URRA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of art residencies, cultural exchanges and other art programs, which has been active in Argentina since the year 2010.
URRA’s objective is to encourage artistic production and to promote new dialogues and encounters as well as the exchange of information and experiences between art professionals from different parts of the world.
URRA programs generate platforms for reflecting, inspiring and broadening the knowledge of contemporary art, where artists and other cultural professionals can focus fully on their practice and develop new projects or continue works without daily or commercial pressure. There is no pressure to produce a finished pieces during most programs and we encourage diverse creative processes. We also promote the work of participants through different open events that establish dialogue with the artistic audience and the entire community.
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We carry out art residency programs and other related projects in different locations and formats since 2010. The first programs have been the Art Residency in Buenos Aires and the MAYO Residency, which ran from 2010 to 2016 in the City of Buenos Aires.
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We also organise International Exchanges in partnership with other entities, that favour the exchange between artists from Argentina and those from the allied country.
The first one was in partnership with Atelier Mondial from Basel, Switzerland, carried out from 2013 to 2021.
In 2015 we launched an exchange in partnership with Gasworks from London, United Kingdom, that continues every year.
Between 2017 and 2018 We also undertook some discontinuous exchanges with Pier-2 from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Ranchito-Matadero from Madrid, Spain, and Yaxs from the City of Guatemala.
In 2021 we started a new exchange program in partnership with AIR-M (Artist in Residence Munich), Munich Germany, that also continues at present.
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In 2016 URRA launched URRA Tigre, a living and working site for international visual artists, located in the municipality of Tigre (province of Buenos Aires), that functioned until December 2021. There we carried out a Residency Program of one, two and three months for an average of six participants from Argentina and the world, running together with a Studios Program for artists living in nearby areas.
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In 2022 URRA launched URRA Cerrito, a new residency building in the City of Buenos Aires. Located in a strategic point of the metropolis, URRA Cerrito offers a living and working place for an average of four participants at a time.
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With a focus on the visual arts, our residencies and programs feature artists, curators and other cultural professionals from different generations, nationalities and contexts. To date have participated in URRA professionals from more that 35 countries , including Argentinians from different provinces of the country and also Argentinians who live abroad.
We implement different modes of selection to chose the participants. They include direct invites made together with national and international advisors, open calls, contests held with other entities of the country and the world, among others.
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Our residencies provide funding to all participants, thanks to the collaboration of different public and private entities, national and international, among which are government institutions, foundations, embassies and individuals.
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In 2022 we started a friends´ programme called URRA Patrons Programme, to help us with more scholarships for participants, to start new international exchanges, to support our team and to expand our sites and facilities.
We are part of Triangle Network (with organizations from around the world), Quincho (Argentinian Network of Art Residencies) and Junta (Network of art spaces of the Province of Buenos Aires).
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We also have printed publications in Spanish and English, URRA Editions, documenting in texts and images the programs we carry out.
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URRA belongs to VERIA Foundation for the Development, Research and Dissemination of Art and Culture.
