Artist in Residency – Kristiansand
Open Call for Kristiansand, Norway, and our Artist in Residency!
The Municipality of Kristiansand together with Agder Kunstsenter, offers a residency for professional artists, who wish to live and work in our beautiful city for a period of time. Our residency provides the perfect environment for an artist to devote dedicated time to evolve their practice with the added benefits of a studio space, new influences, contacts and in some cases, even funding (The Cultural Rucksack program). Since 2006 AiR-KRS has hosted over 130 artists from countries all over the world.
Kristiansand is the capital of Southern Norway – the “sunny coast”. The city attracts a lot of tourists every year. One of the main attractions is Dyreparken, a gigantic zoo and amusement park. The city also hosts one of Norways most famous outdoor music festivals, Palmesus. Music, food and cultural events are an important part of Kristiansand. In 2024 The Kunstsilo will finally open it`s doors to the public. Nicolai Tangen’s collection of 20th century art is the
largest and most comprehensive private collection of Norwegian art from the period 1920 to 1980. The collection comprises 2,700 works, including art from the other Nordic countries. The Kunstsilo will house both The Tangen Collection and the existing art museum in Kristiansand, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, in a new cultural quarter at a prime waterfront location, next to the Kilden performing arts centre. The nearly 10,000 sq.m new museum will
provide a unique opportunity to combine a range of permanent and temporary exhibitions.
“Every artist needs a change of scenery. Sometimes to recharge the creative battery, sometimes to be able to concentrate on a project with no distractions and sometimes just to break away from recurring themes”.
About the residency-program
We offer a rent-free apartment and studio in the city center. Visual artists are invited to apply for a stay of one to three months at our residency. The residency is self-catered (artists have to cover all expenses, such as living costs, travel, materials, insurance and transport must be covered by the artist themselves). We encourage all applicants to apply for funding in their home countries.
Our objectives:
- Provide studio & residential facilities for selected international and national professional visual artists.
- Strengthen, promote and facilitate collaborations between visual artist from south of Norway and visiting artists.
- Facilitate exchange of knowledge and enrich the local culture and environment.
- Facilitate a high-quality living and work-environment for artists.
- Foster inter-connectivity among the residents.
Apply for our Cultural Rucksack program (DKS)
A National Program for Arts and Culture in Norwegian Schools
The Cultural Rucksack is a national program which main goal is to provide arts and culture to all Norwegian students attanding primary and secondary schools. The program has existed since 2001, and is regarded as extremely successful.
Guest artists can apply to carry out an art project or a workshop together with Norwegian students. The fee/grant for the project is NOK 25,000. The AiR – committee chooses one project each year, which will be carried out together with schoolchildren.
The Objectives of The Cultural Rucksack
-To contribute to letting pupils enjoy artistic and cultural productions performed by professionals
-To facilitate the pupils’ access to a wide range of cultural experiences, so that they can become acquainted with and will develop an understanding of culture in all its forms.
Important info:
The Cultural Rucksack program is open for applications from professional visual artists and groups, who are interested in carrying out an art project with Norwegian schoolchildren during their residency in Kristiansand.
A project description must be admitted together with the standard AiR- application form.
The project will be executed during a week of the residency in our 360 m2 project space.
The project must be adapted to the age group 13-14 years old (8th grade) or the age group 14-15 years old (9th grade). Guest artists will work with new student groups each day – 2 separate groups/classes each day. A total of 10 groups of students during the cores of a week. Each group/class consists of between 25-30 students. Teachers accompany the classes. The communication language is English. Guest artists must have a good command of the English language.
The guest artist is given a budget of NOK 30.000,-. This amount includes fee and material costs.
To save money, it may be a good idea to obtain material or buy this in your home country and take it with you to Norway.
Duration: Upto 3 months | Rent-free apartment and studio | Application fee: $0
Application deadline for 2026 will be announced in spring 2025.
Application link to be found at https://agderkunst.no/air/application/
