CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, associated with the Pierides Foundation invites artists to apply for a six-week Summer Residency Program, with title “THIS IS NOT THAT” dedicated to fostering creative experimentation, dialogue, and exchange. Located in the heart of Nicosia, the residency provides NiMAC’s spaces for artists to work on-site for the whole duration of the residency, a supportive environment for artists to develop their practice, and technical support to materialize their ideas and projects. These newly designed residencies are a unique opportunity for artists to work in a shared gallery space, develop a community of practice, and explore new artistic directions.
Program Overview
- Title: THIS IS NOT THAT
The NiMAC Summer Residency Program aims to offer space for diverse art projects to evolve in an open studio format, with the potential to be informed by professional visits, and favoring an open-ended process rather than a rigid framework. As the title suggests, proposed projects can take multiple directions, embrace humor and experimentation, while at the same time engaging with topics relevant, but not limited, to fabrications, mythologies, illusions, silences, discrepancies, glitches in histories/narratives, language, the natural or the built environment, the political landscape, social media and AI.
- Duration: 6 weeks (June 16 – July 25, 2025)
- Location: NiMAC, Nicosia
- Who Can Apply: Emerging and established artists
What We Offer
- Studio Space: Artists will be allocated space in the galleries of NiMAC, which will be transformed into open studios for the duration of the residency. Working surfaces (tables, chairs will be offered). Artists will be responsible for bringing their own materials and specialized equipment, ensuring compliance with health and safety guidelines while respecting the shared workspace.
- Technical support: Artists will have technical support and access to NiMAC’s audio-visual equipment.
- Workshops: Artists will have access to NiMAC’s workshop areas and facilities (i.e. printmaking facilities, engraving facilities, construction lab) with the support of NiMAC’s technical team during their working hours (Monday to Friday, 8:00am – 3:00pm).
- Mentorship & Critique: Opportunities for studio visits and feedback from curators and art professionals will be organized.
- Public Engagement: During the six weeks of the residency program informal “Meet the Artists” events will be organized, during which the artists-in-residence will have the opportunity to share their projects and practice with the public. Exact dates/times TBA after consultation with the artists in residence.
- Networking Opportunities: Interaction with other artists and curators.
- Open Studio / Exhibition Final Event: Artists will have the opportunity to exhibit / present their process and final work during a celebratory pre-summer event open to the public.
- Artist Fee: 500 euros
Working Hours:
NiMAC will be open for the artists to work during the following hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Friday 8:00am – 3:00pm
Wednesday & Thursday 8:00am – 7:00pm
Expectations
Artists-in-residence are encouraged to develop new work, conduct research, or explore site-specific projects. At the end of the residency, participants will have the opportunity to share their work through a public presentation/ exhibition in an open studio format event.
Selection Process
Artists will be selected through a competitive application process. Interested applicants must submit a proposal as indicated below, which will be reviewed by a selection committee. Selection will be based on artistic merit, relevance to the residency’s theme/title, and the feasibility of the proposed project.
Selection Committee:
Dr Elena Stylianou, Director of NiMAC
Dr Stylianou is the Director of NiMAC [Nicosia Municipal Arts Center, associated with the Pierides Foundation] and Associate Professor in Art and Art History at European University Cyprus. She researches, writes, and curates at the crossings of the history and theory of photography, modern and contemporary art, and museum and curatorial practices. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes and is the co-editor of Contemporary Art from Cyprus: Politics, Identities and Cultures Across Borders (Bloomsbury, Spring 2021), Ar(t)chaeology: Intersections of Art and Archaeology (IAPT Press, 2019), and Museums and Photography: Displaying Death (Routledge, 2018). She is currently editing a special journal issue on the theme of “Disrupting the Archive: Processes of decolonization and photography in Cyprus”. She is a recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Getty-CAA grant, a Fulbright scholarship, and an ArtTable Curatorial Fellowship. She has curated several exhibitions in Cyprus and is the lead researcher in many EU funded projects on cultural heritage.
Nikolaos Akritidis, Independent Curator, Geographer
Nikolaos Akritidis is a curator and geographer based in Brussels. His work documents urban contexts, the cultural memory carried by their inhabitants, and the histories found between layers of the built environment. With a focus on urban ecology and experiences of migration, Akritidis traces the coexistence of human and more-than-human lives that give breath to the city’s constant state of becoming. A graduate of Goldsmiths and UCL, he has recently curated projects in partnership with the Cité internationale des arts (Paris), koraï project space (Nicosia), Fondations 312 (Brussels), and the UCL Urban Lab (London).
Dr Esra Plümer Bardak, Art Historian, Researcher
Esra Plümer Bardak is an art historian, writer, and researcher based in Nicosia. Her research specialises in modern and contemporary artistic practices, focusing on strategies related to the history of psychoanalysis, the rethinking of art historical narratives, and the formation of canons within conflicting histories and archives. She has curated several exhibitions reflecting her research in the UK, Turkey, and across the divide in Cyprus. Her writing has been published as monographic books, interpretative essays, and as contributions to scientific journals and edited volumes, including Contemporary Art in Cyprus (Bloomsbury, 2021), Theorising the Artist Interview (Routledge, 2024), and Surrealist Women and Mental Illness (Manchester University Press, 2026).
How to Apply
Applicants should submit a single PDF file (in English) including:
- A CV and short bio (maximum 3 pages)
- A portfolio (maximum of 20 pages including website link if applicable)
- A brief proposal outlining the project and goals for residency (500-700 words) within the open-ended and ubiquitous title “This is Not That”. If there are specific technical support requirements, these should be indicated in the proposal.
Important Dates:
Deadline for Applications: April 25, 2025
Notifications to artists: May 10, 2025
Beginning of Residency: June 16, 2025
End of Residency: July 25, 2025
Apply at: info@nimac.org.cy and with Subject: Summer Residencies
For any inquiries, please contact us at: 22797394 during office hours (Mοn-Fri 8:30-15:00).