I spent one month in a residency program jointly set up by Residency Unlimited and Visual AIDS in New York in February 2013. During this time, I had a chance to meet or be introduced to all thepivotal actors of aids activism and research. It was an immense satisfaction to get an opportunity to meet the artists and researchers I was writing about.

The New York experience gave me an enormous advantage. This is why I asked for Residency Unlimited to be listed at the official web page of the project next to my biography.

Ru is an exceptional structure, working in synchronization of each artist reality and projects. Their dynamic is both following the city flow and artists needs. Each member of the crew share is own particularity, building a brilliantly strong team. They are amazing.

As an art educator for 3 months at Residency Unlimited, my experience was very positive and differed from my usual work in art institutions where I design educational workshops related to the exhibition program. At RU, I had the chance to collaborate with local and international artists and take part in the realization of their projects, in particular with Heta Kuchka who worked with Alzheimer patients. At RU, my focus of research was the topic »collaboration«: What are the differences in the methods and aims employed by artists who engage people in their artistic projects and those of art educators? Thanks to RU’s strong network and connective abilities, I formed meaningful relations which continue after my stay. RU gave me the opportunity to present my research to the NewYork audiences at a public talk that I conduced with Joe Fusaro from Art21. Noteworthy is my interaction with the RU New York based artist Paul de Muro who made it possible for me to participate in a workshop with children from the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House after school program in Queensbridge (supported by the Joan Mitchell Foundation). Overall I am struck by RU’s serious and honest interest in bringing people together.

Thanks so much to the RU staff who made of my time such an inspiring stay.

My experience of working with Residency Unlimited has been very satisfying. It has been a good learning experience to present my work to curators and critics. I could reflect on my work and in discussions I could sharpen my own statement as an artist.

I really enjoyed the RU team and would highly recommend the Residency to other artist.

As a busy New York artist and teacher, the flexibility afforded by RU was very important. RU understands that artists exist in a state of flux and their needs change quickly. Between working in the studio, commuting, teaching, as well as having various odd jobs, things often get hectic. RU was very attentive to working with and around my schedule. At the time of my stay I would not of been able to work with a residency that had too rigid a structure. Opportunities are presented with attention towards practical needs and artistic goals. This is the kind of support that I find so helpful, and to be honest, too rare in the art world.

Being introduced to the diverse group of thinkers (artists, educators, facilitators, curators, historians, activists, etc) that comprise a Residency Unlimited residency not only opened up and expanded my own thinking about my work, but also exposed me to ideas and goals that exists in different parts of the world. For an artist existing in a global context the kind of discourse RU facilitates is invaluable. What I will miss most about the residency is the weekly conversations, both planned and coincidental, that I was able to have with the other residents, visitors, and staff.

While this testimonial feels like somewhat of a good bye, I feel very happy knowing that I am now part of the extended Residency Unlimited family and I look forward to keeping the conversations going. Even though the residency is over, I still have plans through and with the community fostered at RU. That is a testament to the amazing flexibility and dedication put forth by the RU team.

I worked on my latest video installation “Present” with the help of Residency Unlimited in the fall of 2012. RU offers tailored production assistance for each project with focus directly on the artist. Having followed RU’s working methods and activities for a long time I was confident I would be able to finish my project in the limited time I had. The staff and I had started planning my project already a year before my residency, and our collaboration became more frequent during the last six months. When I arrived everything was ready for me to get straight to work. I worked together with Shore Hill Senior Center in Brooklyn organized by RU and was given the opportunity to show my new work at The Abrons Arts Center. I would have never been able to execute my project without the help of RU knowing how difficult it is just to get content forms especially in a city like New York. My work process was easy because of the professional production-focused approach. 

Residency Unlimited stands out from the other residency programs due to the logistical help they provide to artists for them to be able to complete their work. In addition RU has a vast network in the New York art scene as well as internationally. Being from Europe I consider studio visits with European curators -that I was also  introduced to by RU in New York-an additional advantage for the future of my career after my return home. I’ve been back in Helsinki for 2 weeks and I’m already missing the warm atmosphere. I want to thank everyone at Residency Unlimited for making my experience so wonderfully productive.  

