The Artists at Risk (AR) – Safe Haven Helsinki Residency is hosted and curated by Perpetuum Mobile. It secured core long-term funding from the Helsinki City Cultural Office in 2016. The AR-Finland Advisory Council works closely with AR-Safe Haven Helsinki residents and local partners to create networks and support artistic work. AR’s local partners include: the Artists’ Association of Finland, PEN-Finland, Tohmajärven kunnan residenssi, TUOTOU residency, Joutsa, City of Porvoo, Suomi-Venäjä Seura, Saastamoinen Foundation, Anna Lindh Foundation, Tampereen Taiteilijaseura, Pro Lapinlahti mielenterveysseura ry, Mustarinda, Culture for All, TINFO, Theatre Info Finland, The Finnish National Theatre, the Touring Stage Programme, YLE Radiotheater.
AR-Safe Haven Helsinki, operating under various titles since 2014, has hosted artists including the renowned street-artist Ganzeer from Cairo, the acclaimed filmmaker and photographer Issa Touma from Aleppo (who recently won the London Film Festival and European Film Prize), visual artist Erkan Özgen from Diyabakir/Amed, visual artist and graphic designer Shieko Reto from Kuala Lumpur, El Haqed, the leading political hip-hop artist from Morocco, and Vasyl Cherepanyn, who co-organized the Kyiv Biennale 2015 in Ukraine for which Perpetuum Mobile curated the ‘The School of the Displaced’.
The length of the residencies vary from 3 to 24 months. There are three to four Artists at Risk (AR) residents hosted at the same time all year round. The residency includes a monthly grant, apartment/studio, travel, visa and insurance costs, a limited production budget and curatorial and administrative support. The residency can host a family. The AR Common Space for artists is located in the Lapinlahti Venetsia building, and AR also hosts studios in Hietsun Paviljonki and in Merihaka.
Hosts
Perpetuum Mobilε (PM) is a curatorial vehicle which brings together art, practice and enquiry. It acts as a conduit and engine to re-imagine certain basic historical, theoretical as well as practical paradigms in fields which often exist in disparate institutional frames and territories. PM has worked extensively in the Nordic, European and international fields.
Perpetuum Mobile (PM) develops longer-term thematic projects which include conferences, workshops, residencies, small and large exhibitions, festivals, public and street art, publications, films and new formats. PM’s longer-term thematic platforms include the Re-Aligned Project, the Perpetual Pavilion, the Perestroika Project, The Arts Assembly, Sino-Fi and Mobile Talks.
ARTISTS at RISK (AR) is a non-profit organization with charitable status at the intersection of human rights and the arts. AR is dedicated to mapping the field of persecuted art practitioners and facilitating their safe passage from their countries of origin, hosting them at residencies and curating related projects. Perpetuum Mobile (PM) initiated Artists at Risk (AR) in 2013 as a platform and network to support artists in securing travel documents, providing legal assistance and creating AR-Safe Haven Residencies. The European Parliament honoured Perpetuum Mobile (PM) for its Artists at Risk (AR) programme with the CIVI EUROPAEO PRAEMIUM (European Citizen’s Prize) in 2016.
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