Category: 2024

Open call for residencies 2025

We are thrilled to announce the open call for our artist residencies during 2025! Centered around the theme of “Hearsay”, this residency invites artists to delve into the dynamics of unverified information, rumors, and misunderstandings, exploring how these narratives influence society, culture, and individual perceptions.

In today’s society, visuals often dominate the way we communicate information. However, as artists, we have the power to challenge this norm. Can we transcend the visual and utilize other senses to spread information? Our goal is to connect and communicate with the world through our work. How can we enhance communication through various senses, examining how triggering new senses can either clarify or distort the messages we aim to convey?

The “Hearsay” residency provides a unique platform for artists to investigate and reflect around the nature and impact of hearsay, unverified information and lies, exploring how we can communicate through our art. 

This residency is open to artists of all mediums. If you are an art critic, stay tuned for our art critics Open call this autumn.

This is what the Platform board members think about this years theme:

“Hearsay has political, social and tangible consequences. I also like the intangible aspects of hearing and saying as in the use of senses excluding the visual or letting it take the back seat.”

“How much art do you think you’ve only experienced through someone else’s explanation? For me it’s a lot.”

“Lately, I’ve been fascinated by a condition called synesthesia. A condition where information that is meant to trigger one sense also triggers another. For example, when you hear a tone or a melody, you can clearly perceive colors and shapes “in your mind”. I think we can all recognize ourselves in this state to some extent, which in turn means that our senses are not as black and white as we thought.”

Platform is an art organization based in Vasa, a relatively peripheral Finnish town. We run an art space and a residency to offer live experiences of different perspectives in a location where this would otherwise be limited.

We offer Accommodation, travel expenses (one return trip, cheapest possible) and a working grant (based on per diem, approx. 300 € per week). We also offer a small production budget of 1000 €, which the artist may reimburse by presenting original receipts of purchases, specifically connected to the project produced during the residency. The apartment is located near the city center in Vaasa and is not shared with anyone else. There is a bike, a set of tools and equipment available for the artist. There is wireless broadband access in the apartment. Platform does not at the moment house a studio, however a project space in the city center is available. The planned projects have to take this into account, space can be rented or borrowed if needed for the realization of the project and has to be negotiated in advance. The artist is given a contact person who is in charge of necessary arrangements, if any additional assistance is needed it has to be agreed upon well in advance.

We ask the artist to give a public talk, performance or workshop about his/her/their work or an introduction to themselves at the beginning of the residency. We expect the artist to be able to communicate in English, Swedish or Finnish. We require the artist to spend at least 80% of the residency’s duration in Vaasa and the working grant is proportional to days spent in Vaasa. The artists are required to submit documentation of the produced project to Platform, as well as press release / information text / informal report or equivalent.

Application procedure:

Please follow these instructions closely. Applications not following these requirements will not be considered. We require the artist to send a digital application to platform.rf@gmail.com with the subject ‘Residency Application 2025’ by the 28th July 2024. The application should be sent as  ONE  Pdf document with your full name as the title of the document. Don’t paste any relevant information in the email that is not part of the PDF.

Please include the following in the PDF (one pdf in total!):

1.An informal project plan and motivation letter, max 1 page. The aim of the letter should be describing the kind of project you imagine doing in Vaasa, your motivation to apply for this residency, your expectations and how your project or previous projects relate to this year’s theme. The project plan should also include your preferred period of time and how many months you want to stay during 2025.  Also state if the time period is relevant for the project as well as clearly state what time/ times that aren’t suitable.

We are looking for artists that can stay up to 3 months, but 1-2 months requests will also be considered. Duos are also welcome to apply.

2.Descriptions and images of 5 previous projects or artworks. For videos, please add direct links to websites in the PDF.

3.A CV of max two pages, including: name, date and place of birth, current location as well as email and phone number.

The application shall occupy no more than 12 pages and 5 mb. The board of Platform will make the selection. All artists will receive a notification by mid Octobre. The board is under no obligation to justify the selection. If you have questions about the residency please ask them well before the deadline.

 Best

Platform Team

Jenni, Johan, Geir, Sara, Zarah, Niklas and Alexandra

31st May – Tiny Desk Concert – Platform
Sudan Tiny Desk

19.30, Kyrkoesplanaden 20 D

Performance with slides of the greed and genocide in Sudan.
There are two sides of me as an artist. One that is happy to share my mission and commitment to uncovering the self, to show you the musical magic and potential of random musicians from different mastery levels. The other side is how we align to fulfil my assertion that art is not merely a tool for entertainment but an opportunity for positive activism. This night I share with you the plight of neo-colonialsm, slides of the greed and militarized genocide through the lense of Sudan. We begin with a lullaby to pacify and mourn the wounded, we end with high notes and hope, in the spirit of standing in solidarity and protest.

An @hamc.gh production with support from Platform, Rainbow Alliance, Vaasa for Palestine

LINK TO EVENT: https://fb.me/e/1UgZGQZdO

1st June – Tiny Desk Concert – DooBop, Vaasa.
Congo Tiny Desk  

19.30, Handelsesplanaden 12

Performance with slides about the neglect and abuse of Congo.

While Big Tech and the world’s imperial and capitalist powers keep aligning to ignore the rot and spoils they’re being accused of; tampering with the heart of Africa, stealing lands, forcing millions into tiny encampments and releasing rebels onto indigenous people so they can flee their homes and leave their lands bare for the scavengers to mine cobalt and other minerals that makes the west smart and a luxury the battered Congolese cannot afford or are denied, My band and I want to remind the world that we are watching. We’ll keep talking, we’ll keep playing to challenge the west gaslighting everyone that slavery and colonialism is over when the Congo is a panting testimony of these atrocities. We may not have power but we have a language everyone understands! Awareness is a good place to start. Music shoots the heart faster.

An @hamc.gh production with support from Platform, Rainbow Alliance, Vaasa for Palestine

LINK TO EVENT: https://fb.me/e/3MUBP3pg5

14th June – Concert in Protest – City Square, Vaasa.
Gay, Black and Palestine

20.15, Vasa city square.

Performance with messages from Palestine and solidarity with black and brown communities suffering genocides and homophobia.

My time in residency here in Vaasa has been leading to this moment. The universe aligned to equip and empower me with friendships, courage, access and talents; the tools one needs to simply proclaim that human life matters these days. These extraordinary days where oppression is the norm and standing up to it is the crime! So here’s me and my band, committing crimes of music and love, spreading messages from places being actively bombed and genocided, from places where being black means you’re invisible until there’s a gun pointed at you, from places where even identifying as a queer person can tantamount years in jail if you’re not mobbed to death. I sing about my homecountry, Ghana, homophobic and undemocratic. My band preaches fundamental human rights for all!

An @hamc.gh production with support from Platform, Rainbow Alliance, Vaasa for Palestine