Performance Residencies in Croatia

Kamov

Rijeka, Croatia

The Kamov Artist-in-Residence Program, established in 2011 by the Department of Culture of the City of Rijeka, Croatia, aims to enrich the cultural landscape by fostering art and supporting the non-institutional art scene. Named after the avant-garde Rijeka writer Janko Polić Kamov, the program embodies the spirit of questioning and progress. It has hosted over 500 international artists, theorists, and creators, encouraging collaborations across cultural boundaries. The residency offers spaces for inspiration, research, and experimentation in writing, performing arts, and open-ended post-studio practices. Residents engage in Rijeka's cultural life, presenting their work through lectures, workshops, and exhibitions. Kamov Residency provides a unique opportunity for artists to delve deep into their projects, supported by a rich community and a variety of resources.

WHW Akademija (WHW Academy)

Zagreb, Croatia

WHW Akademija, founded in 2018 by the curatorial collective What, How & for Whom/WHW in Zagreb, Croatia, is an innovative, tuition-free interdisciplinary program for emerging artists. It embodies the acronym of its founding collective, signifying the focus on economic organization's key questions: What, How, & for Whom. The program, accepting 8–12 fellows annually for a seven-month period, is centered on new forms of self-determination, critical reflection, and artistic encounters. The curriculum includes intensives, experimental exercises, workshops, and seminars, alongside public exhibitions, performances, and discursive programs. A partnership with the Kontakt Collection, Vienna, enriches the program, focusing on experimental art from Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe since the late 1950s. The program’s design emphasizes “learning by doing,” fostering a dialogic educational process and collective co-learning and co-production of critical content. Structured to blend exhibitions, performances, and collective actions, the program alternates between two-week intensives and ongoing workshops and seminars, inviting curators, artists, and theorists to engage in various co-learning formats. This unique approach allows participants to test ideas, make discoveries, and engage in trial and error, encouraging a blend of theoretical and practical learning without traditional academic constraints.