The Inside-Out Art Museum residency was one of the very first programs we visited during out research trip in 2013. After a hiatus, the residency is back with a new team and mission.
China Residencies: Welcome back to the residency scene! What's new since you've re-launched the program?
Yang Tiange: Thanks for your ongoing attention and support! Since we’ve re-launched, the biggest change is shifting the program from an “artist residency” to an “artistic practitioner residency,” which means in other words that we’ve widened the scope of potential applicants. This re-thinking is tied to the museum’s educational goals, which direct decisions about exhibition content, public education programming, as well as the residency program. In the past year, the Inside Out Museum fostered serious in-depth investigations and international discussions around history, inviting a great number of leading artists, curators, writers, scholars, and historians to take part in invigorating reflections and create exciting collisions between disciplines. Therefore, we also want to invite people with different artistic practices to the residency -- including artists, curators, writers, researchers, publishers, and so on -- to join in on our discussions and reflections.
Furthermore, our residency program strives to go beyond boundaries to recruit artistic practitioners through public open calls, as well as other specific channels. For example, we might work with other media platforms and share resources (in this case, we might be able to provide free accommodations), and we also sometimes selectively invite people we are excited to host. Additionally, we also have research residencies for practitioners whose work pairs well with our exhibitions (which usually include a research grant.) For example, on March 10th, to coincide with the opening of “New Moon: Zhao Wenliang, Yang Yushu retrospective", the Inside Out Museum set up a special research grant support one artist or researcher during the month-long duration of the exhibition to advance discussions around the two artists. We are also currently providing emergency studio accommodations to artists whose faced forced evictions across Beijing in the past year.
Given all the ways we have structured the residencies, the proportion of wide-open proposals we can support is rather small and quite selective. At the same time, we hope to continue to build ties with the other programs through China Residences and continue to share resources in the creative fields.
谢谢你们的关注和支持！新的驻留项目开启，最大的变化是从以前的“艺术家驻留”变成了“艺术实践者驻留”；换句话说，我们面向的受众更加广大了。之所以这么调整，是和我们美术馆的学术目标相关的。学术目标的调整直接决定了我们的展览内容、公教活动以及驻留项目。中间美术馆最近一年在展览和公教中呈现严肃的历史探讨和前沿的国际讨论，邀请了大量在艺术和文化领域的前沿工作的艺术家、策展人、写作者、学者和历史研究者参与，成为激发思考和创作碰撞的引力场。于是，我们也希望通过艺术驻留项目，邀请不同角色的艺术实践者——包括艺术家、策展人、写作者、研究者、出版人等等——加入我们的讨论和反思。
此外，我们的驻留项目除了通过不设限、公开招募的方式，还通过其它渠道吸引艺术实践者前来。比如说，我们会和其他媒体平台合作，共享资源（在这种模式下，我们也会免去艺术家的住宿费）；我们也会通过邀请制，定向选择活跃的艺术家；此外，还会有配合展览的研究项目制的驻留（通常会有基金赞助），比如借2018年3月10日 “新月：赵文量、杨雨澍回顾展”开幕的契机，为了推动围绕这两个创作个案的研究与讨论，中间美术馆特别设立研究基金，资助一位艺术家和一位研究者在展览期间驻留中间美术馆，开展为期一个月的研究。
基于以上的驻留项目架构设置，我们的公开招募比例实际上比较小，所以也比较激烈。于此同时，我们希望借助China Residencies的平台，搭建我们和其他驻留机构沟通的平台，以分享艺术资源。
CR: What is your background? How long have you been at Inside-Out?
YT: I studied English at Fudan University, then completed a master’s degree in curation from Melbourne University. After graduating in August 2018, I came back to Beijing and joined the education team at the Inside Out Museum as assistant curator. I am also in charge of preparing, coordinating, and managing the residency programs. Time’s gone by so quickly, I’ve already been here for half of a year!
我毕业于复旦大学英文系，后来在墨尔本大学完成艺术策展的硕士学位。我2017年8月份在墨尔本参加完毕业典礼，便回到北京，加入中间美术馆的学术部，做助理策展人。此外，我也负责筹备、协调和管理驻留艺术项目。转眼间，已经有半年了。
CR: What do you look for when selecting artists?
YT: The Inside Out Museum’s education department selects the artists and researchers. In our discussions, we first and foremost evaluate artistic practitioners based on the strength and depth of their work. We look for artists who use language in organic and interactive ways in their work to convey complex thought-processes. Overall, we are building towards experimental ideas and practices and require that artists thoroughly engage with our surroundings, which includes taking part in or organizing things like workshops, skill-sharings, or public events. Our residency is quite broad and interdisciplinary, so we welcome all willing and talented creatives and researchers.
