The intervention of an artist in a territory is, above all, an action supported by an institutional partner. It is also objectives, needs, beneficiaries. And people gathered, partnerships, timelines. However, introducing the act of creation in an environment governed by its own codes, rooted in habits, is an upheaval.
Stimultania identifies the issues and, within the framework set up, foresees an artist. An artist who disrupts the context, and who is disrupted, as well, in his practise by the context. He is not a mediator who reproduces on each occasion workshops tied around image education. He is a creator who invents, builds and doubts. Stimultania handles the choice of the words used and prefers talking about creation time rather than workshop, collective creations rather than works.
Faire les choses à moitié, Benoît Luisière and Stéphane Castet artist residency, 2018-2019 © Benoît Luisière
Stimultania chose Givors, south of Lyon, to open a second location between 2014 and 2026. Recognizing the area's creative potential, Stimultania decided in 2017 to establish an annual artist residency. Open to photographic artists, it offers space and time for experimentation, risk-taking, and creation in the heart of this town, which is seeing a decline in businesses but which no resident would want to leave.
In 2020, thanks to the system Capsules Established by the Ministry of Culture, the creative residency program is designed to be long-term. It then takes the name of 5 stars, Inspired by Jean Renaudie's Cité des Étoiles, an iconic architectural complex in Givors, but also by the idea of luxury and utopia. Givors is also at the crossroads of the Rhône river, the Gier river, the A47 motorway, the N86 national road and the Lyon/Saint-Étienne railway line.
In 2026, the residence 5 stars is transferred to Strasbourg.
The residency is aimed at all professional artists, individual entrepreneurs (artist-author) or micro-entrepreneurs, based in France and on European territory. Photography remains the main medium but Stimultania is open to multidisciplinary projects. The creation residency is not a commission, the artist remains master of his intention and the course of his creation. Stimultania supports the artist in his process, making available both his expertise in the world of photography and his knowledge of the territory.
Resources available
Remuneration: €4000 (including VAT) / Per diem: €500 (including VAT) / Copyright fees: €1000 (including VAT) / Travel and accommodation expenses reimbursed up to €1500 (including VAT) upon presentation of receipts / Production of the work: €1500 (including VAT) / Possibility of borrowing photo and sound equipment
Duration
Two months.
Selection methods
By invitation.
Obligations of residents
The artist manages his schedule as he wishes, according to the needs of his project but he must be present at least six weeks on site.
Actions towards the public
One of the main activities of the association being mediation with the public, Stimultania invites the artist to remain available for occasional exchanges with the inhabitants, but without imposing a shared creation and workshops.