Medea Electronique / Koumaria Residency

The artist collective Medea Electronique organizes every year since 2009 the experimental artist residency Koumaria which is based on improvisation and the practices of new media, taking place near the area of Sparta in Greece. Avant garde artists from all over the world, inspired by the Greek natural landscape, create a multicultural and cross-media &lsquodialogue&rsquo which leads to a collective presentation of an outcome.

Our target with this residency is the creation of an educational experience for the participants that is going to inspire and exalt their future work. Through the multicultural association a cross cultural dialogue can create new speculations or smelt older ones to an ecumenical level. In the past years, friendly relations or even concepts for new artworks were formed between the residents resulting their further artistic cooperation. Medea Electronique as an original art collective is interested in the procedure and the experimentation of the residency per thus the indagation of new ways to work and cooperate with different people carrying diverse cultural backrounds. For us this experience works as a model for future creative contacts.

The residency each year is held at an organic olive oil farm at the foot of Mount Taigetos in Sparta. The residency, a modern and comfortable house, features dormitory-style bedrooms, large and comfortable common rooms (featuring fireplaces and magnificent views of the surrounding mountains and fields), a large kitchen, two primary spaces for project development and practice, terraces, rooftop overlooks, and a modern kitchen. The surrounding hills, mountains, villages and the not too distant sea, coupled with a vast expanse of sky, stars, and ever-changing mountain vistas, afford the residents amble space and opportunity for creative work. Meals are taken communally, with an emphasis on fresh and local produce and traditional recipes. In this environment artists do only have the chance to live and work together in interaction with the Greek landscape but also to interchange their experiences on everyday life and culture.

• Artist-Run

• English
• Greek

• Weeks: 2

• Visual Art
• Dance
• Performing Arts
• Music
• New Media
• Film-making
• Education Programmes

• Shared accommodation
• Shared studio / workplace
• Kitchen
• Internet
• Meals

• Travel

• Accommodation
• Food
• Other

• Exhibition
• Public talk

• Workshops
• Presentation
• Exhibition
• Open Studios