In July, Ingel Vaikla began her six-month residency in WIELS, the art centre in Brussels. The residency for Estonian artists is made possible by the partnership between WIELS and Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art.
The duration of the WIELS artist in residence programme is six months and its aim is to support artists’ professional development. The residents have access to workshops, panels, and feedback discussions. The artist has the possibility to live in an apartment in Brussels and work at a separate studio space. With the support of Estonian Ministry of Culture, CCA pays the participants monthly scholarship.
Ingel Vaikla (1992) is a visual artist researching the relationship between photo, video and architecture. Vaikla is currently completing her PhD at PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt. Her video works have been exhibited internationally at exhibitions and festivals and she has curated several artist film programmes both in Estonia and in Belgium. In February 2020 Ingel Vaikla presented her solo exhibition “Shapes and Distances” (curated by Laura Toots) at Beursschouwburg in Brussels, a continuation of her solo show “You have become the space” (EKKM, 2018).
During the residency Vaikla aims to research the impact of Belgium’s industrial architecture to the environment and the wider relationship between architecture and plants. In WIELS the artist hopes to continue working with film and photo archives and explore new ways of applying 16mm analogue techniques.
Since 2018 the programme has hosted Estonian artists Paul Kuimet, Jaanus Samma, Anna Škodenko, Tõnis Saadoja, Tanja Muravskaja and Anu Vahtra. In the first half of 2021, Eva Mustonen was working in the residency. Residents are selected via an open call. The open call for Estonian artists for 2022 is happening now, see more details here.
WIELS’ partner in Estonia is Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA). The residency of Estonian artists in WIELS is supported by Estonian Ministry of Culture.