Participating in the joint residency organized by Residency Unlimited and the Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education was an incredible experience. For three months this fall I was able to undertake my most ambitious project to date within the structures of two dynamic organizations collaborating to provide unique personalized support. In weekly meetings with guest curators at RU’s space in Brooklyn I was able to share my project as it evolved, make valuable connections with both NY-based and international members of the art community, as well as hone necessary skills in articulating my growing artistic practice. RU staff connected me with a guest curator working on an exhibition at Casita Maria in Hunts Point that aligned perfectly with my project and provided added structure for community workshops and presentation of my work in the Bronx. Both organizations were generous, flexible and understanding of my schedule, which enabled me to take full advantage of the residency and its customized attention while maintaining my day-to-day responsibilities. As a New York native, I was able to broaden my exposure to a wider range of art and social justice oriented circles than I might have encountered on my own and build lasting relationships for continued involvement in the future. I would recommend the residency to any artist looking for an exciting, personalized opportunity to work collaboratively in a critical, supportive environment with an amazing community. I’m extremely grateful.

Through my scholarship from Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral in Germany, I was able to stay for six months in New York. I had no concept of what to expect from Residency Unlimited in the beginning, thinking my time there would just be a regular residency like I had experienced before. I was wrong, because it was much better than anything that happened in the past. The possibilities that RU came up with for me were so helpful, that after a very short time in this foreign city, I felt perfectly integrated in an art scene that suited me and my work a lot and made me feel comfortable with. I had weekly studio visits with really interesting curators and gallerists which shaped me in my way of presenting my works and what I was aiming for. RU chose beforehand what person would be good for me to get in touch with and honestly most of them suited me perfectly. Even collaborations became fruitful and so the connection with some of them still goes on and is growing further. Along this, I was able to have a monthlong solo show at Cuchifritos Gallery which gave me a challenging opportunity to engage with the city of New York in a very positive way. As I needed collaborators to fullfill my imagined show, I was able to find them along the curators i mentioned before. From my point of view this is also what made this show turn out really well.
I can only thank RU for the way in which they hosted and encouraged me, the possibilities that they offered were amazing. I wish I could return one day and miss them dearly in the meantime.

A residency at Residency Unlimited was a highly unique experience for my artistic practice to date and certainly an important step forward in my creative career.

I arrived in a new city, in New York City, with no contacts, little resources and just a suitcase full of twelve-disembodied Creatures and the plan to create an unusual interactive multimedia rock’n’roll show collaborating with people form the Bronx. I was not sure what to expect.

Residency Unlimited, however, quickly understood the nature of the project I wanted to undertake and went about finding ways to “make it happen” – whether connecting me with key industry people in New York relevant to my media arts practice, helping me find crucial resources or even personally running the sound and technical aspects for the showcases . I really felt that Nathalie, Sebastien and Boshko were like my creative family in New York, offering professional support and invaluable advice. One of the unique things about RU is that they really adjust and personally focus what they do to suit each artist – every project and every artist is different.

My artistic placement at the Casita Maria Arts and Education Center in the Bronx was also extremely beneficial to my project. Not only did it allow me to collaborate with a unique community in the Bronx –something integral to my work – but it also gave me a huge studio space (the school’s gymnasium) where I could create amplified sound, test projections and develop the project. The staff at Casita were also very supportive and excited for an international multimedia artist to be working in their midst. Creating a complex, cutting-edge multimedia work in a gymnasium in the Bronx was a somewhat surreal experience but moved the work forward tremendously.

The studio visits that RU organized were also very beneficial, cultivating an exchange of ideas, dialogues between artist and curator, networks, experiences.

I feel that, having completed the RU residency, my creative work has progressed considerably and my profile and creative connections in New York City have grown immeasurably. It feels like the beginning of a new and exciting stage in my career.

My time with Residency Unlimited exceeded all expectations.  Their production support, thoughtful studio visits arranged with art-world professionals directly related to my work, and a community of wonderful people – fellow artists, curators and writers -  were instrumental in moving my practice to an entirely new level.

RU’s connections within the New York and international art world is impressive.  While at RU I met with curators and gallerists that range from Tel Aviv to NYC to Paris and to the Netherlands.

With RU’s support, I was able to realize a large-scale site specific installation and performance in Brooklyn, production of my first zine and also complete a large body of primary source research for an experimental work of theatre on which I am collaborating on with internationally acclaimed writer, performance artist and cultural icon of the New York Underground, Penny Arcade.

