Banff Centre Int’l Call for Thematic Residency: Winterjourney, apply by June 14 with Andreas Siqueland

Program dates: January 13, 2014 – February 21, 2014

Application deadline: June 14, 2013

Begin by listening to Franz Schubert’s 24 songs. Imagine the Rocky Mountains. It is February. Crisp and cold. Besides some random footpaths established by the most avid hikers, a thick blanket of snow covers the ground, making everything quiet, still, and immobilized. The weather forecast says that more snow is expected in the coming days.

The Canadian Rockies are the land of ice glaciers, snowed-capped mountains, pine forests, rivers, and cascading waterfalls. Inhabited for centuries by Indigenous peoples, during the 19th century the Rockies became a site of expedition as the Canadian Pacific Railway forged its way towards the West. One hundred years ago experienced mountaineers of the Swiss Alps were called on to scale the Selkirk range. Topographical surveyors were enlisted to chart the territory. Limits and boundaries were set across mountain chains. Trappers, woodsmen, and treasure hunters sought fortune along the gold route, while the region’s original inhabitants continued to seek subsistence and preserve it as sacred ground. A land of pilgrimage, disaster, joy, and wonder!

Winterjourney is a thematic residency that will physically and artistically explore what this place and landscape, as view and collective memory, is for us today. Excursions into the land will challenge our studio practices. In confrontation with the elements we will make observations, and collect and assemble material that can serve as a basis for new work. Winterjourney is both a personal and collective endeavour. Presentations, readings, and discussions will form an integral part of the program. The residency is open to all forms of artistic practice within the visual arts. Remember to bring warm clothes and necessary equipment for adventure.

HOW TO APPLY