Radar has become Artists at Risk (AR) Safe Haven in Sofia. The residency is co-coordinated by the Helsinki-based curatorial and residency platform Perpetuum Mobile as part of the Nordic network funded by the Nordic Culture Point “Immigré Artists (IA) & Artists at Risk (AR)”, and is aimed at providing safe space to artists whose existence and work is seriously threatened in their own country.
Our first guest Artist at Risk guest resident is Spartak Khachanov.
ARTISTS at RISK (AR) is an institution at the intersection of human rights and the arts. AR is dedicated to mapping the field of persecuted visual art practitioners, facilitating their safe passage from their countries of origin, hosting them at “AR-Residencies” and curating related projects, including the “AR Pavilion”.
Artists, writers, curators, critics and scholars are targets of politically motivated threats and persecution in great parts of the world. Perpetuum Mobile (PM) initiated Artists at Risk (AR) as a platform and network to support these art practitioners in times of need. This encompasses enabling their safe exit from countries of origin; the procurement of travel documents; providing legal assistance; and matching ARs with so-called “AR-Residencies”. The AR-Network comprises a growing number of local nodes: currently approximately 10 former/operational and future AR-Residencies. AR develops cooperation-programmes with artist-in-residency centres, art/film/theatre unions, cities and human-rights networks which help provide artists at risk a safe place of temporary relocation. Furthermore, Perpetuum Mobile (PM) curates events, conferences and the dedicated “AR Pavilion” — recently at the Athens Biennale; parallel to the Istanbul Biennial; at Matadero-Madrid; and in Berlin; and soon in Helsinki — which showcases the artistic practices of Artists-at-Risk (AR) Residents.
The European Parliament honoured Perpetuum Mobile with the CIVI EUROPAEO PRAEMIUM (the European Citizen’s Prize) for AR in 2016.
Safe Haven Helsinki won the Annual Art Act Award in 2016.
Artists at Risk (AR) won the Thematic State Prize of Finland in 2017.
