Section I

Vision & Context

How is perception shaped when space becomes an integral part of an artist's sensory and cognitive experience?

How does geography, carrying its visible and invisible layers, reshape our relationship with time, rhythm and ways of seeing, listening, and moving within our worlds? How do contemporary transformations intersect with local life and how does this intersection manifest in daily details in access to water, information, spaces, art and possibilities of expression? What transforms a transient experience into cumulative knowledge and a trace into a trackable, documentable and actionable moment? How does place contribute to establishing conditions of individual behaviour, behaviour formed through repetition that evolves over time into a collective praxis, a system of habits and rhythms reproducing itself within society? And how can artistic practice emerge from an open relationship with space, a relationship that allows transformation, reconsiders the boundaries of understanding, representation and belonging and opens up the possibility of shifting perception of what appears fixed, not because it is absolute, but because we have grown accustomed to practising it?

From these inquiry lines emerges MAQAM, an international artistic residency program launched by Danseurs Citoyens Sud within its space, D'arts & D'histoires, located in Gabes, Southern Tunisia.

Spanning ninety (90) days, the program hosts five (05) artists and cultural practitioners residing in a Creative Europe participating country. The call is open to all eligible nationalities and artistic backgrounds, with a non-exclusive artistic priority for Arab artists in diaspora and practices demonstrating a clear line of inquiry into space, memory, the body, language, environment and the intersections between local communities and contemporary art pathways.

MAQAM offers a transdisciplinary residency that grants artists, researchers and cultural actors unhurried time to develop research and practice, alongside a responsible timeframe to test what shifts when artistic practice engages with a context endowed with its own rhythm, layers and memory. The residency provides a framework for contextual immersion, allowing the artist to pursue an inquiry, reconsider tools and let materials, the city and encounters shape the process and trajectory of the work.

The residency initiates investigative practice, from a desire to trace what does not reveal itself at first glance, to draw close to fine details and to listen to the city's narratives through its pathways, bodies, materials and sonic environments. Within this program, Gabes emerges as a dynamic geography: oasis and sea, industrial memory and daily life, environmental vulnerability and persistent vitality. These layers are read as intersecting relationships between social concerns and aesthetic practice, local community dynamics and contemporary art inquiries.

This gives rise to the concept of geochoreography: reading place through movement, tracing how geography generates praxis and observing how the body in turn leaves a trace on our understanding of space. Geochoreography is a methodology for observing what moves within space, people, materials, sounds, habits, pathways, relationships, rhythms and memories that do not always appear on maps or in official archives.

MAQAM opens a space for experimental and cross-disciplinary practices, providing conditions for friction with space, community and knowledge arising from proximity. The artist does not work in isolation, even when developing an individual project; they operate within a temporary residency community, a network of encounters, dialogues, readings and iterations. What forms during the residency belongs not to the studio alone, but to the distance between the studio and the public realm, bridging personal experience and the questions opened by others.

The strength of the program stems from this fabric: the local community in Gabes, cultural actors, local and international professional networks and the critical dialogic engagement that accompanies the work before it stabilizes. The program treats the residency as a timeframe wherein relationships are formed that support research, expand practice and open future pathways for collaboration, dissemination and exchange.

The residency operates through three core formats: Gabes Pathways, The Shared Table and Open Studio. Through these formats, the program navigates between observation, dialogue, experimentation and sharing. Pathways open a relationship with the city; The Shared Table dedicates time, space and shared consciousness to dialogue and the Open Studio brings work-in-progress into proximity with audiences before reaching a final form.

MAQAM does not seek a single predetermined outcome. The residency may yield a work, raw material, a micro-archive, or a novel vantage point. It may yield a question more precise than the one with which the artist arrived. In both cases, the program posits that art begins when the invisible becomes tangible and that a residency acquires meaning when temporary living evolves into shared, documentable, reviewable, and cumulative knowledge.

