What’s Art Collective opens a call to welcome young creators of any age and nationality to develop artistic, graphic and audiovisual projects. Artists who want to experiment with new formats and make collective creations during a short 3-month residence in Barcelona. During this time, the designers, artists, and creators will be supported and incentivized to create an artistic production – a free and independent creation. “The residence promotes the creativity of emerging new artists and encourages other creators with more experience to enrich their professional profile and explore other alternative ways of creation.”

What’s Art! Collective as a promoter of change encourages the growth and development of emerging artists. Playfulness, experimentation, and collective creation plays a huge part in the process. For this reason, in Summer 2019 a new residency program ‘What’s Art’ was introduced.

The program promotes the creation of works of art as well as visual and audiovisual projects based on the values of the WANY method:

• Collective creation
• Multidisciplinarity
• Transversality
• Anti-knowledge (Aticonocimiento)

This is a method developed during What’s Art ‘s collaboration with independent creators in recent years. The residency program is designed to provide support to emerging artists, creators, and designers during the research, development and production phase. The participants will also receive creative direction by Johanna Escobar, founder of What’s Art Collective and Ms.Balloon Studio.  The objective of the WAC residence is also to contribute to the restoration of the building of Betahaus. It is one of the first most recognized Coworking spaces in the city of Barcelona, founded by Jordi Subiras.

About betahaus Barcelona

Betahaus – the incredible community of entrepreneurs is located in the legendary neighborhood of Gracia. The coworking space consists of 6 floors, 6 terraces, and a café. 5 floors are dedicated to coworking. Each floor has 6 spaces suitable for painting or creative installations.

In a unique collaboration with Betahaus Barcelona, the coworking space will equip the creator with a workspace, provide the artists with a budget for materials and cover all installation costs. In addition, the creator will receive creative directions during the project and dissemination of his/ her work after the project. Participating residents will be supervised and directed by the creative director of Betahaus and WAC representative Johanna Escobar.

The program provides the chosen creators with the following:

1. Free monthly membership “Flex” during the residency. This membership includes:

•  Hot desk – a non-fixed table (In the event that the artist would be needing a fixed worktable due to his/her work, Betahaus would assign it)
•  24/7 Access
• Wi-Fi + 300MB symmetrical Ethernet
• Mail and parcel reception
• Skype booths
• Free water, coffee, and tea
• Photocopier
• Community kitchen
• Betahaus Cafe
• Community events
• Chill Out terraces & lounges
• Betahaus Roaming (free access to other Betahaus spaces in Europe during the
• residency).

2. Consulting in one of the following areas: personal branding, social networks, creative management, graphic design, communication or commission sales. (If the creator requires another form of consultation, WAC will connect them with a suitable expert).
3. Support from the community and Betahaus team.
4. Subsidies for materials, tools or installation costs.
5. Final exhibition organized by Betahaus. (optional)
6. The promotion of work done in an article or video format, from WAC and Betahaus networks.

The Creator in Residence will be responsible for the completion of an artistic or audiovisual project, he will be present in social media to advertise and promote the creative process and residency. The Resident will have to design and present a proposal of civic impact beyond the framework of the management program. In addition, the resident, if willing, might be asked to do a presentation of a 30 minute to 1-hour workshop on features, aspects or processes of your creative project for the Betahaus community during a scheduled Lunch & Learn session.

Residence Nr.1 – “The Front Door” – a Collective Creation by Nanda type

More than 16 hours, more than 10 volunteers, more than 14 buckets of paint and a lot of collective work by having fun. The first residence was designed and created by a trio of artists – Johanna Escobar, Lina Fernanda, and Anna Gabriella Herrera. It was the beginning of everything.

Residence Nr. 2 – “Betahaus Energy” by Marly Gallardo

Marly Gallardo is a multidisciplinary artist and an Ecuadorian digital illustrator based in New York City. Marly is an inspiring personality and a skilled professional in the field of digital art. She has a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and has gained international recognition for her conceptually driven artwork, campaigns, and editorial publications. She has worked as an illustrator for many internationally recognized companies, including The New York Times, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Adobe and more.

Marly explored the history of Barcelona and through her work – the mural “Betahaus Energy” paid tribute to the creative boom of artistic expression displayed in the Olympics of 1992.

“I came to Barcelona without any friends or any idea of what I was going to do. So I’m very thankful for having been received into this community. It completely changed my experience.” – Marly.

Read the full article with Marly Gallardo. 

Residence Nr. 3 – “The Beta Kitchen” by Xave

Xavier Sanchez a.k.a Xave is a multidisciplinary artist. Born in Venezuela and raised in a French family. Xave is a Graphic Designer, an Illustrator, a Motioner, a Creative, a Chef, “a KID with some skills”. For several years Xave has worked in advertising and graphic media for many agencies and diverse clients in Venezuela, but “after a while, the space between Graphics and Illustration faded away and became a mixture of art, design, motion, and people. And my unstoppable mind took me to the other side of the world. ” The artist wished to discover the core of all the different cultures in order to find himself and blend into a new professional, a true creative. He admits that the process is still ongoing and each project is a challenge to create something better than before. A call to reach higher. With this anthropomorphic mural created for the Betahaus Kitchen Area, the artist invites the spectators to participate in an interactive 3-dimensional game of perception. The mural combines many details and symbols from the everyday life of Betahaus. Dressed in a clever and playful manner it is a testimony of the diverse world that exists withing Betahaus. An open, creative and international space hidden in the heart of Gracia.

Residence Nr. 4 – «Negotiation» by Randomlovers (in progress)

Currently, our new What’s Art artist in residence is Anna Gabriella Herrera Caverzan a.k.a. @randomlovers. She is a multidisciplinary artist and her artworks can be seen all around Barcelona and not only. We are happy to welcome her as a creative into this international coworking space. She will strive to create a proposal for a transformative mural for the 1st floor of Betahaus, using her colorful artistic approach and unique vision.

Creative, passionate and fun are just a few words to describe Anna and her oeuvre. Her artistic proposals are highly attached to the constant creation and exploration of different techniques. In art Anna is constantly reaching for inspiration and creativity, which makes her artistic production exceptionally diverse.

From publicity to styling, design and even fashion, Anna Herrera´s work holds a wide range of technical possibilities.

Read more about Anna here. 

Apply now!

Send an email to johanna@msballoon.com with the following info:

1. A cover letter explaining why you want to be an artist in residency at Betahaus;
2. An artistic proposal for the residence;
3. Curriculum Vitae / Experience
4. Portfolio of past work

This article was written by Dārta Legzdiņa.
Dārta is a visual and audial artist, a creative writer and a translator with a degree in Multimedia Communication from Riga Stradins University. She has worked in PR, entertainment, event management, hospitality and coworking. By being an artist and a singer-songwriter she recognizes the creative threads that guide each creative’s journey. So she is passionate about helping these creatives reach a wider audience.