Red Bull Arts Detroit Announces 2019 Fellows & Residents

Red Bull Arts Detroit announces the selection of 9 Artists-in-Residence, 6 Writing Fellows, and 1 Curatorial Fellow to participate in the contemporary art platform's first juried residency and fellowship program. The 2019 residency and fellowship cycle will provide artists, curators, writers, and thinkers the space, time, and resources necessary to push their practices forward, while exposing them to the thriving artistic community of Detroit.

Starting January 13, 2019, Red Bull Arts Detroit will initiate its expanded Artist Residency Program , along with three new programs: a Visiting Curator Fellowship , Visiting Writer Fellowship , and an ongoing Micro-Grant program designed to support artists based in the metro Detroit area, for which applications are now open [apply here] . Red Bull Arts Detroit joins Red Bull Arts New York in its commitment to extend the boundaries of exhibition making; support the production of new work by emerging and established artists; participate in and respond to the needs of local arts communities; and contribute to ongoing dialogue around contemporary issues and thought.

Over the course of two months, Red Bull Arts Detroit's 2019 Selection Committee reviewed an extensive pool of applicants, including 665 artists, 79 curators, and 77 writers. The 2019 Selection Committee comprises Deana Haggag , President and CEO, United States Artists; Detroit-native poet and the 2016 Yale Younger Poet recipient Airea D. Matthews ; Lucy Mensah , Visiting Assistant Professor of Museum and Exhibition Studies at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and former Assistant Curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts; Laura Raicovich , independent curator, and former President and Executive Director of The Queens Museum of the City of New York; and dancer, choreographer, and 2019 Eisenhower Fellow John Michael Schert .

"As we reviewed the portfolios for the selection of artists, writers, curators, and poets, it became clear that Red Bull Arts' residencies are attracting significant talent. A combination of being in Detroit, which is bursting with creativity, and the generosity of the residency itself, was clearly magnetic," says Selection Committee Member Laura Raicovich . "It wasn't easy to narrow the field, but the residents selected reveal a great deal about the concerns and interests of artists working right now, and the urgencies they seek to address through an extraordinary diversity of means and craft. I can't wait to see what each of them does with their time in residence."

The 2019 residency and fellowship recipients include Artists-in-Residence Holly Bass , Pamela Council , Kearra Amaya Gopee , Miatta Kawinzi, Claire Lachow , Tiff Massey , Michael Polakowski , Patrick Quarm , and Hui-Ying Tsai ; Visiting Writing Fellows Dana Bassett , Andrew Berardini , Brian Droitcour , William E. Jones , Jaamil Olawale Kosoko , and Ruslana Lichtzier ; and Curatorial Fellow Taraneh Fazeli .

The artists represent a diverse range of disciplines, including performance art, wearable sculpture, institutional intervention and critique, site-specific installation, social practice and community organizing, new media, dance, photography, ceramics, painting and drawing, and various mixed media practices. Represented areas of focus include post-colonial identity politics; African diaspora; standards of economic vitality; material culture of 90s hip-hop; the pleasure principle, consumerism, and the history of black cosmetics and self-care products; the nature of violence and erasure inflicted on the Caribbean by the global north; queerness and difference; and the materiality of digital objects.

"I love the range of this program- from the span of practice, to the resources it provides, to how it simultaneously supports artists working in Detroit as well as welcomes those from elsewhere to be in residence in a remarkable city," says Selection Committee Member Deana Haggag . "We're all very excited about the first cohort of artists, writers, and curators selected to inaugurate the residency, and are animated by each of their practices individually and the breadth they represent collectively."

The selected residents will enjoy 24-7 access to 14,000 square-foot studio space; on-site living accommodations at Red Bull Arts Detroit; access to network of local fabricators and creatives, as well as in-house woodshop, CNC machine, and additional resources based on need; access to dedicated iMac workstation with Adobe Creative Suite; introductions to members of Detroit's creative community, as well as visiting curators and writers; access to Red Bull Arts Detroit's new library; access to Red Bull Radio's local studio; and inclusion in a group exhibition at end of Residency period.

Image: First Row (L to R): Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Dana Bassett, Pamela Council, Tiff Massey. Second Row: Andrew Berardini, Holly Bass, William E. Jones, Kearra Amaya Gopee. Third Row: Ruslana Lichtzier, Patrick Quarm, Claire Lachow, Michael Polakowski. Fourth Row: Miatta Kawinzi, Brian Droitcour, Taraneh Fazeli, Hui-Ying Tsai.

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