Conceptual Note on Shifting Perception

By shifting perception, we mean the capacity of artistic practice to displace or transform our mode of awareness and understanding of things. It marks a transition from a legacy state of intellectual or psychological stability toward a broader, more fluid perspective, displacing the self from centrality and inertia to comprehend reality from alternative vantage points and questioning what we have routinely considered natural or fixed within daily life.

About Danseurs Citoyens Sud

Founded in 2015, Danseurs Citoyens Sud (DCS) is an independent cultural organization rooted in Southern Tunisia, based in Gabes. The organization operates at the intersection of performing arts, visual arts and cross-media experimentation, approaching artistic research and practice as a shared field for inquiry, experimentation and knowledge production.

DCS contributes to building living cultural ecosystems that reconnect artistic work with its social fabric. It fosters and accompanies practices arising from the lived experiences of individuals and communities in their places of life, growing organically within them away from cultural and geographical centralization. Through this orientation, DCS affirms that local experiences are not passive subjects of representation, but alternative forms of knowledge capable of enriching the Tunisian cultural landscape and expanding its horizon of questions.

Furthermore, DCS embraces transformative imagination as the capacity to envision the future not merely as it is, but as it could be. This is realized through re-interrogating the past, engaging critically with the present and shaping a horizon where communities share imagination and hope, rendering the arts an accessible, viable and daily practice for all.

About D'arts & D'histoires

D'arts & D'histoires is an artist-led residency space and independent artistic project operating as a platform for exchange between global artistic/epistemological discourses and local practices. The space seeks to share, develop and render artistic and research processes accessible to a broad spectrum of cultural actors, artists, researchers, producers and audiences.

D'arts & D'histoires continuously develops internal projects focused on artistic research and social innovation. These practices encompass recurring formats such as The Shared Table, Open Studio and Gabes Pathways, alongside cultural partnerships with institutions across Europe, SWANA (South-West Asia and North Africa) and international collaborators. These initiatives strengthen the relationship between art and society and deepen critical reflection on contemporary urban and social dynamics.

The residency hosts up to twelve (12) artists and researchers from Tunisia and abroad, living and working simultaneously within the residency space, where they develop artistic projects periodically shared with the public and local community. The space also engages in socio-cultural initiatives addressing contemporary urban and community inquiries. D'arts & D'histoires is managed by Danseurs Citoyens Sud, an independent non-profit organization.

Program Background

The MAQAM program stems from an extended trajectory undertaken by Danseurs Citoyens Sud in Southern Tunisia and from a dedication to establishing a residency space capable of bridging artistic research, experimentation and contextual engagement.

The residency arises from the need to foster a vibrant encounter between artists residing in Creative Europe participating countries and the local Arab-Tunisian context of Gabes. This encounter is grounded in an extended timeframe that allows for deep listening, gradual pacing, friction and genuine relationality with space.

Many artists worldwide navigate practices articulated across multiple languages, references and audiences. Conversely, cities in Southern Tunisia embody deep knowledge systems, narratives and lived experiences that frequently remain distant from international production and exchange networks. MAQAM offers a meeting space for these trajectories, building proximity between artists and local communities, expanding access and nurturing works that conceptualize identity as a living, dynamic and open relation.

Gabes is a unique Mediterranean city where oasis, sea, desert, mountain, market, industrial memory and environmental vulnerability coexist. This layering renders it a living, common ground for investigating societal and future questions.

Section II

Artistic & Epistemological Framework

MAQAM rests on four artistic and epistemological priorities guiding the residency pathway and opening research horizons for participants.

Program Objectives

• Support artistic research and creation within a local Arab-Tunisian context in Southern Tunisia.
• Build a meeting space between Arab artists in diaspora and local communities in Gabes, while maintaining open access for artists from all eligible backgrounds.
• Advance equitable access to artistic residencies and international cultural exchange networks.
• Develop artistic practices rooted in active listening, observation and direct contextual engagement.
• Strengthen Gabes as a site of artistic and epistemological production capable of hosting contemporary inquiries on ecology, memory, body, urbanism and identity.
• Enable artists to develop new projects or research materials through inquiry, exchange and studio practice.
• Foster sustained relationships between artists, local actors and cultural institutions in Tunisia and internationally.
• Open spaces for public dialogue around the processes of artistic work, rather than solely final outcomes.

