tell us about you mobility experiences

As I work in the field of performing arts, I am very mobile, in my body,in my city and in the world, but usually I travel with my projects and not so much to residencies. Anyway there are many more possibilities for residencies for vusual artists. may that be so, one very good experience for me was when I had a grant to spend one year in New York. The grant was not connected to too much conditions, so I could live my life there as free as one can wish for, specially because the grant was financially comfortable and with that I was financially free.It turned out that without a MUST, a must to produce, a must to work, or any other must this year became an extremely creative one and fruitfull. With all the time in the world to do or to do not I spend my time learning new methods, thinking a lot and creating and meeting and discussing and what have you. As an artist it was exactly the right thing at the right time as it turned out to be a real transition in my work and a huge artistical and not to be separated from that also a personal development.

I have experienced three residencies now, the best one being the one in the Netherlands, because it was the most supportive (financially, practically, morally, etc) The Netherlands is a heaven for artists. That was through the pepinieres. It also gave me the means to realize ideas I had had for a while, but lacked the contact, the prestige, the MONEY to make them. I'm still reaping the fruits of that project. It has initiated a whole new way of working. I'm doing a third "sequel" now, for which I got a small grant from the City of Chicago. What I'm doing now, would not have been possible without this initial residency. So I guess one residency leads to the next, and one grant leads to the next one (I think this is especially true of grants). I would highly recommend attending any grant writing workshop available, they are always helpful. And remember, every grant agency has its own culture, so it is very important to assess whether your project fits in that culture, and if so what is the best phrasing to convey how you fit in? This fitting needs to be genuine, it can't be faked. So it requires a lot of self criticism. It's not about tayloring your project to this or that agency/residency. It's more like meeting someone. You either get along or you don't. Somewhere out there, there is a place for you project. You have to be persistent until you find that almost perfect match. The other very important thing is to be very pro-active. Provoke things, make them happen. Contact people, don't wait for them to find you, research residencies, grants etc. It's part of your schedule, out of studio time.

I’ve been travelling a lot for exhibitions. I love the experience of going somewhere, especially if I’ve never been there before, and than build up an exhibition in a gallery, or any other artists space. My last experience with an exhibition in China, was amazing, because it was the first exhibition I build up with no stress whatsoever. Although we had only 3 days to set up everything, everyone around me was relaxed and easy going, that everything went smoothly and with no problems. My first exhibition ever, made possible without stress. Needless to say, with travelling you meet different people, and your network expands. Especially I enjoy in collaborations that inevitably happen on the spot, and once we are all back home, to our “real lifes”, sometimes it happens that the understanding/collaborating between the two or more artists was only possible on the spot, and while being back home, some people return to their usual state of mind and forget what once happened. What I always bring back from my traveling is inspiration from the different experiences and reflection on it.