I would urge all artists who want to broaden their connections in the art world and deepen their studio practice to pursue a residency here.

As dancers and performance artists invited to be residents at RU,  we were impressed with the organisation and the services provided by the residency as the staff was open to accommodate our needs being flexible, available and generous in allowing us to use their spaces in less conventional ways.

We were immediately touched by the premises of Residency Unlimited (ex church) as it offered us potential performance space and starting points for researches.

We were supported in many ways by the staff: there was always an enthusiastic response to our initiatives whether them being performance oriented or workshops that we asked for to develop our skills.

Throughout our stay we had a chance to meet several artists and curators with which we found good points of discussion and connections that will continue in the future.

We gave RU a description of the identity of our project, and they worked to find the most relevant links to the activities in NY we might have had interest for. They allowed freedom for us to connect with the artistic circuit.

We feel that we developed a relationship in which both sides, artist and organisation, work together to make the best of it. 

Residency Unlimited creates a unique customized program for each artist.
Within this special and professional  frame of work, I  experienced an extremely fertile time in New York. During my 5 months residency, I was offered a solo show at the Rooster gallery (LES) in New York.

I met many curators and local art figures that gave me constructive advice about my work and helped me familiarize myself with the local art scene.  I also used RU’s unusual large space to experiment and develop new works.

The RU team is highly professional, with a lot of ambition and willing to help and supply the needs of each artist – from a  technical standpoint, informational , access to materials or people I wished to meet.

As a result of RU’s extraordinary program my artistic career has significant soared and  I have been offered many new projects - and for that I am very grateful!

Residency Unlimited is in tune with the complex needs of artists. ‘Comprehensive support’ is an understatement, an artist sanctuary; RU moves boulders in supporting artists.

During my 8-month residency, RU has helped me develop an entirely new platform for my career. From providing access to unusually affordable studio space, to swiftly expanding my professional network, Residency Unlimited has accelerated the challenging learning curve of the New York art world. A double dose of support, the not-for-profit not only provided a major exhibition opportunity, but also help me in
establishing my teaching career. I was invited by RU to have a solo-show at LES’s Rooster Gallery. This gave me the fire to devote extra my time energy and emotion into my studio practice.

I was also invited to collaborate with Residency Unlimited’s Educational Outreach Program. My experience initiating the RU’s partnership program “Responding Through Art: Current Events in the Classroom propelled my creative focus into a new direction.

Thank you for investing in me, I’m truly indebted. I’m glad to be a ‘local’ artist so I don’t have to say good-by

One of the major characteristics and qualities of the program is the intimate and honest relationship between artists and the RU team. Artists feel free to create new works and have new ideas. They feel free to use the connections with the RU team at present and later in their artistic practice. RU makes smart and precise connections between artists and curators. They think about what you are doing, what is your work. There is a high professional level and nice people, so there is a balance between the professional plan/studio visits and more relaxed social gatherings.
RU was the best thing for me. I’ve never experienced anything that was better than Residency Unlimited!

I had very good feeling to be artist-in-residence at RU. The RU team is well organized and I received direct support when needed, which is not so often the case.
Through studio visits, field trips and artist talks, I understood things in different ways and I hope, it will help me for my practice in the future.
I met also amazing RU artists and I discovered with them some art institutions, galleries, studios and night life of NYC.
Your residency program is great and very professional!
I am proud to be a part of your program!

Tuguldur Yondonjamts, Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), breifly recounts his experience as an artist in residence in NYC with Residency Unlimited

Residency Unlimited worked as a custom-made facilitator for the production of new work, and more importantly, as a sort of synergetic operator between the artist, his work and the art world allowing for the creation of art that could break the intrinsic rules while simultaneously being part of the game.

My Residency Unlimited experience was a very valuable one. I have been to many residency programs. However, this program definitely distinguishes itself. It provides so many great opportunities, such as meetings with curators, critics and artists; It is like a ladder to many artists for them to step up and reveal their talents. RU offers a very encouraging atmosphere. I am amazed by RU’s passion for the Art Industry. With all the work RU puts in, I never could have accomplished the things the way I had planned. “RU, I would like to thank you once again for such devoted service and very personal experience. May God bless you and keep you”.

