Zena Khan

Open House reflects on the significance of artists’ residencies at Delfina Foundation over the last 10 years. The format expands on the traditional iteration of  ‘Open House’, where the public are invited to wander through the interior of architecturally significant buildings. As such, over a single weekend visitors are invited to explore Delfina Foundation’s domestic spaces, and access past residents’ memories in a unique collision of past and present.

Drawing on their respective residency memories at Delfina Foundation, artists now based both in the UK and internationally, have produced a series of new site specific artworks. The Open House project invites audiences to reflect on and engage with the period of research, domesticity and conviviality which typifies artists residencies, but remains largely a largely private experience. Through commissioned artworks and a parallel programme of events,this temporary reassembly of a collection of memories encompasses the digital, performative, gastronomical and sculptural. Open House aims to foster new lines of creative enquiry into the role of residency programmes in the UK, as well as the intersections between public and private in contemporary art today.