Ocula and Salzburger Kunstverein Announce 2024 Writers in Residence
In collaboration with Ocula

The open call for Ocula's inaugural art writing residency conceived in partnership with Salzburger Kunstverein, Austria, received over 200 applications from around the world.

'I speak for the jury when I say that we were struck by the sheer volume of truly impressive applicants, which reinforces why programmes like this are so necessary,' said Kate Sutton, one of three jurors who selected the first writers to partake in the 2024 art writing residency at Salzburger Kunstverein. The other jury members were Mirela Baciak, director of Salzburger Kunstverein, and Ocula's editorial director, Anna Dickie.

The programme supports art writers of all ages and professional levels by providing an opportunity to work on their own projects. Residents are further invited to produce two texts that resonate with Salzburger Kunstverein's exhibition and performance programme, to be published on Ocula.

In discussing the final selection of residents, Mirela Baciak confirmed, 'Among the applicants, we sought those whose work showed not just an understanding of contemporary art, but a personal style which helped them stand out. We wanted each person to show the ability to connect the dots between art and the dialogues/discourses it engages with—be it cultural, political, or social—extending the conversation beyond the confines of the museum's walls. I am very excited about the diversity of approaches to art writing among the 2024 residents.'

The 2024 residents are as follows:

Tristan Bera is an author, researcher, and cultural voyeur, whose practice spans critical and fictional writing, curating, filmmaking, and staged performances. His writing has been featured in artpress, The Art Newspaper France, and exhibitions catalogues at Centre Pompidou Paris and Metz, and more.

John Alexis Balaguer is a Manila-based curator, critic, and cultural worker teaching Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines. Balaguer worked as Curatorial Researcher at Ayala Museum and Gallery Manager at Archivo 1984. He founded Curare Art Space and contributes reviews to Kanto and ArtAsiaPacific, as well as penning curatorial texts for art galleries in Manila.

Alina Șerban is an art historian, curator, and writer. She co-founded the Institute of the Present, Bucharest, and initiated the publishing programme P+4 Publications. Her research focuses on topics dealing with exhibition histories and the non-linear historiographies of post-war Eastern European art.

Žanete Liekīte is an independent curator and writer who collaborates with institutions in the Baltic states and abroad, including Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, LOW Gallery in Riga, and Smack Mellon in New York City. She is a contributor to Satori and Echo Gone Wrong.

Valentin Diaconov is a critic and curator. He writes about Russian Constructivism and other techno-utopian movements of the 1910 and 20s, and the belief systems that inform various artistic practices. From 2016 to 2022, he worked as curator at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, and from 2022 to 2023 was a Core Residency Fellow at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Diaconov is currently a resident at Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston.

The residency is made possible through the financial support of Austria's Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture (BMKÖS).