My time with Residency Unlimited and Casita Maria was an incredibly valuable. I was provided with production support, excellent studio visits with art-world professionals who are directly related to my work, and a community of wonderful people – artists, curators and writers. Casita Maria itself was a fertile location for my work, and I am surprised and delighted by the project that I developed their with their steady support.

I would urge all US-based artists who want to broaden their connections in the art world, and deepen their studio practice, to pursue a residency here.

Intelligence, Knowledge, Experience, Boldness, Consistency, Sense of Humor, Availability and Network …
… this is everything that an artist dreams of having at his side, permanently, for the execution, production, implementation, and dissemination of his work.

Tomaz Hipólito

Our residency at Residency Unlimited was an exceptional experience, very stimulating and inspiring. The environment is highly professional with really amazing team working at RU. We appreciate the excellent facilities provided where we could engage in critical discussions and talks. We are very grateful that they provide us with an elaborative overview of the NY art scene, its mode of operation and valorization. We would specially emphasize their good will and help around the exhibition and the whole research.

Its been a privileged being at RU and we highly recommend it.

My experience of working with Residency Unlimited has proved being highly satisfying.

The staff capacity to put in common their knowledge of the art world, their various strengths and skills makes the program versatile and unique.

The unusual formula of the residency, which can be at first slightly unsettling, puts forward its vast network and expertise instead of focalizing on a physical location for the art making. This quickly proves being completely adequate and enjoyable; it gives you the impression that the city can be yours and makes it less intimidating. Contrarily to other former international residencies that left me disappointed in terms of networking, RU offers a structure that makes the encounter with NYC art world easy and fluid; it is perfectly adapted to the city.

More concretely, I was provided during my three months stay with frequent studio visits with professionals of the art world, with a complete availability of the staff to fulfill my needs – ranging from finding a suitable working place, organising exciting field trips, providing technical workshops to ameliorate my website, putting me in contact with relevant personalities, etc – and with the chance of exhibiting my work at the Abrons Art Center gallery space. The latter experience took place in a context of full support and professionalism by the RU staff. And what is as valuable as the residency, is the certitude that the ties that were forged during my stay extend beyond these three memorable months.

My RU experience was a very rewarding experience. Not only did the creative and vivid environment influence my work and make me move forward but what has remained with me is the feeling that the RU people are trusting and helping and inspiring people. This experience will continue and it doesn’t just end with the residency in it’s time and space frame. I found this very beautiful.

My RU/ Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education residency was the first residency of my art career. I was elated that it took place in the Bronx, the place where I was born, raised and lived. I wasn’t sure what to expect and really just thought that there would be a room I could work in and a chance to work with kids from my own neighborhood.

But there was so much more to my residency than I had ever expected. My weekly studio visits at the RU headquarters in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn were enlightening and informative and helped me to see my work from an outside perspective and gain exposure to curators that wouldn’t normally have known my work. The entire staff at RU are an amazing and diverse group of warm, generous and knowledgeable people. I had the help of a RU intern, Doreen St. John, who worked with me in my Bronx studio. I ambitiously took on a large scale sculpture made out of discarded women’s shoes for an upcoming exhibition at Hunter College. My RU and Casita Maria residency supplied me with 90% of those shoes, over 450 were needed and with the generous and continual support of this partnership, I attained my goal with minimal cost to me through donations.

As a NYC artist, the challenges to succeed always seem to outweigh the rewards. There are always opportunities that leave you wishing for more support, but my Residency Unlimited experience was rewarding, supportive and career changing. I have encouraged other fellow artists to apply to any program that RU is associated with. I am always happy to know that I am a part of the RU community of artists even after I am no longer in my residency. I look forward to all their amazing work and I hope to take part in another RU opportunity in the near future.

Through the guidance and genuine help from Residency Unlimited I was able to meet and discuss my work and the process like never before. I now understand why I do what I do. Invaluable as far as i am concerned.

I know that we are almost wrapping up my residency and would like to use the opportunity to thank you for the wonderful opportunity. I feel I have learned so much from it and still am learning. I had no idea how big the impact on my work will be. I see now how much as an artist the dialogue with another creative person is vital. Once again- THANK YOU!!!!

This was my first art residency outside my country. An opportunity to sharpen the senses, learn a new culture, to create bonds of friendship and mature work. It was an extraordinary experience and a unique opportunity for me.

