Lac de Vassivière (2016)

We were pleased to announce that Sabrina Chou, Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh, and Riccardo Giacconi were the three recipients of the 2016 international residency programme, delivered in partnership with CIAP (International Centre for Art & Landscape) and Treignac Projet, and supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and British Council Northern Ireland.

The residency programme took place at the castle on Vassivière Island, France, from 20th June to 30th October 2016. Recipients were supported with a budget that included a living allowance, travel, and production costs, as well as use of live/work facilities at the dedicated residency space, recently renovated by architects Berger&Berger and BuildingBuilding.

The recipients were selected from an open call. They responded to architect Rem Koolhaas's assertion that the "countryside is now the frontline of transformation … more volatile than the most accelerated city." Referring to the countryside as a "toxic mix of genetic experiment, science, industrial nostalgia, seasonal immigration, territorial buying sprees, massive subsidies, incidental inhabitation, tax incentives, investment, political turmoil," Koolhaas contradicted the notion of the countryside as a space that was both inactive and immune from the forces of global capitalism and technocracy. This thematic approach had particular relevance to the immediate vicinity of Vassiviere, an artificial island that was simultaneously a hydro-electric power reservoir, a holiday resort, an art centre, sculpture park, and a "managed" woodland consigned for foreign export. The wider region of the Limousin meanwhile represented one of the lowest population density regions of France.

The residency aimed to provide a unique opportunity to respond and develop these ideas within the terms of individual creative practice. The programme was also supported through occasional group events organised between CCA, CIAP, and Treignac Projet, an artist run project space in the Limousin. The residencies emphasised a discursive and process-based approach with no fixed outcomes, and aspects of the residency were presented at CCA Derry~Londonderry in late 2016, in the form of exhibition, talk, or research presentation.