Key Inquiries Opened by the Program

• How can an artist build a living relationship with a new space without reducing it to a preconceived image?
• How does artistic practice transform when moving from the studio to the public sphere, personal memory to collective memory and individual inquiry to the city?
• How can an artistic residency foster closer, intersectional engagement between artist, public and local community?
• What does identity signify when understood as a continuous movement between language, body, memory and space?
• How can art contribute to bridging the distance between local cities and international artistic networks?
• How can a responsible, open and listening artistic practice be cultivated without surrendering experimental freedom?

Section III

Residency Definition & Methodology

MAQAM is an in-person residency spanning ninety (90) days, enabling artists to live and work within a shared space, developing artistic and research projects or inquiries through observation, experimentation, encounters, studio practice and public sharing.

The program does not impose a unified final outcome nor treat residency strictly as production space. It opens time to expand research, test tools, review questions and build responsible engagement with context and community.

The residency relies on a working environment that allows the artist to develop their project gradually, test tools and questions in a new context and enter into dialogue with fellow artists, local actors and an audience close to the artistic process.

Working Formats Within the Residency

Residency Trajectory

• 1. Arrival and Orientation Phase : introduction of artists to the workspace, program team, Gabes context (social, environmental, cultural) and living/working guidelines at D'arts & D'histoires.
• 2. Research and Contextual Friction Phase : field pathways and meetings with local actors to build direct understanding and ground inquiry in sensory and cognitive spatial experience.
• 3. Studio Development and Practice Phase : studio work with artistic/methodological accompaniment in individual and collective tracks.
• 4. Sharing and Iteration Phase : open studios and public sessions to share process and test questions without enforcing rigid final products.

Conduct & Ethics Within the Residency

MAQAM posits that an artistic residency is not merely time and space, but a mode of presence. The program pays careful attention to conduct formed during residency: conduct toward oneself, the cohort, the space and people encountered.

Individual conduct begins with active listening , giving time to what does not immediately surface and allowing inquiry to transform upon meeting the space. Proposals are treated as dynamic pathways rather than fixed plans. Participants are expected to demonstrate research rigor, attentiveness, respect for the city's rhythm and willingness to re-examine choices whenever experience opens new questions.

Collective conduct centres on cohabitation among diverse backgrounds, references and languages in one space. Proximity requires clear communication, respect for shared time/spaces and care regarding differences. Cohort dynamics serve as a working tool to test ideas, hear external readings and reconsider positioning.

Conduct extends to Gabes and its residents. Participants are required to engage with sensitivity and responsibility: obtaining informed consent for documentation, respecting privacy, avoiding hasty interpretations and approaching local stories as self-contained worlds. Community relations rest on building trust so speech, image and movement arise under fair conditions.

In this sense, conduct becomes part of the artistic practice itself. Modes of listening at the table, presenting unfinished work, sharing space and recognizing knowledge limits format the work as fundamentally as materials and media.

Section IV

Program Offerings & Budgetary Framework

What the Program Provides

• 90-day artistic residency in Gabes, Tunisia.
• Accommodation within D'arts & D'histoires space.
• Multi-use studio and workspace access.
• Artistic and methodological accompaniment throughout residency.
• Logistical and administrative support pre-arrival and during residency.
• Curated field visits (Gabes Pathways) in Gabes and surroundings.
• Periodic meetings with local cultural and social actors (The Shared Table).
• Public sharing opportunities for work-in-progress (Open Studio).
• Connection to Danseurs Citoyens Sud network and local/international partners.
• Professional and ethical framework for working in and with the context.

Budgetary Coverage & Financial Guidelines

Managed by DCS in alignment with funding agreements, the budget aims to guarantee fair residency conditions while maintaining clear parameters regarding covered versus non-covered expenses.

