Studio

Sparx Studio

Sparx Studio is a four-month period in which Studio groups further develop the ideas they submitted. Two coaches offer support during this time. No finished products are required at the end of the four months. Groups decide for themselves when and where they want to work.

The next Sparx Studio period will take place from April 1 to July 31, 2024.

As a group during the studio period

As a Studio group, you can decide which two to four persons will participate in Sparx Studio. These participants must be between the ages of 18 and 28 and must be residents of Switzerland. You can decide for yourself where and when you want to work. We offer Studio groups the opportunity to work seriously and intensively to develop their ideas. In return, we expect every participant to spend around 1.5 days a week working on the idea they submitted to Sparx.

All participants must participate in Studio Days and meet regularly with the coaches so that they can benefit from all aspects of Sparx funding and so that we can evaluate participants’ progress. The Studio period is concluded with a final discussion.

Studio Days

During the four-month Studio period, all Studio participants will meet regularly for Studio Days. They will be held at various locations across Switzerland. Active participation is a key component of Sparx funding. At the Studio Days, you will have the opportunity to talk and share with other participants, further  refine your ideas, receive feedback and input from experts, and participate in workshops on a variety of topics.

Studio period: April 1 to July 31, 2024

Studio Kick Off: 27.3.2024 // 17:00-19:00, Zurich
Studio Days 1&2: 6. & 7.4.2024, Basel
Studio Days 3&4: 8. & 9.6.2024, Lausanne
Studio Day 5: 20.7.2024

Monthly grant

Every participant receives CHF 6,000 in funding for the duration of the Sparx Studio period. This funding is split up into four monthly payments of CHF 1,500 per person. The funding allows participants the time and financial freedom to focus on developing the ideas they submitted. In return, we expect participants to spend an average of 1.5 days a week actively working to develop their ideas.

Coaches

Two coaches are available to you during the Studio period. The coaches are there to help you to set goals and plan your work, offer you feedback from a new perspective, answer questions, and put you in touch with useful contacts. During the Studio period, participants are expected to meet regularly with the coaches. Their aim is not only to help participants to develop their submitted ideas, but also to assist with their personal development as well.

Janis Polar

Janis Polar is a Basel based visual artist/researcher. He investigates disturbed socio-ecologies in anthropocentric systems and his own entanglements in them. His work engages at intersections of (media) technology, science and political ecology, trying to build relations to complex geographies and the more-than-human. He mainly works with image-based media, archives and found objects, combining (post-)documentarian and speculative approaches in installations and audiovisual performances. His works have been exhibited in Switzerland, Germany, USA, Estonia, China and he regularly collaborates with scientists. Janis Polar has received various work, residency and research grants and he holds degrees with distinctions in Cultural Analysis, Film and Literature Studies (University of Zürich). His practice has been further influenced by working in curation and art mediation for innovative institutions in their fields (Fotomuseum Winterthur, Int. Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Migros Cultural Percentage) as well as by various non-institutional projects.

Camille Chirine Zaerpour

Camille is currently living and working between Lausanne, Zurich and Geneva. After finishing her master’s degree in visual art at the HEAD-Genève, she developed various projects in different offspaces such as one gee in fog, Forde, Urgent Paradise and Tunnel Tunnel. Her personal works are predominately installation pieces. She also practices writing, namely historical fiction. She bases her language on anecdotes from everyday life and anything that is considered mundane. With her collective "public display of emotions", co-created with Clara Chavan in 2021, she experiments with possible deployments of the sensitive and their political dimensions.