Studio Residencies 2021

Pro Helvetia Cairo Studio Residency program is one important element in our program. Every year, an open call launches from December to March the next year, for Swiss and Arab artists. All applications are cautiously considered by our team in Cairo and Zurich office. Our office works with a wide network of partners in both regions to facilitate the studio residency for artists and provide them with a special experience in the country where they will be carrying out their studio residency.

Artists from the Arab region and Switzerland spend up to 3 months in a different context, where Pro Helvetia Cairo in collaboration with the partner organization provides them with studio to work, specialized coaching and connects them with relevant contact in the region they are placed at. 

This year, we have received 98 variable and outstanding applications across all disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia, from Switzerland and the Arab region. 3 Swiss artists were selected to carry out their Studio Residency in Egypt, and 6 Arab artists were selected to spend their studio residency in Switzerland. 

Meet the selected artists:

3 Months | Visual Arts

Céline Peruzzo | Studio Residency

The human body occupies a central place in Celine Peruzzo’s work, through her creations that become body garments or in her drawings, sculptures and casts in which she represents the body as isolated parts.

Country of residency: Egypt

3 Months | Visual Arts

Wassili Widmer | Studio Residency

Wassili Widmer is visual artist based in Glasgow and St. Gallen. He explores the boundaries between virtuality and representation and their effects on social coexistence.

Country of residency: Egypt

3 Months | Visual Arts

Gabriel Stöckli | Studio Residency

Time is essential in choosing the forms, in the actions and in the objects involved in all his production. Worrying about an uncertain future causes him to research for a collective feeling. This is found by the artist in involving people as witnesses while producing his projects

Country of residency: Egypt

3 Months | Music

Adham Zidan | Studio Residency

Egyptian Musician, recordist, mixer and producer, Adham Zidan is a band member of The Invisible Hands, based in Cairo. He is also part of the improvisational collective Procession Towards The Unknown and lo-fi psych outfit Today Is Tomorrow.    Adham also co-produces Katalog alongside music journalist Maha El Nabawi. Katalog is an Arabic language podcast …

Country of residency: Switzerland

3 Months | Architecture, Visual Arts

Engy Mohsen | Studio Residency

She explores the notions of ‘participation’ and ‘collectivity’ through designing and hosting formats of meetings that invite non-artists and artists to think about how spaces can be organized to include the ‘other’.

Country of residency: Switzerland

3 Months | Visual Arts

Nada Elkalaawy | Studio Residency

Her personal history is her primary work material dealing with loss, traces of memories and fiction. The compositions combine elements taken from several photographs, intertwining multiple temporalities and localities with purely imaginary details. Even though painting sits at the core of her practice, she often incorporates drawing, animation, and tapestry projects in conversation with the painterly medium.

Country of residency: Switzerland

3 Months | Multidisciplinary

Soukaina Joual | Studio Residency

She usually focuses on the body from different perspectives: how it changes, it’s interaction with personal identity, and how it engages with ideological debates. Most of the artist’s projects translate her commitment to various forms of presence, and how she trades various shifts between visibility and invisibility, belonging and absence.

Country of residency: Switzerland

3 Months | Literature

Wagdy El Komy | Studio Residency

His work has received considerable acclaim among the public and literary critics. His novel “Beat” won the prestigious “Arab Thought Foundation” prize in 2016. Critics argue that his literary work belongs to the school of realism and reflects the political stresses and social ruptures of modern Egyptian Society.

Country of residency: Switzerland

3 Months | Literature, Writing

Amr Ezzat | Studio Residency

Amr Ezzat is an Egyptian writer, born in 1980. He studied engineering and philosophy at Cairo University. He worked as an engineer, then as a journalist. He currently works as a researcher on religious freedoms and writes for several newspapers and websites. Literature Works: “Room 304: How I Hid from My Dear Father For 35 …

Country of residency: Switzerland

We would like to mention that this design is dedicated to our late Head of office and cat lady Dalia Suleiman, who departed on August 16, 2020