中间美术馆学术部负责挑选艺术家和研究者。我们在讨论中主要会考虑到艺术实践者工作的强度和思考的深度。对于艺术家来说，我们更看重他们工作中语言表达与思考强度之间有机的互动。整体来说，我们构建的是思想和实践的试验场，要求艺术家和环境形成深刻的互动，这包括参与或者举办工作室参观、内部培训、公教活动等等。我们的驻留工作者是多元的，我们的取向也是跨学科的，所以，只要有高质量的创作和研究，并且乐于分享，我们都是欢迎的。
CR: How many residents do you usually have at one time? What are the most popular times to come?
YT: We can host two residents at one time, and summer is usually the busiest time.
我们可以同时接待两位驻留艺术实践者。一般而言，春夏时节比较繁忙。
CR: What opportunities do resident artists have to show their work?
YT: We don’t require that residents complete concrete projects or organize an exhibition. Afterall, one month is quite short and we don’t want to force to make work for the sake of producing work. And as we also work with researchers and attract a multitude of practices that aren’t just artists, we go through all kinds of discussions to share our expectations of residents’ research and creative processes.
我们不会强求艺术家在驻留期间完成作品并实现展览，毕竟一个月的驻留时间有限，我们不希望强迫艺术家“为了做作品而做作品”。另一方面，我们的招募对象是多样的，不仅是艺术家，还有研究者，所以我们期待通过各种交流平台分享自己的创作和研究成果。
CR: What kind of facilities do you have for residents?
YT: The residencies take place in artist studios within Beijing’s Inside Out Art District, which include two-bedroom apartments with spacious and bright studio space, as well as open kitchens and living rooms. The studio space is very big, and can also be used as an exhibition space or a semi-open community space for discussions.
我们的驻留位于北京中间艺术区的艺术家工坊内，它是一间设施齐全的复式公寓，有两间卧室，一间宽敞明亮的工作室以及开放式厨房和客厅。工作室的空间很大，也可以作为展览或是半公开的交流空间使用。
resident artist Cathy Weyders in her studio at Inside-Out in 2015
CR: What kinds of ways are you hoping to help connect visiting artists with the local arts community?
YT: That’s where we depend on you! [China Residencies runs a WeChat group to connect the people managing Beijing’s many residency programs] Of course, we also share our own connections. For example, this year, our museum is thinking of organizing a “last-minute symposium.” We’re calling it “last minute” to give a sense of urgency, the aim is to confront pressing issues in arts and culture by asking a diverse group of local artists to come in and think of new possibilities. We will invite young and lively people who are excited to shake things up and experiment in their own practices, and share their concrete experiences with the museum. These offline events will come with essays published online, as a way to pass on these voices multi-dimensionally. I think these kinds of discussions will be really beneficial and invigorating for everyone taking part.
这个要多靠你们啦！当然，我们也有自己的资源可以分享。比如，今年我们美术馆将会推出一个名为“临时会议”的项目，所谓“临时”，就是怀着一种紧迫感，面对不时涌现出的迫切的文化和艺术问题，让本土不同的艺术实践者参与进来，激发不同层面讨论的可能性。我们会邀请年轻而活跃的、敢于投入到现实中去观看和开展自身工作的实践者来到美术馆分享创作和研究的经验，而这些线下活动也会配合线上的文字写作，更立体地传达出这些声音。我相信，对任何驻留艺术家来说，加入到这样的讨论中都会有丰富的收获。
CR: Inside Out is quite far on the outskirts of Beijing, how often do you you all into the city?
YT: We often go to see exhibitions, the team at the museum often goes together without necessarily making set plans.
我时常会外出看展览，而美术馆也常常组织同事们一起看展览，时间不定。
CR: What is your vision for the residency program?
YT: We hope it becomes a productive site for lively discussions and creation, activating critical thinking around history and the contemporary era. We hope that with the combined support from from China Residencies and other organizations, we will help local and international artists find their own voice.
我们期待她成为活跃的思想和创作的生产场，激活对历史的反思和对当代的质询；我们期待她在本土和国际上都能发出自己的声音，借助于China Residencies和其他驻留机构，汇聚多方的能量。
CR: What makes Inside Out's residency program special?
YT: I think the most important thing is the residency isn’t just an artist residency. By this we mean we place an emphasis on the creative process, and include all kinds of interdisciplinary practices to re-contextualize art within history, culture, and philosophy.
我想，最重要的也许就是“艺术驻留”而不仅仅是“艺术家驻留”吧，这意味着我们在重视创作的同时，也想吸纳其他多方面、跨学科的资源，将艺术放置于历史、文化和思想的背景中，反思和观看自我的位置。