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Artistic Residencies

Oriente Occidente Studio is a great space for artist residencies and each year we host artists and companies who come here to study and unleash their creative talents.

Oriente Occidente Studio is part of the broader Regional residency centre of Trentino Alto Adige/Südtirol, PASSO NORD together with Centrale Fies, Compagnia Abbondanza/Bertoni, Cooperativa Teatrale Prometeo and Teatro Cristallo.

Many artists have come and gone over the years, making the most of their artist residency experience and time at Oriente Occidente Studio to rehearse, study and work.

Some of them have been for a while or still are our associate artists.

D.Arte: Choreography and Visual Arts

In 2024, we launched the D.Arte project in collaboration with Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto to explore the dialogue between dance and visual arts. The initiative includes choreographic interventions in museum spaces, creating unprecedented connections between the body, architecture, and artworks.

New Call for Proposals 2025/2026

For the 2025/2026 biennium, we are launching an open call for the selection of two performers, choreographers, collectives, or companies interested in working in museum spaces to develop a performative project through two artistic residencies (2025 and 2026).

The call is open to artists, collectives, and companies from any geographical background, with any physical characteristic, working in the field of performing arts and focusing their research on the body and movement.

The theme of the call is the relationship between the body and the museum experience, understood in its complexity as an interaction with architecture, exhibited artworks, and, more specifically, the relationship between visitors and the museum environment.

Artists will be supported by a joint curatorial mentorship provided by Oriente Occidente and Mart throughout the different phases of the creative process. Additionally, visitor behavior data will be made available to support their research. During the residencies, artists will have access to our Studio and the museum.

Public Showings

Two public showings are planned: the first, a studio presentation, will take place at the end of the first residency phase on October 4, 2025, as part of the Giornata del Contemporaneo (Contemporary Art Day). The second, a final performance, will be held in 2026 at the end of the project.

Financial Support

Each selected project will receive €8,000.00 gross, covering transfer and accommodation costs. The compensation will be disbursed by Oriente Occidente in two installments: the first upon the studio presentation and the second upon the final performance. The organization will cover the basic technical equipment and any required SIAE fees.

Timeline
  • April 30th, 2025 – Open call launch

  • June 6th, 2025 – Application deadline

  • June 25th, 2025 – Announcement of selected artists

  • September 27th - October 3rd, 2025 – 2025 residency

  • October 4th, 2025 – Studio presentation

  • 2026 – Second residency and final performance presentation (dates tbc)

Application Submission

Applications must be submitted by 2 PM on June 6th, 2025, by filling out the form available at this link. No other application methods will be accepted.

Selection Committee

The projects will be selected by a Committee composed of:

  • Lanfranco Cis – Artistic Director, Oriente Occidente

  • Cecilia Canziani – Curator and Professor, Rome

  • Linda Dipietro – Artistic Director, Base Milano

  • Denis Isaia – Deputy Director, Collections Office, Mart

The organisation may conduct a pre-selection and online interviews before the commission makes the final selection.

Click here to read the full call.

For further information: lucrezia.stenico@orienteoccidente.it

How to apply for our residency programme

Oriente Occidente aims at the promotion and development of the system of artistic residencies, as a method of contemporary art production and development of innovative and unpublished works through an accompaniment in the different stages of creation able to stimulate and foster the growth of a professional and artistic path.

Every autumn, we open a call for applications to support artists, collectives and companies based both in Italy or abroad, working in the performing arts, and developing research on the body and movement. In 2025 they will come to our Studio:

This year we received about 300 applications. The winners are selected by a commission as follows:

In the evaluation of projects, the following were considered preferential requirements:

  • research processes that can find connections with the territory, cultivate relationships and a sense of community

  • research processes that enhance the culture of diversity and accessibility.

The projects selected by the call for proposals that are part of the artistic residency programme have access to:

  • a residency period of a minimum of 15 days (even if not continuous) in the spaces of Oriente Occidente Studio

  • an economic contribution clarified during the interview with the artistic direction

  • tutoring and accompaniment to creation by experts both from the performing arts sector and from other sectors, according to the needs of the individual projects

  • training or consultancy on organisation, production, communication, design, administration thanks to the skills of Oriente Occidente's staff.