West Balkan AiR 2005: Awarded Residencies

Artist-in-residence exchange program between the Nordic region and the West Balkans

Residency program for visual artists working with contemporary art. The program aims to support exchange between the Nordic region and the West Balkans, and to initiate new collaboration projects. Visual artists in the Nordic region (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Aaland islands, the Faroe Islands, Greenland) were eligible to apply for the residencies in the West Balkans. Visual artists in the West Balkans (including Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro) were eligible to apply for the residencies in the Nordic region.

The program is an initiative by the Nordic Council of Ministers created to develop and consolidate the cultural networks that exist between the Nordic region and the West Balkans.

Awarded Residencies

The artist selection was made by an invited selection panel. The panelists used this opportunity to get aquainted with a multitude of contemporary visual artists working in both regions.

Suzana Milevska, curator, Skopje/London
Nina Möntmann, curator, NIFCA
Hanna Styrmisdóttir, project coordinator, Nordic House, Reykjavik


Albania: Cultural Center Lindart, Tirana

Knutte Wester, Umeå, SE
WAITING LIST: Mariken Kramer, Østerås, NO

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo

Karl Ingar Røys, Oslo, NO
WAITING LIST: Sigridur Olafsdottir, Reykjavik, IS

Croatia: Art Workshop Lazareti, Dubrovnik

Amel Ibrahimovic, Copenhagen, DK
WAITING LIST: Katja Aglert, Nacka, SE

Croatia: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka

Torbjørn Rødland, New York/NO
Ylva Westerlund, Malmö/SE
WAITING LIST: Mattias Åkerfeldt, Sunbyberg, SE

Denmark: Fabriken for Kunst og Design, Copenhagen

Sezgin Boynik, Prizren, Kosovo
WAITING LIST: Nikola Uzunovski, Skopje, MK

Finland: NIFCA, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Helsinki

Vesna Pavlovic, Belgrade, SM
Leonard Qylafi, Tirana, AL
WAITING LIST: Igor Eskinja, Rijeka, CR

Iceland: Living Art Museum, Reykjavik

Driton Hajredini, Münster/Kosovo
WAITING LIST: Lara Badurina, Kastav, CR

Macedonia: Press to Exit Gallery, Skopje

Alison Gerber, Malmö, SE
WAITING LIST: Bo Christina Larsson, Kristinehamn, SE

Norway: Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) + Atelier Nord, Oslo

Kristina Leko, Zagreb, CR
WAITING LIST: Maja Bekan, Hague/SM

Serbia and Montenegro: Centre for Contemporary Arts - Belgrade

Kajsa Dahlberg and Sara Jordenö, Malmö, SE
Alexander Vaindorf, Stockholm, SE
WAITING LIST: Adel Abidin, Helsinki, FI

Sweden: Rooseum, Malmö

Tanja Ostojic, Belgrade, SM
WAITING LIST: Aleksandrija Ajdukovic, Belgrade, SM



Statistics for received applications


The West Balkan AiR 2005 program received a total of 267 applications.

All applications:
Female 149 (55.8%)
Male 118 (44.2% )

Nordic Region:
140 (52.4%)
Female 82 (58.6%)
Male 58 (41.4%)

West Balkans:
127 (47.6%)
Female 67 (52.8%)
Male 60 (47.2%)


Number of applications per country:

Albania 7, Bosnia-Herzegovina 6, Croatia 36
Denmark 18, Finland 36, Macedonia 20, Norway 24
Iceland 10, Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo) 58, Sweden 52


Statistics for awarded artists

Female 7
Male 8

Awarded artists per counntry:
AL 1, CR 1, DK 1, NO 2, SM (incl. Kosovo) 4, SE 6

On Waiting List:
CR 2, IS 1, MK 1, NO 1, SE 4, SM 2



For further information, please, contact NIFCA.