The studios at the Art Museums of Skagen will once again echo with artistic life. Starting in the spring of 2024, the Museums will invite Nordic artists to apply for a residency programme, the effects of which will be felt in the whole of Skagen.
The Art Museums of Skagen wish to rekindle artistic life in Skagen. The new artist-in-residence programme, Skagen AiR, will mean that new artists, from March 2024, will be moving into the Museums’ three studios: P. S. Krøyer’s and Michael Ancher’s studios in the garden of Skagens Museum and Studio Saxild in the garden of Anchers Hus.
Skagen AiR will form a new artistic link between Skagen of 2024 and the heritage left by the Skagen painters and the artists’ colony that took shape around them:
’We find it entirely natural and of paramount importance to fill these studios with life once again. Both P. S. Krøyer and Michael Ancher worked and painted there, and the artists’ colony left a lasting legacy in Skagen. This is the extraordinary heritage we hope to continue and evolve further with Skagen AiR,’ says Lisette Vind Ebbesen, museum director.
Several art forms and a broad-based jury
Skagen AiR is open to Nordic artists irrespective of art form, who would like to spend a period of twelve weeks in Skagen immersed in their own work and actively engaged in the town and its distinctive art and cultural history surrounded by the unique nature of Skagen.
The residency programme forms part of the Art Museums of Skagen’s new strategy Flere Fællesskaber (More Communities) intended to activate the Museums’ three venues and gardens, and the first three artists on the programme will arrive in the studios from the spring of 2024.
Applications for Skagen AiR will be assessed by a jury comprising Lisette Vind Ebbesen, museum director, the Art Museums of Skagen; Jane Jin Kaisen, artist and professor at the School of Media Arts, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts; Soffie Viemose, musician; and the writer Jens-Christian Grøndahl.
Skagen meeting contemporary art
Artists taking part in Skagen AiR will be met with a single requirement: they must interact with the town and people of Skagen. This interaction can take many forms – for example, a new take on a guided tour of Skagens Museum, Anchers Hus, or Drachmanns Hus, conducting an art lesson at Skagen School, a collaborative venture with a local enterprise, an event in the town, or similar.
’The most important element of Skagen AiR is this interaction,’
says Lisette Vind Ebbesen, museum director.
’Initially, the artists will be introduced to our historical art collection and practice their contemporary art in the Skagen painters’ studios. Next, it is mandatory for this residency programme that the artists get out and meet the town and its people. It’s absolutely essential for us that the people and businesses in the town appreciate that we’ve launched this project.’
To ensure a strong link to the local community, the Art Museums of Skagen have signed collaborative agreements with the Skagen Business Association (Skagen Erhvervsforening), the Skagen Chamber of Commerce (Skagen Handelsstandsforening), and the Skagen Department of Education (Skagen Skoleafdeling), who are ready to welcome the artists.
The Art Museums of Skagen are tapping into their own history: towards the end of the 1880s, a group of young painters, later known as the Skagen painters, began visiting the small fishing village in the far north of Denmark. They were gradually joined by more and more practising artists, and a virtual artists’ colony took shape in Skagen. Painters, writers, actors, poets, musicians, journalists, architects, and sculptors were soon convening in Skagen year after year to work, dine, and exchange views. This resulted in a community and a flourishing artistic production that left an invaluable legacy to this town.
The local cultural history and the continuation of the artists traditions are precisely some of the reasons why Det Obelske Familiefond has chosen to financially back the project – as well as the foundation’s strong ties to Northern Jutland:
“The original artists’ colony in Skagen had strong ties to the Nordic countries and that tradition is now carried on with the professional residency Skagen AiR. Art Museums of Skagen is a prominent institution in Northern Jutland, and we are supporting the project because it will strengthen as well as develop the regional art scene and ensure the cultural history of Skagen,”
says Agnete Braad of Det Obelske Familiefond.
Apply or follow us
The Art Museums of Skagen will be open for applications to the residency programme on 24 October 2023.
The project is realised with generous financial backing from the foundation Det Obelske Familiefond, Augustinus Fonden, Nord Energi Fonden, and Dahlers Legat.
Learn more here: www.skagenair.com
Skagen AiR – facts
- The Art Museums of Skagen’s new residency programme, offering Nordic artists an opportunity to live and work in Skagen – and to engage themselves in the town.
- Each residency is of twelve weeks’ duration.
- A programme will be tailored to each artist to link them to the town of Skagen.
- Working facilities available in Michael Ancher’s studio, P. S. Krøyer’s studio, or Studio Saxild.
Jury
- Lisette Vind Ebbesen, director at Art Museums of Skagen
- Jane Jin Kaisen, visual artist, film maker, and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
- Soffie Viemose, songwriter, singer, musician, and assistant professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory
- Jens Christians Grøndahl, award-winning writer and lecturer.
The project is realised with generous financial backing from Det Obelske Familiefond, Augustinus Fonden, Nord Energi Fonden, and Dahlers Legat.
