Magic Carpets residency

Magic Carpets is a platform, part-financed by the EU program Creative Europe, which unites 17 European partners, with the Kaunas Biennale in Lithuania as the leading partner.

OpenArt is part of Magic Carpets 2025-2028. The Magic Carpets platform creates opportunities for emerging artists to go on residencies in other countries and, together with national artists and civil society, highlight the local characteristics and increase cultural accessibility, activism and participation in the place. The diversity of platform members provides an opportunity to explore different cultural areas in Europe and initiate more transdisciplinary activities. Together we work in the public space through social and sustainable methods.

Background Magic Carpets

The title "Magic Carpets" refers to the "1001 Arabian Nights" fairy tale story of the magic, or flying, carpet - a "fantastic device" for traveling the world in an instant. Scheherazade's creativity and imagination used in the narrative to intrigue and involve her husband becomes a compelling metaphor for the power of culture to transform mistrust and confrontation into intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding, respect and even love.

Magic Carpets is part-financed by the EU program Creative Europe and consists of 17 platforms:

• Kaunas Biennial (Kaunas, Lithuania)
• České Budějovice, European Capital of Culture 2028, (Budweis, Czech Republic)
• IDEIAS EMERGENTES (Porto/Guimarães, Portugal)
• Jam Factory Art Centre (Lviv, Ukraine)
• Lab852 (Zagreb, Croatia)
• Latitudo (Rome, Italy)
• META Cultural Foundation (Bucharest/Slon, Romania)
• New Theatre Institute of Latvia (Riga, Latvia)
• Novo Kulturno Naselje (Novi Sad, Serbia)
• Openspace.Innsbruck (Innsbruck, Austria)
• Tbilisi International Photo Festival (Tbilisi, Georgia)
• Unfinished Foundation (Gzira, Malta)
• Wrocławski Instytut Kultury (Wroclaw, Poland)
  
• Centre Claude Cahun (Nantes, France)
• Diyalog Derneği (Istanbul, Turkey)
• Folkestone Fringe (Folkestone, United Kingdom)

Read more about Magic Carpets on their website: www.magiccarpets.eu

Information to artists

Are you interested in applying? You can submit an application at any time to openart@orebro.se, attach your portfolio and a short text about yourself as an artist and what a collaboration with a community could look like. Not sure how to think about community and collaborations? Get in touch with us and we can help you find a suitable context.

What is a residency?

A residency is a place where, for a limited time, the artist gets the opportunity to work in a different environment and context. It can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months, sometimes a year. The MagiC Carpets residency program is 30 days. OpenArt organizes residencies both for artists from the other European platforms but also for artists with local or national connections. Through discussions with the other cultural organizations in the project, exchanges of artists take place around Europe. Initially, the artist gets to take part in a program put together by us, it can be study visits to relevant places, meetings with potential partners or an activity that can be beneficial for the artist's practice. Before the residency period begins, there must be an idea of ​​which community the artist might consider collaborating with and how the public can take part in the process. Our residency program strives to engage people outside the traditional cultural institutions and/or in the public space.

What defines an emerging artist/curator?

• an individual or group in the early stage of their career (does not yet have international recognition)
• has specialized training in their field (not necessarily gained in an academic institution)
• has created a modest independent body of work but hasn’t yet established a reputation

The term emerging artist/curator is often used for young, recent graduates, but can also apply to someone who has made a career change or recently decided to prioritize their art/curating above everything else. The “Magic Carpets” platform will include at least 80 % of emerging talents and the remaining 20 % will include professionals and/or recognised artists in order to give support to the emerging ones. The above definition of the emerging artist is accepted by all the.

Contact

openart@orebro.se