The “Agora of Values” project is a series of five forums that form the core of the “European Dream” section of the “Liepāja 2027” program. By bringing together prominent experts from Latvia and Europe, the forums will combine contemporary debates on issues important for Latvia, Europe, and the planet, innovative knowledge exchange formats, diverse audience engagement, and artistic elements that will enrich a wide range of discursive events with a comprehensive aesthetic experience.

Deadline: March 31, 2025.

The first Agora will take place in the year 2025. At the core of the forum’s idea is the widely accepted principle in modern environmental studies that nature and culture must be seen as an inseparable network of relations – natureculture – beyond the entrenched opposition that still exists in our minds, attitudes, and institutions. From the anthropocentric view characteristic of the early modern era, which saw humans as the crown of creation and rightful users of nature, we have arrived at a posthumanist vision of humanity as one species among many.

Nature’s agency, as the core of the forum’s concept, allows for the exploration of a vast array of topics – from renewable energy to plant intelligence – and for articulating scenarios of harmonious and non-hierarchical coexistence between humans, nature, and other species. The discussions of the forum will engage with relevant theoretical perspectives in ecological thinking, such as hydrofeminism, new materialism, agential realism, dark ecology etc.

Who can apply?
Performance artists with experience in public participation and engagement projects, and whose work focuses on the following topics and fields: participatory performance art practices informed by a postanthropocentric worldview that stresses non-hierarchical immersion of human beings in the environment.

Artist Residency is offered for 2 artists who are: born or currently living in any of the cities that participate in ‘CreArt. Network of Cities for Artistic Creation’: Kaunas (Lithuania), Valladolid (Spain),Skopje (Northern Macedonia), Aveiro (Portugal), Lublin (Poland), Venice (Italy), Rouen and Clermont-Ferrand (France), Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic), Oulu (Finland), Regensburg (Germany).
Members of Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU).
Ukrainian artists in cooperation with the Lviv Art Council ‘Dialog’.
The selection criteria will aim to represent the quality and diversity of various forms of performance art. There is no age restriction; however, applicants must have a university-level degree in an artistic field or demonstrate equivalent expertise through their artistic career.

Grant Conditions
The Organizer (Liepāja 2027) will provide: Four-week accommodation for two international artists and studio space (if needed);
Round-trip ticket expenses to and from Liepāja up to 400 EUR;
Artist fee of 1.600 EUR/gross in two payments (50:50): first part at the beginning of the residency and second part after the submission of the final report.
Production cost in the amount of 800 EUR/gross, result presented in the project “Agora of Values”
The artist must have a European health insurance card or its equivalent
Report: Upon return from the residency, artists are required to submit a brief narrative report containing evidence of newly created work/s (in English), and boarding passes if traveling by plane.
Contract: Before going to the residency, the artist will sign a contract with foundation “Liepāja 2027”.

Other info here.