Self-Funded Residency (2019 Pilot Year)

The Northern Ontario Mobile Residency aimed to encourage media artists to connect with northern locales and communities and reflect on ideas of land, geography, and identity. Priority was given to Indigenous artists and artists with contemporary practices in which the landscape played a central role, and to those thinking critically about cultural identity in relation to rural northern Ontario.

The residency was designed to allow artists to travel throughout Northern Ontario while creating work in the Mobile Lab, a 29-foot C-class motorhome featuring a comfortable living space in the front and a soundproofed studio space in the rear. The studio area featured desk space for two artists, a sofa, a built-in monitor and surround-sound system, and secure gear storage.

Included in $2,250/week fee:

• Live/Work use of the Mobile Lab, a 29-foot C-class motorhome
• Driver’s Insurance for motorhome covering period of residency
• Your choice of Audio/Visual Media Equipment from our inventory [list of N2M2L inventory]

Not included (additional costs to consider):

• Campsite / RV Park fees (averages $30 – $50 a night)
• Internet (25 GB using the RV’s Bell Hotspot Turbo Stick costs $50)
• Groceries
• Gas (could cost $50-60 per 100km)

The Near North Mobile Media Lab creates opportunities for artists and audiences to engage with media arts in northern Ontario regardless of class, age, gender, race, ability, or sexual orientation. Far from the centres of population in Ontario, our collective continues to encourage our peers and youth in their explorations of electronic media, in developing their film-making skills and through the professional presentation of their art works.

We envision this residency adding to the national media arts discourse by connecting northern communities to contemporary media arts practices, and promoting our expansive region to Canadian artists by overcoming regional limitations.

Eligibility:

• Canadian Artists
• Those intending to drive the vehicle must hold a valid Canadian Driver’s License free of accidents, serious traffic convictions or demerit points.

Eligible Projects:

• New Media or Time-Based Practices, or works produced with digital technology
• Project falls within the season and duration limits

Ineligible Projects:

• Fine and Visual Arts such as painting, sculpture, print-making, etc.
• Works that do not physically or conceptually locate themselves within northern Ontario