Residential Arts Project CAMP Is Reopening Its Doors After Two Years

The entire 2020/21 seasons were moved online, into Zoom sessions, VR workshops and even, at one point, inside a Minecraft world.

By: Stephi Wild Apr. 25, 2022

Residential Arts Project CAMP Is Reopening Its Doors After Two Years Image

Residential arts project CAMP is reopening its doors after two years of online activity. Workshops with Terry Riley, Tai Shani, Julia Holter, Matthew Herbert, Tashi Wada, Chris Watson and others will lead the organisation's most ambitious program yet.

In February 2020, with the seriousness of the emerging covid outbreak becoming clear, CAMP closed its doors. The entire 2020/21 seasons were moved online, into Zoom sessions, VR workshops and even, at one point, inside a Minecraft world.

In May this year, CAMP will reopen its doors for the first time since the start of the covid pandemic. This is going to be the biggest, most ambitious season yet for CAMP - two years of postponed workshops have been reprogrammed, and new workshops have been added. Perched on a mountainside at 800m above sea level, peering over the Pyrenean border from France to Spain, the residential facility will run twenty workshops in 2022.

"We're going to pack as much into this season as we possibly can - if the last two years have shown us anything, it's that you can't take anything for granted. Our freedom to travel, to collaborate, to gather and share ideas and to present our creative work in public can disappear into thin air overnight. The responsible actions of the vast majority of people, and the lightning fast science involved in vaccine and test development have given us back those freedoms, and nothing short of explosive action is required to make the most of these good times", says CAMP co-founder James Birchall.

The 2022 season includes 5-day residential workshops with Julia Holter, Terry Riley, Mark Fell, Tai Shani, Chris Watson, Deerhoof, Gavin Bryars, Julia Kent, Matthew Herbert, Aviva Rahmani, Gabrielle Bell, Colin Self, Tashi Wada and many others - see below for the full program of on-site workshops, or visit www.campfr.com.

Alongside the on-site workshops, the online program, originally developed as an emergency response to covid closures, will continue to develop. "We feel like we developed something really special over the last two years, and we're going to keep them going", James reveals. "Stay tuned to the website over the next weeks for new online workshops with some amazing artists and musicians including Rian Treanor, Ewa Justika, Matt Black, Steve Albini and others. We're also working on new methods of online working, from VR to networked, collaborative workspaces."