In partnership with Finnish Darkroom Association and their darkroom Mörk in Helsinki, CYAN is organizing a residency exchange open for Finnish and Norwegian artists or artists living in Finland or Norway, working with analog photography.
The goal of the exchange is to share experiences, create contacts and open networking options between analog photo artists. There is no application fee. Based on the received applications each darkroom will decide the artist to be invited for the recidency.
Travel and accommodation will be paid for and there is a small artist's fee paid for the artist as well. During their stay the artists are free to work with whatever project they want. The invited photographer is encouraged to give some form of presentation of their work at the darkroom they are visiting and may get help to organize other activities such as workshops, small shows, artist talks, meetups with other artists or galleries and the like.
The working period for the Norwegian artist in Helsinki is 1.10–22.10.2022. Accomodation for the invited artist will be at the Villa Eläintarha an international artist residency center in a wooden villa in the center of Helsinki, next to Töölönlahti bay.
This collaboration between the two darkrooms is set up as a second pilot to test how a Nordic collaboration between the darkrooms in different countries can work. The first pilot was held in spring 2022. Having this artist exchange will hopefully be the start of an ongoing exchange between community darkrooms in the Nordic countries.
This round of the Darkroom Exchange is organized with support from the Norwegian-Finnish Cultural Foundation. The Nordic Analog Network is supported by Nordic Culture Point.
Application PDF must include:
1. Contact info: Name, email, adress and telephone.
2. Work Plan; description of planned work you will do during the residency; possible project idea, theme you are thinking of, techniques you work with, or things you want to try out, max 4000 characters. Work plan can include suggestions for open activities you want to share during your residency. We suggest that during their stay the invited artist do some kind of presentation of their work, or meeting with the members. Or maybe you already know if you want to hold a workshop, do a public presentation or artist talk, set up a small show, meet local photographers or gallerists, or something else?
3. Short Bio about yourself, max. 500 characters.
4. CV, max. 2 pages.
5. 10 images of your work at the end of the PDF. Minimum of 5 images are required having been made with analog processes.
Application deadline: midnight 15.08.2022
Invitations to selected artists will be sent out by 30.08.2022.
Open for all Norwegian artists working with analog photo techniques.
Applications from Norwegian artists to be sent as a single PDF document to cyan@cyanstudio.no
Email subject line: DARKROOM EXCHANGE 2022 – APPLICATION
Application texts must be in English.
This Darkroom Exchange Artist Reisdency is supported by the Norwegian-Finnish Cultural Foundation
Any questions can be sent to:
Norway: cyan@cyanstudio.no
Finland: info@pimiotaiteilijat.fi
Finnish Darkroom Association is a the largest association in Finland dedicated to preserve and promote analog photography and darkroom techniques. The association, founded in 2016, maintains a darkroom Mörk located in The Finnish Artists' Studio Foundation's Vallila Studio Centre in Helsinki with easy access by bus or tram from the center. Mörk comprises about 70 square meters and includes, in addition to the B&W darkroom, a lit room with a small kitchen, table spaces and shelves for storage, as well as drying racks for prints, a fume hood and a photo press. The darkroom has comprehensive equipment for even the most demanding printing needs with sizes of enlarges from 35mm to 8”x10”. Two of the enlargers (both up to 4×5 “) are in separate booths where the processing of more demanding negatives can be done in peace. Normal B&W chemistry is available at Mörk, alternative techniques require own chemistry to be purchased. There is no color printing machine at Mörk, although all the enlargers have color heads.
Cyan studio darkroom runs a community darkroom with 40 members. They have a workspace near the botanical gardens in Oslo with easy access by bus or tram from the centre. The space includes an open darkroom space with a handful of enlargers. It is set up as a black and white darkroom and they have a selection of enlarges from 35mm to 8”x10” with several 4”x5” machines. Outside the darkroom is a lightroom with workspace for mounting with a hot press, paper cutter and matt cutter. Being a street level shop front space they also have a small area set up as a showroom to exhibit members' works. Cyan darkroom is connected to the Cyan studio that is photo studio that doubles as a gallery and event space nearby.
The Nordic Analog Network is in the process of connecting Nordic community darkroom to share experience and knowledge across the region.
In a series of artist residencies set up as darkroom exchanges the Nordic darkrooms will invite analog photo artists to come and work in professional darkrooms. The two community darkrooms of Helsinki/Finland and Oslo/Norway have joined together in initiating this project and are currently inviting in and looking for other similar community darkrooms in the region. Please feel free to contact us if you want to know what we are looking for in a member or partner of this network of darkrooms.
