The Hnatyshyn Foundation – Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency
The Hnatyshyn Foundation – Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency provides an opportunity for a young Canadian curator to work in residence at Fogo Island Arts, a contemporary arts venue in Newfoundland, for six weeks.
Established in 2014, the Young Curator Residency program provides opportunities for emerging Canadian curators between the ages of 25 and 30 to participate in a residency with Fogo Island Arts. This opportunity offers rich cross-disciplinary dialogue and an exploratory immersion within Fogo Island’s unique physical and cultural landscape. A place-based experience, this residency provides uninterrupted time for creative experimentation, research, and reflection.
Fogo Island Arts covers the selected candidate’s cost of travel to and from Fogo Island, accommodation in a heritage house and the use of a vehicle for on-island transportation. The candidate also receives a weekly honorarium for food and incidentals.
Fogo Island Arts is a residency-based contemporary art venue that supports research and production of new work for artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, curators, designers and thinkers from around the world. Since 2008, FIA has brought some of the most exciting, emerging and renowned artists of today to Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada to take part in residencies and to present solo exhibitions at the Fogo Island Gallery. Combining contemporary art, iconic architecture and social innovation in a singular setting, FIA is a world-class institution that is uniquely rooted in community. Fogo Island Arts is an initiative of the Shorefast Foundation, a registered charity dedicated to improving the social, cultural and economic conditions on Fogo Island and other small places around the world. For more information, visit www.fogoislandarts.ca.
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Deadline: January 20, 2025
Duration: 6 weeks
Timeline: October/November 2025
Location: Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador
Criteria:
To be eligible for consideration, candidates must:
be between the ages of 25 and 30 inclusively at the time of the application deadline;
be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada;
hold a valid Driver’s License and be eligible to rent a car;
have curated a minimum of two exhibitions;
have published a minimum of two critical essays on contemporary art;
demonstrate that their work incorporates specialized training in contemporary art (not necessarily gained at an academic institution);
demonstrate that their work has been presented in professional contexts and has received peer recognition;
be proficient in English, which is the primary speaking language used on Fogo Island;
have knowledge of, or experience working with, Canadian institutions and/or contemporary art and artists;
have familiarity with remote environments and experience working in a self-directed capacity.
Submission Requirements:
Letter of intention
CV
Portfolio of exhibition documentation (10 images max., or 2 video links) and/or examples of published work (10 pages max.)
Proof of valid driver’s license
We look forward to receiving your applications!
For further details on Fogo Island Arts residencies, please consult the FAQ section on Fogo Island Arts’s website, or contact:
Marianne Brown, Executive Director, The Hnatyshyn Foundation: T +1 613 233 0108, director@rjhf.com.
Iris Stunzi, Program Manager, Fogo Island Arts: T +1 709 266 1248, irisstunzi@fogoislandarts.ca
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2024 | Leo Cocar
Leo Cocar is a cultural worker from “Vancouver,” on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. His writing has appeared in e-flux, C Magazine, Momus, Autre and Numéro Berlin, among others. He holds a BA from the University of British Columbia and an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.
Cocar’s curatorial practice is marked by a socio-historical framing of contemporary art, reflected in an eclectic selection of subject matter. Recently, he has been interested in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in dialogue with performance art, histories of imperial violence, and the excess accumulation of the death drive within the national psyche. He is currently organizing a forthcoming exhibition of the work of Derya Akay at the Fall River Museum of Contemporary Art.
Image: An Anathema Strikes the Flesh of the Laborer, curated by Leo Cocar. Work by Harry Gould Harvey IV. Image courtesy Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson. Photo by Olympia Shannon.
During his residency, Cocar looks forward to immersing himself in Fogo Island’s uniquely rich cultural and ecological environment, asking himself, “how can an artist's work engage with or reflect a specific history or place?”
“It has been striking to see how an international selection of artists can dialogue with the island itself as a means of engaging in historical inquiry, autobiography or community engagement, among others. As a Canadian, I have paid attention to Fogo Island’s programming since my earliest forays into art and paying attention to its exhibition history has been just as formative on my practice as any lecture and I would be elated to learn from its staff and residents. Additionally, much of my recent research has revolved around ecology and land ownership. Fogo Island (in all its complexities) would be an ideal place to situate myself for a period to work on these lines of thought […]. The island’s geography is enlivened by art making and in turn, enlivens the practitioner. This is to say that if Fogo Island draws in cultural workers who are interested in this sort of dynamic, my interest in turn lies not only in Fogo Island’s programming but the type of resident who chooses to make the journey.”
Find Leo on Instagram @Leo.Cocar
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The ajdudicators for this program are Nicolaus Schafhausen, Strategic Director of Fogo Island Arts and the Shorefast Foundation, and Director of Kunsthalle Wien, and Reesa Greenberg, art and exhibition historian.
