Author Archives: maddycrowd

For many of the CROWD artists, the residency time is a rare opportunity for breathing space: a brief escape from the relentless pace of performing, teaching, and the many permutations of socially engaged practice. With the residency period long ended, it hasn’t been possible to speak directly with all of the artists involved, so IContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Dylan Quinn”

Soon after being selected to participate in CROWD, each artist responds to a set of questions about their relationship to socially engaged practices and some of the issues or ideas they hope to explore during their residency. These follow-up conversations are a useful place for reflecting back on what might have changed through the weeksContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Natalia Barua”

Alongside every artist pairing in CROWD, holding space for them, gently guiding them, shaping the residency experience for them, is a facilitator: an artist with their own practice in socially engaged making, bringing their own questions and processes of engagement. In the last of the drop-in sessions, hosted by Dansateliers, the facilitator Merel Heering notedContinue reading “Inside talk: a conversation with FABRIC’s two facilitators”

The hope of any development programme like CROWD is that it should offer a perfectly timed intervention into an artist’s practice, confirming and reassuring some aspects while expanding or opening up others. Such has been the experience of Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir, who came to her residencies on the brink of a major year of touringContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir”

Each of the partner organisations involved in CROWD has a distinct relationship to the project: some have been present for the duration but changed leadership along the way, some joined the programme in the second year, some have had inconsistent relationships with designing and hosting the residencies. At Dansateliers in Rotterdam, Lisa Reinheimer joined asContinue reading “Inside talk: a conversation with Dansateliers”

A theme very present throughout CROWD 2023 was the delicacy and risk involved in pairing up artists for four quite intensive weeks of exchange and self-questioning. From their first drop in session together, it was clear that the pairing of Hubert Mielke and Chelsea Gordon had involved a kind of alchemy: a chemical reaction ofContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Hubert Mielke”

In an ideal world, these conversations with CROWD’s participating artists might not be happening now at all: they would be taking place late in 2024, when the learnings have had a chance to bed in, the ripple effects of the residencies to move through each artist’s practice. That said, there is still much value inContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Anni Puuperä”

Of all the organisations participating in CROWD, Dansverkstæðið might be my secret favourite, for the simple reason that, from the window of the studio where participating artists have their residencies, it’s possible to see fiery fountains explode from actual volcanoes, even through the tiny windows of zoom. Here, manager Tinna Grétarsdóttir tells me (Maddy Costa)Continue reading “Inside talk: a conversation with Dansverkstæðið”

Although these blog posts are described as, and rooted in, conversations, in preparing them for sharing online I (Maddy Costa) found I wanted to remove myself: to give as much space as possible to the voice of the artists themselves. Doing so makes invisible my role in eliciting certain reflections on the CROWD residency, orContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Marie Hallager Andersen”

Now that the CROWD residencies are finished, a new set of questions arises. What lingers for the participating artists once they return to their daily lives? How similar or different were the two residencies, and what might other residency-hosting organisations learn from those experiences? What discoveries are already being implemented, what ideas might influence workContinue reading “Looking back, moving forward: a conversation with Chelsea Gordon”