Residency grants for 18 artists

The Finnish Cultural Foundation awards grants for international artists’ residency programme each year. The Residency program supports international mobility and networking among artists.

This year, a record 481 applications were received, and 18 artists were awarded residencies. For the first time, applications were accepted for the G.A.S. residency in Nigeria, run by the Yinka Shonibare Foundation, and ACME in London.

Multidisciplinary collaboration in Lagos, Nigeria

Guest Artists Space Foundation (G.A.S.) delivers residencies and public programmes across two sites in Nigeria; one in the heart of the dynamic city of Lagos and the second on a rural working farm in Ijebu in Ogun State. The G.A.S. residency programme embraces interdisciplinary collaboration and welcomes individuals from diverse backgrounds and career stages. The Cultural Foundation’s residency grant for the G.A.S. residency was awarded to two artists who will primarily be based in Lagos, but who may also spend a shorter period of time at the farm.

Kush Badhwar is an artist and filmmaker, who has spent over fifteen years working at the intersection of moving image, artistic, social and spatial research. Budhwar studied in the Film and Television Institute of India, after which he graduated with a Master’s degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts.

“During the residency, I want to learn the city through experience while developing new sound or moving-image work. I’m especially interested in Lagos’s riparian zones, the in-between areas that are neither fully land nor fully water, where waterways, everyday life, and speculative real estate meet. These spaces connect closely to my ongoing questions about how deltas shape the relationship between capital, ecology, and daily experience. I’m looking forward to the G.A.S / Yinka Shonibare Foundation residency and the chance to spend time working in Lagos,” Bashwar says.

Alexandra Mitiku is a multidisciplinary artist based in Helsinki who uses organic  materials such as clay and indigo in her work. She is interested in the interplay between materiality and memory – during her residency, she plans to continue her artistic research by delving into texts on African and Afro-diaspora philosophy, history, and intersectional feminist thinking. Mitiku is also interested in engaging with local forms of craft and knowledge and developing her painting series ‘our xenogenesis’.

“I’m over the moon and looking forward to developing my practice within this promising environment.”

Photo: Johanna Naukkarinen

Kolme kuukautta paloasemalla Itä-Lontoossa

London-based Acme has hosted international artists in residence at the Fire Station for almost thirty years. Built in 1910, the upper four floors were originally designed as twelve firemen’s flats and have been converted into artists’ work/live studios.

This year, Acme selected its first artist-in-residence from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Alejandra Alarcón is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of food, ecology, and art. In her work, she explores relationships between cultures and social structures through the raw materials, eating habits, and flavors as she has encountered in Mexico and Finland.

”I’m thrilled about the opportunity of a residency at Acme in London, which will provide the space to make new connections and hopefully foster collaborations with the food and art scene, as well as with Latin American communities. During my time there, I will continue my foraging and walking practice within a new urban context, as well as my artistic research on cakes, and begin working on a new publication.”

Photo: Skaiste Venckevi

All recipients of the Cultural Foundation’s residency grant for 2025:

ACME, Lontoo
Alarcón Alejandra

Arts Initiative Tokyo
Suoyrjö Elina
 
G. A. S., Lagos
Badhwar Kush
Mitiku Alexandra
 
Fabrikken, Kööpenhamina
Azariah Nikolai
Lehtomaa Tuomas
 
Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallinna
Ala-Ruona Teo and working group
Nsambu Alen and working group
 
MJF, Lofootit
Auer Camille Kaisa
Lindroos Teemu
 
MORPHO, Antwerpen
Ruck Kathryn
 
NART, Narva
Kozieł-Kalliomäki Natalia
Oikari Elina
 
Sím, Reykjavik
Hsu Ching Jo
Rönkkö Nastja Säde
 
Tokyo Arts and Space
Caginli Baran
 
Triangle, New York
Ala-Ruona Teo
Hyrri Juliana