Around and about in Linz

What can you achieve in a short residency?

I’ve kind of being asking myself this question. Really what in 10 days can you do that is of value in a place? It’s food for thought as POST looks to the future and developing projects in Istanbul (sadly without me as I am stepping down to be an associate member due to a move to London later in the summer). When we were first offered the 3 month residency here everyone was keen to take up the opportunity, and so we split the time between us, giving each member of POST a short residency. In hindsight, would it have been better to have self-selected 2 or 3 of the 7 of us to have a longer chunk of time?

Certainly, I have gained loads in this short period. I have worked very intensively, more intensively than I could have over a longer period of time. The time pressure has pushed and challenged me to get the most out of it. If like me, you thrive with deadlines then it can work really well. But that has only been possible I think because this is my third trip to Linz. After two earlier research trips in November 2009 and March 2010, I feel comfortable here. I am familiar with the art galleries and the city layout and not that phased by my lack of German. Since the austrian artists we have been partnering with have also just been over to Liverpool, for the first leg of this exhibition in April, there has been some strong friendships built. All this creates a sense of being connected to a creative community, one thing that I really value.

I also had a clear sense of what I was working on and what I wanted to achieve. I wasn’t waiting for the eureka moment to get started as, this most recent work is a continuation in a long line of enquiry. All of this has enabled me to get the most out of this experience.