Our Approach
BKN is more than a provider of studio space. It offers participants the freedom to explore, experiment, and develop their work across a range of disciplines. By bringing together multiple residents at a time, the programme fosters a vibrant environment for creative exchange, enabling artists to build connections, share ideas and processes, and discover new directions for their practice.
This collective environment promotes continuous dialogue and feedback, supporting participants in refining their work, developing new methods, and strengthening the quality of their artistic production. By the conclusion of the residency, artists leave not only with significant personal and professional development, but also with expanded networks and increased visibility across diverse platforms.
We welcome artists at all stages of their artistic practice. What matters most is that you are strongly motivated, committed to your work, and willing to be both receptive and open in your encounters with fellow artists. Our self-directed open calls are aimed at sound artists, visual artists, performance artists, as well as researchers and curators.
While most of our resident artists come from the fields of visual art and performance, we also welcome practitioners working in other disciplines and forms of expression. We can accommodate artist duos and groups, with capacity for up to nine artists at a time. For larger groups, we can assist in finding additional accommodation in the local area.
Since opening in 2020, we have hosted nearly 200 artists. At BKN, you will always encounter a mix of Stockholm-based and international artists. Residents are therefore expected to be comfortable communicating in English.
BKN cultivates a collegial environment grounded in the idea of “thinking together, learning together.” This atmosphere is strengthened through informal gatherings and public activities. The residency serves as both a resource and a public forum for exploration and experimentation, encouraging participants to engage in site-responsive work or to explore conditions and contexts unique to BKN.
As part of the application process, artists meet with a curator to ensure that their proposed project aligns with the ethos and values of BKN.
BKN encourages experimentation and artistic development within a supportive environment. With a strong emphasis on collaboration and artistic growth, the residency fosters community through exhibitions, workshops, and artist talks, creating valuable opportunities for networking and exchange. Committed to sustainability and inclusion, BKN provides a welcoming environment in which artists can deepen their practice and develop their work.
BKN is a place for artistic inquiry, experimentation, and exchange. Artists working across photography, drawing, painting, performance, walking practices, ecology, critical research, and socially engaged art come together to explore new materials, ideas, and forms of collaboration.
We welcome practitioners at all stages of their careers who are willing to approach their work with curiosity, openness, and a readiness to learn from others. Rather than focusing solely on the production of finished outcomes, BKN encourages artists to deepen, challenge, and expand their practices.
Communal meals, walks, studio visits, informal sharing sessions, public interventions, and conversations around work-in-progress form an integral part of the residency experience. Through these exchanges, artists build meaningful connections and create space for collective learning.
At its core, BKN is a resource and a public forum for thinking together, learning together, and experimenting with new possibilities.