Pedro Motta

My time in NYC was extremely productive thanks to RU . The support I received from the RU staff helped me maximize my short stay and was extremely beneficial in the organization and production of new work. The studio visits organized by RU were a great introduction to established curators and organizations but also an introduction to the NYC art scene itself.

My 6 month stay in New York was great anyway but without the fantastic support of the team of Residency Unlimited it would have been way harder to take full advantage of my time. Almost every week an organized studio visit with somebody from the art world organized by RU helped me a lot to improve my presentation skills and my own knowledge about my work. It felt almost like studying again. Thanks to that my stay was very productive. For every problem I had they found a solution. They do a great and necessary job for the artists.

I have been working in the AAI Studio Programs as an artist in residence 2011. This year the AAI Studio Program is partnering with Residency Unlimited. RU has provided studio visits for AAI artists, including myself, and it has been tremendously helpful and beneficial personally. I was recently accepted into a museum residency program thanks to the recommendation from Nathalie Angles, Director/Founder of Residency Unlimited. I am very impressed with the specific attention she gave me and how promptly she provided the connection for me. RU understands what artists need and provides a supportive network between artists and the art community.

During my 2010 residency with Residency Unlimited, I maintained a studio at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. The space allowed me to work larger than I would have otherwise and to accumulate and store materials, which is integral to my process.

We met regularly with curators and arts professionals, which was very useful in terms of getting feedback on my work as well as expanding my personal network. The RU artists in residence consisted of both local as well as international artists. This dynamic was interesting, and I feel we formed a nice community. Additionally, one RU staffer came to help me with a project while I was under a deadline. RU also provided us with exhibition opportunities. We realized two shows as a group, organized by RU selected curators. Finally, RU connected me to Elastic City, with whom I am developing a walk for September.

During this residency, I received support in many areas: workspace, networking, increasing my knowledge of other programs, exhibition opportunities, and more. I feel that as an organization, RU is flexible and responsive to meet the specific needs of its artists – quite the opposite of a bureaucracy. RU’s approach is a holistic one, which resulted in a very rich experience.

Organizing and managing the project The Missing Link was a very new type of curatorial experience for me. This would not have been possible without the extraordinary commitment of the RU staff during my 6 months residency. Since each artist had exactly three weeks to contribute to the project before passing it on to the next one, the challenge for me was to create and impose rules on the artists (a disciplined time constraint), while offering them total freedom in their contributions. 

The second difficulty was the whole project’s chance factor: I had no idea what the project would look like after six months of  collaboration. This specificity made The Missing Link as unexpected as it was fascinating to observe: each contribution was giving me, the curator, the opportunity to re-adapt and rethink my original aspect. It was like a perpetual challenging and questioning of my original concept and idea, a way of curating that I have previously never experienced. The end result was a 3 days exhibition of the process at the Residency Unlimited event space in December 2010..

What remains of this project in terms of my personal experience and curatorial practice is the discovery of a new type of collaboration, which doesn’t need to be physical, but can exist within constraints of time and space. This immaterial link, created between the artists and between each artist and myself, turned out to be the essence of the project. Once again the support provided by the RU staff was essential.

Residency unlimited offered the opportunity to be part of an international artistic community that I would otherwise have had no exposure to. We had regular discussion groups and RU arranged studio visits with well regarded curators and artists who gave excellent insight and critique to my work. In particular, Martha Kirszenbaum’s decision to curate an art show with RU gave me an opportunity to expand the orbit of my artistic practice. The regular emails and updates that RU sent notifying me of future opportunities were very helpful. As a result, I applied for a subsequent residency at the LMCC Swing Space and was awarded with residency for 2011. I consider what RU is doing an excellent service to the international arts community, will continue to stay in touch, and hope to be included in future projects.

RU residency distinguishes itself with its personal, highly adaptable, and dynamic approach with its residents and the art community from in and out of NYC. The program, through its activities (talks, projects, exhibitions, and meetings) helps build a strong sense of community with the other participants and art professionals. The regular presentation meetings followed by dialogues with RU participants, as well as the laptop studio visit with curators and gallerists, offer a unique richness in network.

This liveliness, the intelligence, and the flexible spirit and shape of the organization is what make [RU] attractive to artists and curators and are what will make it grow.