International Travel

The program covers international travel costs from residency country to Tunisia and return, according to itinerary, budget ceiling and procedures set by DCS. Travel arrangements, arrival/departure dates, required documentation and booking/reimbursement methods are agreed upon in advance with each participant.

Domestic Travel

The program handles domestic transport linked to participant arrival and departure (airport to D'arts & D'histoires in Gabes and return). Personal travel unrelated to the program is not covered unless agreed upon in advance with the residency team.

Daily Meals

Three daily meals are provided throughout the residency, organized within facility logistics and accommodating declared dietary needs. Participants must inform the team of allergies, health restrictions, or special needs prior to arrival.

Insurance & Visa Support

Insurance is provided during residency per organization policy. Administrative support (invitation letters, official participation proof) for visa processing is provided. DCS is not responsible for consular decisions or external delays.

Production Support Framework

The program does not include an automatic production budget for projects. In specific cases and upon prior agreement, partial contribution to production costs may be considered, provided the artist submits a detailed written request explaining expense nature, necessity, link to residency inquiry and feasibility within resources. Any potential production contribution is subject to itemized written submission, evaluation by the program team, budget availability and prior written approval from DCS before financial commitments are made. DCS reserves the right to accept proposed expenses fully or partially, or reject those that are unjustified or unrelated. Unapproved expenses will not be reimbursed.

Section V

Eligibility & Target Audience

MAQAM is addressed to artists and cultural practitioners of all nationalities and artistic backgrounds, provided they legally reside in a Creative Europe participating country. The program grants non-exclusive artistic priority to Arab artists in diaspora and practices demonstrating clear links to spatial inquiries and local-global contemporary art dynamics.

Eligible fields of practice include, but are not limited to: performing arts, visual arts, transdisciplinary arts, writing, artistic research, sound, video, cross-media practices and projects intersecting community, city and memory.

Eligible Countries (Creative Europe)

Eligibility is tied to legal residency in an eligible country, not citizenship alone , artists of any nationality residing in an eligible Creative Europe country may apply.

Section VI

Application Dossier

• Completed Application Form.
• Short, updated Curriculum Vitae (CV).
• Portfolio or links to previous works.
• Artistic or Research Proposal outlining the inquiry/project for residency.
• Motivation Letter detailing alignment with program inquiries.
• Proof of residency in an eligible country.
• Copy of Passport or official travel document.
• Information on access or special support needs (if any).
• Estimated project budget (if requesting production contribution).

Guide to Writing the Proposal

• Core artistic/research question intended for development.
• Relevance to program priorities and inquiries.
• Connection to Gabes context or questions of space, memory, ecology, community, body, etc.
• Materials, media, methods, or tools to be tested.
• Project needs in terms of time, space, encounters, field research, or materials.
• Potential output nature, without requirement for a finished product.
• How the applicant benefits from residency and contributes to the cohort trajectory.
• Any potential production needs, with detailed justification.

Section VII

Evaluation & Selection

Selection Procedure

• 1. Administrative review for file completeness and eligibility verification.
• 2. Artistic evaluation by an independent jury of diverse artistic/cultural experts.
• 3. Shortlisting of final cohort of five (05) artists or cultural practitioners.
• 4. Contacting selected participants for confirmation and practical coordination.
• 5. Signing of Participation Agreement.
• 6. Public results announcement per call timeline.

The selection jury adheres to transparency and equal opportunity. Direct professional or personal conflicts of interest recuse members from evaluating specific dossiers.

Section VIII

Timeline

Section IX

Obligations & Policies

Application & Working Language

Applications may be submitted in Arabic, English, or French. Supporting artistic materials in other languages are accepted if accompanied by a brief summary in one of these three languages. Inside the residency, multilingualism is treated as an inherent program feature. The team facilitates communication between participants and local actors as needed, particularly during public sessions, field pathways and The Shared Table.

