Introduction
The A4 International Residency Program is officially open for recruitment today (November 2), focusing on the theme of "Transdisciplinary Action for Sustainability" as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability. Open to creators from all fields, the 8-10 week residency sessions in 2025-2026 invite collaboration across disciplines, welcoming not only artists but also scientists, writers, poets, scholars, musicians, architects, designers, brand owners, and other creators and explorers. A4 will select participants based on submitted applications and provide support, including round-trip airfare, accommodation, workspace, material fees, a "Super Agent" connection system, and project promotion to foster interaction between residents and the community, the city, and each other.
2025 A4 International Residency Annual Theme:
Crossing Boundaries for Sustainable Action
Following a year of deep reflection on “How to discuss sustainability sustainably,” we recognize that discussion is only a starting point. While “sustainability” has gained consensus within global discourse, its true impact is often confined to the level of rhetoric, lacking effective action. For 2025, we shift focus to the challenge of moving toward sustainable action across disciplinary and cultural boundaries.
This theme calls us not only to explore new paths in practice but also to deconstruct established frameworks of knowledge and thought. Interdisciplinary collaboration implies a decentralization of knowledge, enabling sustainability to emerge as a vibrant practice through the intersections of art, science, technology, and sociology. To cross boundaries is to attempt a redefinition—not only in isolated actions but as an endeavor to reshape relationships among humans, nature, economy, and ecology.
We no longer see “sustainability” as a static goal but as a process continually redefined in action: iterated through collaboration and generated anew through practice. In this way, crossing boundaries for sustainable action is not simply about achieving sustainability, but about fundamentally questioning how sustainability might be revitalized through boundary-crossing dialogue and interaction.
Residency Description：
1. Resident artists will be participating in a unique context comprised of the museum, the surrounding community, and the larger city, which includes the development of a rapidly changing and evolving southern side of a tranquil city as well as the tension between its long history and fractured modernization. The residency’s working ecosystem also engages with diverse themes, spanning the individual and the emotional, the local and the external, the local and the global, as well as an extensive array of social groups and community practices in China. All of these elements contribute to a layered, dynamic ecosystem for resident artists, offering rich inspiration and interactive space.
2. A4 Residency Art Center respects creative outcomes in various forms and disciplines, encouraging artists to use diverse media and approaches to forge connections and collaborations with the local environment, with a focus on interdisciplinary integration and innovation. At the same time, the residency will offer multiple public platforms for showcasing creative works and actively seeks to create opportunities for resource networking and promotion, enabling artists to gain broader exposure and support for their work.
3. The residency program strives for local, open, collaborative, and participatory goals and expects resident artists to approach the program with the same mindset, engaging actively with the community and urban life, sharing collaborative methods, utilizing tools and expertise, and growing alongside the team and external participants. The residency team will fully support artists’ work, offering access to the center’s resource library and assisting with connections to local resources. Meanwhile, through the unique “Super Agent” system, artists will be paired with local residents to gain authentic perspectives on daily life, helping them quickly understand the area, integrate into the community, and establish their creative direction.
4. The residency program has established a comprehensive documentation and research system, involving multiple interviews and discussions throughout the project, with creative outcomes recorded and summarized. Additionally, the Art Center’s “Super Agent” system and “RE Expansion Program” will launch two levels of cooperation to build a deeper relational network: on one level, involving residents to enrich the diversity of local life; and on the other, sharing documentation with external scholars to enable observation and discussion on a broader scale and from a wider perspective.
Eligible Applicants
1. The A4 International Residency Program is designed for individuals or groups with at least 3 years of professional practice, independent thinking and groundbreaking work, including and not limited to artists, scientists, writers, poets, scholars, musicians, architects, designers, brand managers, and other creators and explorers of different identities.
2. Any field of specialization, any medium of creation.
3. Possess the values of localization, collaboration, and extensive communication, respect and support multiculturalism, and possess the willingness and spirit of trans-science.
Application Process
Required materials for application:
1. Resume in both Chinese (if possible) and English, of which the accuracy of the content should be guaranteed.
2. Personal photo, about 1M.
3. Portfolio of works/Project manuals, mainly representative works and projects in the course of practice that are rich in their professional characteristics and fully reflect their practice and thinking, of which all texts should be in both Chinese (if possible) and English.
4. Project plan for the residence, it is mainly a preliminary draft of the creator's creation/practice plan, which may include the idea, the general plan, and the potential needs for material, space, personnel, etc. related to the implementation of the project to help us better understand the expectation and overall vision of the project of the creator.
5. Application form for the residency, which could be downloaded on this link (https://file.uhsea.com/2312/2fbf59eede9f66339b6550df4259743aZ4.doc) , with all contents filled in both English and Chinese (if possible).
PS. If you are unable to download the application form, you can also visit our official website and find where to download it in the latest OPEN CALL presentation.
Way of submission:
Submissions are accepted from now until 6 PM (GMT+8) on January 20, 2025.
All required materials should be sent to the official email address of A4 Residency Art Center: a4residency@a4am.cn, with the subject line “2025 A4 International Residency Program + Applicant's name”.
Facilities
The art center includes a common living room, kitchen, terrace, office, woodshop, and 7 separate studios. It also has access to the museum's ancillary facilities, including a lecture hall, small theater, workshop space, and other parts of the gallery.
About accommodation, now we can accept 10 more artists work in A4 at the same time, they can share a living room to communicate in the apartment and also have an independent room to live.
Program Fees
1. Material Fee Support: 10,000 RMB per person or group, provided to subsidize production and material costs during the residency (excluding living expenses).
2. Transportation Support: Round-trip airfare (economy class) or train tickets (second class), within a set budget.
3. Space Support: Studio and accommodation.
4. Promotion Support: Content promotion on official online media platforms.
5. Activity Support: Support for collective events such as salons, sharing sessions, and open studio days.
6. Resource Support: Access to local community events, platform resource sharing, and potential selection for other academic projects at the A4 Residency Art Center.
7. Documentation Support: Assistance in recording and organizing project documentation.
8. Residency Art Season Special Fund: Special funding for production costs related to works created during the residency art season, with applications required after exhibition plans are confirmed. The specific amount will be based on the actual production costs needed for the exhibition works.
Additional Information
A4 Residency Art Center official website http://en.a4residency.com/about-residency/
If you have any questions you can send us an email or contact us via Instagram.
Email: a4residency@a4am.cn
Instagram: a4_residency_art_center