Writers-in-Residence

In 2024, the Salzburger Kunstverein, in partnership with ocula.com, launched a pioneering Writers-in-Residence program, designed to nurture the craft of art writing about contemporary art. The month-long residency provides a fertile ground for writers to advance their projects while engaging with the art community in Salzburg.

Residents are invited to produce two texts that resonate with the Salzburger Kunstverein’s programming. These contributions will not only receive financial compensation but will also be published on Ocula’s platform, thereby aligning with the shared goal of both organizations to champion the finest in contemporary art and art writing.

The residency package includes accommodation in a studio apartment, a scholarship of € 900, use of a bicycle for local transportation, health insurance coverage, editorial mentorship from Ocula magazine and networking opportunities.

The open call for our inaugural art writing residency conceived in partnership with OCULA Magazine, saw over 200 applicants respond from around the world.

‘I speak for the jury when I say that we were struck by the sheer volume of truly impressive applicants, which reinforces why programmes like this are so necessary,’ said juror Kate Sutton.

Sutton is one of three jury members who selected the first writers to partake in the 2024 art writing residency at Salzburger Kunstverein. The jury also comprised Mirela Baciak, director of Salzburger Kunstverein, and Ocula’s editorial director, Anna Dickie.

The programme supports art writers of all ages by providing an opportunity to work on their own projects. Residents are further invited to produce two texts that resonate with Salzburger Kunstverein’s exhibition and performance programme to be published on Ocula.

In discussing the final selection of residents, Mirela Baciak confirmed, ‘Among the applicants, we sought those whose work demonstrated not just an understanding of contemporary art, but a personal style which helped them stand out. We wanted each person to show the ability to connect the dots between art and the dialogues/discourses it engages with—be it cultural, political, or social—extending the conversation beyond the confines of the museum’s walls. I am very excited about the diversity of approaches to art writing among the 2024 residents.’

The 2024 residents are:

Tristan Bera is an author, researcher, and cultural voyeur, whose practice spans critical and fictional writing, curating, filmmaking, and staged performances. His writing featured in artpress, The Art Newspaper France, and exhibitions catalogues at Centre Pompidou Paris and Metz, and more.

John Alexis Balaguer is a Manila-based curator, critic, and cultural worker teaching Fine Arts at University of the Philippines. Balaguer worked as Curatorial Researcher at Ayala Museum and Gallery Manager at Archivo 1984. He founded Curare Art Space and contributes curatorial texts to Manila art galleries, and reviews to publications Kanto and ArtAsiaPacific.

Alina Șerban is an art historian, curator, and writer. She co-founded the Institute of the Present, Bucharest, and founded the publishing programme P+4 Publications. Her research focuses on topics dealing with exhibition histories and non-linear historiographies of post-war Eastern European art.

Žanete Liekīte is an independent curator and writer who collaborates with institutions in the Baltic States and abroad, including Kim? Contemporary Art Centre and LOW Gallery in Riga, and Smack Mellon in New York City. She is a contributor to Satori and Echo Gone Wrong.

Valentin Diaconov is a critic and curator. He writes about Russian Constructivism and other techno-utopian movements of the 1910 and 20s, and the belief systems that inform various artistic practices. From 2016 to 2022, he worked as curator at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, and from 2022 to 2023 was a Core Residency Fellow at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Diaconov is currently a resident at Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston.

The residency is made possible through the financial support of Austria’s Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture (BMKÖS).