The museum residence Artкommunalka. Erofeev and Others and autonomous non-commercial organization Kolomna Posad are holding an open international competition among artists and writers to receive grants for the realization of creative projects in the visual arts and literature in 2024-2025. Artists and writers who are prepared to create projects in accordance with the terms of the competition are invited to take part.

Artkommunalka. Erofeev and Others is the first museum residence with a grant programme in Russia founded in 2011 in Kolomna, Moscow Region. It is part of the museum that captures the feel of the 60s of the Soviet Kolomna era. The museum residence is a reconstructed communal apartment located in the very heart of old Kolomna, in the house where the Ogonyok grocery shop was located in the sixties. Venedikt Erofeev the author of the poem 'Moscow – Petushki' worked there as a laborer in the wine section, while studying at the local university. The recognized genius of Venedikt Erofeev's creative freedom has become the guiding light of the museum.

The art residence and literature residence work as an open laboratory and workshop all year round: each year artists and writers from Russia and abroad work here. Since 2011, over hundred artists and fifty writers have realized their creative projects in Artkommunalka. Their creative endeavor results in the exploration of new boundaries of visual art and literature, including those connected with a variety of creative interpretations of the historical heritage and modern culture of Kolomna.

The competition is to support the boldest and most radical creative projects in keeping with the spirit and objectives of developing modern art and literature. Attention to artistic interpretation of the Kolomna's modern life and heritage is welcome.


ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE FOCUS
– Contemporary visual arts: art projects revealing the artist's world and presenting the artist in their context.
– Modern prose, poetry and drama: the literature residence is a laboratory of meanings, a 'writer's study room' with the opportunity for communication with the public. The outcomes of the writing projects should be texts in Russian.
– Silk and weaving. A timely theme for Kolomna connected with the launch of the project to revive the art of the Kolomna silk weaving, to interpret the 'genome' of a textile Kolomna through contemporary art and creative writing.

For the first time Artkommunalka announces creative theme for the 2024 -2025 art season:
AND HOW IS YOUR RAIN?
…rain is the leg on which a thundercloud stands… When it rains, and especially when it pours, something ancient awakens in a person — the necessity is abolished — idleness is enforced — and here is the start for creativity. A person starts to recollect or dream, looking at the elements from his shelter — be it a cave or a house. In the rain, and especially in the downpour, there is everything for creativity: rhythms, beats, pauses, breathing, thunder, and silence. Memories are dreams about the past. Dreams are memories of the future.

We invite artists and writers to contribute to the development of the proposed theme through their residency in Kolomna.

More info here.