qwatz - artist in residence program in Rome, Italy

qwatz (www.qwatz.it) is a cultural residency programme in Rome that offers living accommodations and studio spaces to international artists, directors, writers, photographers and curators, contributing to a dynamic of mobility between different countries and cultures.The residency was created out of a need for collaboration and exchange between practioners who, through different aspects of art and culture, elaborate instruments of reflection on the quotidian; it considers art a possible observation point on reality, and reality as a stimulus for creativity.One of qwatz's characteristics is to create occasions for dialogue between its guests and network by proposing activities that are inspired by films, which are considered like boxes to open the multiplicity of the spectator's points of view.A first phase of activity begins during the VI edition of Tekfestival (www.tekfestival.it ), a festival of independent cinema in Roma, which this year hosts among its guests the Swiss artist Ursula Biemann. Within the framework of a series of events dedicated to the artist, qwatz will organize and curate a workshop. - 5 May 6:30 p.m. :vernissage Agadez Chronicle - a collection of videos on mobility and the politics of containment in the Sahara, a video installation by Ursula Biemann (at Love and Dissent, via Leonina 85, Rome).- 6 May 8:40 p.m. :conference and screening of Performing the Border and Europlex by Ursula Biemann (at cinema Farnese, piazza Campo dei Fiori).- 7 and 8 May: workshop held by Ursula Biemann, Davide Franceschini and Sarah Ann Klingeberg. 10 participating artists will develop works departing from the exchange with Biemann, reflecting on the role of the artist in the construction of social consciousness. The workshop is hosted at 1:1projects (1to1projects.org ), a cultural association that has developed a platform for art, research and cultural production and which is constructing an archive of international contemporary artists.-- Benedetta di Loreto+39 349 3281766b.diloreto@qwatz.itwww.qwatz.it