Berlin Residency
2019
In 2019 I was fortunate enough to receive a Create NSW Fellowship to attend a residency at the Berlin Art Institute for four months – a truly incredible experience and one that had significant impact on me as both an artist and human.
I was also able to spend 2 weeks in New York City and marvel at the collections at the Met, Whitney, Guggenheim and many, many artist-run initiatives in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I was suitable agog not just at the quality and quantity of the art I saw, but at the energy and scale of such an incredible city.
The BAI provided me with a grand studio in Weissensee, a constantly changing group of fellow artists from all over the globe, guest lecturers, insightful critiques and access to the contemporary art scene of Berlin. The Institute’s founder’s, Ralf Schmidt and Stephanie Rasmus are highly regarded and well-known figures in the cultural landscape of Berlin and were able to organise studio visits to some of the world’s leading contemporary artists. Australia, and my small part of it, was suddenly a long way away.
I thrived. It was possibly the most productive period in my career. I don’t think I slept more than a few hours each night – there was so much to see and I was determined to spend as much time as I humanly could in my studio. I had significant breakthroughs, challenging critiques, amazing and exhaustive discussions and made lifelong friends. I was offered a small exhibition at the conclusion of the residency which can be viewed here:
Before returning to Australia I was able to spend a few weeks visiting a number of cities and their galleries. Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Amsterdam
My eternal thanks to both the BAI & Create NSW
