Spin Slowly, Fighting Gravity

Recently published on online art platform Contemporary HUM, arts facilitator and producer Samuel Walsh reflects on his residency at Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon, Portugal. Zaratan, a not-for-profit art space, allowed Walsh to study art spaces abroad and develop ideas for his own artist-run space in Tāmaki Makaurau, Strange Haven. Although thousands of miles apart, Walsh and the facilitators of Zaratan discovered their shared joys and struggles of running an art space and the importance of community in their practice.

“When I first arrived in Portugal, Joe told me a story. ‘If you started digging a hole,’ he said, pointing to the ground, ‘you’ll end up in New Zealand’. This sentiment would become a thread, a wobbly bridge between my temporary home in Zaratan in Lisbon and my permanent one in Strange Haven in Auckland – two art spaces nestled literally on opposite sides of the world,” writes Walsh.

As a non-artist (I’m more of a facilitator or a lurker), an artist residency can be scary. You feel clumsy, imposter-ish, out of your depth. But what started as small glimpses or subtle clues, soon became larger, more obvious linkages, and an unfamiliar place became familiar and strangers, friends.” To help make sense of my time there I’ve picked away at a couple of these linkages. Some are vague, others more obvious but, when molded together, these form an experience.”

To read the entire article, please click here.

Article Source: Contemporary HUM, Samuel Walsh, February 4, 2019

Image Source: Zaratan Exterior, 2017. Courtesy of Zaratan