Siena

Artist Research Residency at Amant Siena

Launched in the summer of 2020, the Artist Research Residency at Amant Siena supports practitioners in the arts and the humanities at all career stages and working in a broad range of media, from the visual to film, music, fiction, nonfiction writing, and poetry. The residency is located in Chiusure, formerly a strategic hamlet in the province of Siena. The studios sit on a hill overlooking the still active Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore founded by the Benedictines and first consecrated in 1319.

The residency is designed for self-directed research projects to be developed independently over the course of the program, offering a period of sustained focus within a rural setting that remains connected to a broader network of cultural and historical sites across the region.

The residency takes place once a year during the summer, over a period of 10 weeks between June and August. Residents are selected through a nomination process. Amant invites curators, writers, artists, and other professionals in the arts and humanities to nominate candidates for consideration. Unsolicited applications are not accepted.

For inquiries relating to our Siena residency program, please contact siena@amant.org.

Residents receive a stipend and round-trip economy transportation to nearby airports. Accommodation is provided in independent, fully equipped apartments, each with a private kitchen. Additional studio spaces may be assigned depending on the nature of the proposed research project. The residency also provides access to a communal kitchen and breath-taking terrace that overlooks the abbey and Tuscan hills. The program is full-time, and residents are expected to be present in Chiusure for the entire duration of the residency. While Amant does not provide production or research support, the program fosters exchange through studio visits with invited practitioners in the arts and humanities, as well as informal conversations among residents. The residency also organizes visits to cultural sites and institutions across the region, alongside a multiday excursion to Florence and to Venice in the Biennale years.

Towards the end of the residency, participants take part in an Open Studios evening, offering a public moment to share aspects of their ongoing research with local audiences and visitors. This moment is conceived as an informal presentation of process rather than finished work, and all residents are expected to participate. In addition, each resident contributes to Amant’s residency publication, through a written and visual submission that reflects on their time in Chiusure and considers how the residency has informed or shifted their thinking and practice. Submissions may include fragments of work developed during the residency, offering insight into the research trajectories and materials explored over the 10-week period.