In April 2020, as a reaction to international travel restrictions, the St. Petersburg Art Residency launched #VirtualSPAR — a virtual residency program for art professionals around the world. It serves as a community space to share one's work and creative process, meet like-minded colleagues, exchange and network. Besides that, virtual artists-in-residence open their studios for online visits via Instagram-live, gather at Zoom-cafés for discussions, as well as participate in online exhibitions.

With the beginning of the pandemic, art residencies around the world found themselves in a crisis situation. Many programs and projects were suspended, and some were even closed. New circumstances and restrictions imposed in connection with COVID-19 make us reconsider not only the format and mechanisms of art residences, but also the concept of travel as such.

Virtual art residencies appeared many years ago, along with the development of digital art and net art. However, in 2020, this format has become particularly relevant and almost the only one possible for international programs. The residences are temporarily unable to accept participants from other countries in person and are looking for new opportunities to continue their activities.

#VirtualSPAR accepts applications from artists of various media, curators, and researchers to participate in a three-week virtual residency. You can fill out the form on the program's website: virtualresidency.p-10.ru/apply by briefly presenting an idea for future publications and a link to your portfolio.

#VirtualSPAR Season 2 took place with support of the International Relief Fund of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners: www.goethe.de/relieffund

Currently: UK-focused Season 3 "Making Space" with support of the Cultural and Educational Section of the British Embassy Moscow and in collaboration with ACME Artist Studios London. (11.01.21-08.02.21)