Attendance & Time Commitment

MAQAM is an in-person residency. Selected artists are expected to reside in Gabes for the full residency duration and participate in core milestones, collective sessions, field pathways, The Shared Table and Open Studio. Presence is considered integral to residency methodology. The pathway relies on shared time, daily life, gradual interaction with the city and building relationships with space and cohort.

Participant Obligations

• Presence in Gabes throughout the entire residency period.
• Compliance with living and working rules at D'arts & D'histoires.
• Participation in core program meetings and milestones.
• Participation in Gabes Pathways, The Shared Table, and Open Studio.
• Respect for team, fellow artists, guests, and public.
• Respect for local community and privacy.
• Obtaining consent before filming, recording, or using personal testimonies/stories.
• Sharing process stages with local audiences per project nature.
• Submitting a short final residency summary (text, images, documentation, micro-archive, or artistic contribution).

Accessibility & Special Support Needs

DCS strives to provide a safe, respectful, and accessible residency environment. Given that D'arts & D'histoires is situated in a historical building with architectural constraints, access needs are addressed through advance planning and practical solutions. Applicants must state any special needs in the application form to evaluate feasibility prior to confirmation.

Safety & Care Within Residency

The program commits to maintaining a safe, respectful space. Zero tolerance is enforced for violence, harassment, discrimination, hate speech, or safety-threatening behavior. Participants receive clear guidance upon arrival regarding facility usage, safety, quiet hours, guests, emergency procedures, and reporting mechanisms.

Environmental Sustainability

MAQAM operates with awareness of reducing environmental impact, particularly in a city facing explicit ecological challenges. Responsible practices are encouraged regarding materials, food, energy, and documentation.

Documentation, Image Rights & Intellectual Property

The program may document residency phases, meetings, Open Studios, and public pathways for archive, communication, and institutional purposes under clear consent principles respecting privacy. Artists retain full moral and artistic rights over works developed during residency. Credits for program and organization will follow agreed formulas in future publications and exhibitions.

Relationship With Local Community

Community relations sit at the core of the residency, built on listening, respect, clarity, and exchange. Participants interact with the city and inhabitants as partners in opening inquiries and expanding spatial understanding.

Expected Outcomes

MAQAM does not mandate a uniform final output. Outcomes take diverse forms based on project nature: performance/work-in-progress, visual installation/experiment, text/research dossier, video/sound piece, artistic archive/documentation, participatory experience, prototype, studio opening, or a refined inquiry.

What the Program Does Not Support

• Projects not requiring physical presence in Gabes.
• Finished projects seeking only exhibition space.
• Projects treating local context in an extractive or reductive manner.
• Projects requiring production resources exceeding program capacity.
• Purely commercial projects.
• Projects containing hate speech, discrimination, or violence incitement.
• Incomplete applications or non-eligible dossiers.
• Unjustified or unapproved production expenses.

Participation Agreement

Upon selection, artists sign a Participation Agreement defining residency duration, program offerings, financial coverage and exclusions, travel and transport, housing, meals, insurance, artist obligations, venue rules, documentation rights, withdrawal procedures, safety and conduct standards, accreditation formulas, and production terms (if any).

Cancellation or Withdrawal

In case of inability to participate, selected artists must notify the team promptly. DCS may invite waitlisted applicants or reallocate resources. DCS reserves the right to cancel participation for false information, non-compliance, safety violations, or disruptive conduct.

Data Protection

Application data is processed strictly for evaluation, communication, and program implementation in confidentiality, shared externally only as required for program organization.

Section X

Checklist & Frequently Asked Questions

Pre-Submission Checklist

• Completed Application Form.
• Updated CV.
• Portfolio or active work links.
• Clear Artistic/Research Proposal.
• Motivation Letter.
• Two (2) Recommendation Letters from artistic/cultural nominators explaining their relationship and endorsing participation.
• Proof of residency in an eligible country.
• Passport / travel document copy.
• Access / special support requirements (if any).
• Itemized estimated budget (if requesting production contribution).
• Confirmation of ability to commit to the full residency period.