About the program:


Sur o No Sur is a three-week summer residency-learning program that brings in a selection of visiting artists to act as guides and facilitators.  

Sur o No Sur offers a platform for artistic exchange outside of traditional institutions to question and engage with the form in which we, our work & our world can exist and evolve. The program values and prioritizes the knowledge rooted in our own communities, histories, and territories, offering time for experimental dialogue, learning, and making without defined expectations.

Sur o No Sur results from years of residency programs with YOU–participants from vastly different histories, fields, and experiences. We’re grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from and share space with each of you and are excited to welcome a number of you back each year as visiting artists to facilitate this program in collaboration with our team.

About Sur o No Sur 2025 :

In this second iteration of our summer program, we continue to explore the ways in which we receive and share information and knowledge and how that influences our perspectives and practices. 

At the same time, we’re interested in imagining how we can collectively build a better future: What will help us along the way? What will allow us to dream of and make things that are outside our current understanding of reality? What role does creative practice play in this process? What things might we know inherently but not consciously? How can we continue to identify and share the meaning of what we do? What responsibilities do we have as community members?

Read about last year’s program here


About the open call:  

  • We are looking for proposals based on the theme and questions proposed that encourage reflection and investigation to be explored through various mediums, approaches, and responses.

  • We envision proposals that draw from your personal work and experience to inform guided practices, collective investigation, dialogues, studio visits, and group excursions, along with space to share, discuss, and develop work.   

  • We are looking for questions and themes that push us to think, create and communicate from a place outside of academic norms.  

  • Each week-long session, based on your proposals, will be developed and led in collaboration with the team at Pocoapoco.   

Details

  • Each visiting artist will guide one weeklong workshop during the three-week session along with Pocoapoco.

  • One initial planning conversation will be held in November, and three one hour-long preparation sessions will be required between December - April 2025. 

  • In-person workshops sessions will be held each morning (more or less 10:30 am-1:30 pm) Monday-Friday, although Friday will not be actively guided but instead an opportunity for one-on-one sessions or meetings.

  • Lunch is provided Monday- Friday, as well as bread and coffee daily. 

  • Housing is provided at Pocoapoco for all visiting artists. 

  • Artists are asked to arrive the Thursday prior to their session to meet with the previous visiting artists.

  • Housing is available until the Sunday following your session.    

  • The programs will be open to local, national, and international participants at sliding-scale fees. 

  • The programs will be open to a bilingual group (English and Spanish) but we ask that all resident arrive with conversational level English.

  • There will be a total of 15 participants in each group.

  • For all visiting artists / session facilitators we offer a compensation / stipend of $12,000 MXN pesos / $600 USD for the week along with daily lunch, and housing for international collaborators.  We hope this program feeds your work as much as it does the participants! 

Notes: 

This is our second year of Sur o No Sur and the program will continue to be greatly informed by you! We are looking forward to the opportunity to reconnect with former residents (through collaborations and/or participation) and to further the conversations, reflections, and relationships that were initiated during your residencies. 

To send a visiting artist proposal:

Please send the following information to projects@pocoapocomx.com by October 30th, 2024.

  • A short write-up of what idea or concept your week as a visiting artist would explore and how.

  • A general breakdown of how you imagine the 4-5 days of this session looking (eg examples of guided practices / collective investigation & dialogues / studio visits / group excursions)   

  • Materials you might need (if applicable)

  • Briefly tell us how your approach feeds and / or responds to the proposed questions and what it would offer to this conversation.

We will get back to everyone by November 15th, 2024. 

Program dates:

Sur o No Sur Session 1 / June 2-20, 2025

  • Visiting artist 1: June 1-8

  • Visiting artist  2: June 6-15

  • Visiting artist  3: June 13-22

Sur o No Sur Session 2 / July 14-August 1, 2025

  • Visiting artist 1: July 13-20

  • Visiting artist  2: June 28-27

  • Visiting artist  3: July 25-Aug 3