy, France and the UK were added to the list of guest nations.

The programme is also supported by the Department for European and International Cooperation, Leipzig. This enables us to extend our hospitality to both Ukrainian and Ethiopian artists from our partner cities of Kiev and Addis Ababa. LIA is Leipzig’s official art residency programme, and Leipzig’s Lord Mayor, Burkhard Jung, is our patron.

Former and current artists enrolled in the programme: Nadja Bournonville, Sweden; Ariane Braillard, Switzerland/France; Osvaldo Budet, Puerto Rico; Ralph Bürgin, Switzerland; Antonio Bustos Segovia, Spain, Francesco Cincotta, Italy/USA; Song Kun, China; Chris Marshall, USA; Hannah Murgatroyd, England; Christina Nielsen-Marsh, Wales; Luzian Obrist, Switzerland; David O’Kane, Ireland; Aya Onodera, Japan; Revolutionary Experimental Space (R.E.P. Group), Ukraine; Shonah Trescott, Australia; Lada Nakonechna, Ukraine; Sergii Sabakar, Ukraine.

CONCEPT

LIA is a not-for-profit art institution. Its aim is to create a platform for international exchange, and while the programme will be open to every nationality, special consideration will be taken to support Eastern European and Asian participants. Fellowships will ensure that artists can live and work in Leipzig for long periods (three, six or twelve month), with studio and programme fees paid by sponsors. Studios will be located in »Hall 18« with ample living and working space. A shared project room, with exhibitions and panel discussions, is also planned. The programme is proposed to start in September 2007.

It is directed by Anna-Louise Kratzsch. She represents LIA in Germany and abroad. LIA will function within an already existing artistic and cultural network, generated by the atmosphere of the Spinnerei in Leipzig. Currently around one hundred twenty artists live and work in the cotton mills, where the not-for profit organisation Foundation Federkiel (www.federkiel.org) organizes regular exhibitions of social relevance, and where eleven internationally renowned commercial galleries currently operate.

 BENEFITS

• Low costs of living
• 83 qm studios with option to be lived in
• Foundation Federkiel, fostering contemporary art
• High ceilings, ideal for huge formats and art installations
• 11 galleries, art supply market boesner, shipping and print companies
• Location: 7 ha big historic cotton mill from 1884 with around 120 artists
• "Hall 18" is currently already used by renown artists as studio space
• Well connected, 1 hour by ICE train to Berlin or by Ryanair for Euro 10,00 to London