OAsis – Open Call

 

 

About the residency 🏕️
This residency takes place in a nature-based, rural environment 🌲, where artists live and work together under camping conditions.
The focus is not only on creating artworks, but on reimagining the campsite itself as an artistic, social, and cultural space.
Central question: 💡
How can a hiking campground become a cultural oasis — and how can an off-site residency be meaningfully connected to a downtown theater?

About the project 🌍
OASis (Open Art Spaces in Synergy) is a three-year (2024–2027) European project 🇪🇺 aimed at making art more accessible by establishing a network of open and interdisciplinary creative spaces across 10 countries.
The goal of OASis is to create a positive impact both on artists 🎨 and on local communities 🤝 that often feel disconnected from the art sector, by breaking down barriers and encouraging participation.

About Bethlen Square Theater 🎭
Bethlen Square Theater is a multidisciplinary, experimental performing arts center based in Budapest’s 7th district. Its mission is to support artists in developing their work within open, community-oriented and exploratory processes, while maintaining strong local and international connections 🌐.

Embedded in a diverse urban environment, the theater actively seeks to reconnect artistic practice with its surrounding communities. Within OASis, Bethlen explores how art can bridge distances — between places, contexts, and audiences.

The Mátra residency creates a dialogue between the downtown theater 🏙️ and an off-site, nature-based location 🌄, treating distance not as a barrier, but as an opportunity for connection, exchange, and new forms of presence.

The context: Mátra Hiking Camp ⛰️
The residency takes place in the Mátra mountains, in a hiking campground surrounded by nature 🌳🌲
Conditions include:

• accommodation in simple camping facilities 🏕️
• shared living and working spaces 🤝
• direct contact with the natural environment 🌿
• This context invites artistic approaches engaging with:
• nature and landscape 🌄
• slowness, presence, and perception 🐢
• temporality and ephemerality ⏳
• community living 👥

About the site
The site offers a unique opportunity: it is owned and developed by contemporary cultural organizations with the aim of creating a shared space for both national and international creative communities.

The long-term vision is to establish a residency space that is co-created by artists, for artists — supporting artistic, social, and collaborative projects.

Although the venue has been out of use for the past four years and many of its facilities are currently in a worn condition, the goal is not a complete renovation. Instead, we envision an organic, collective development process, where changes and improvements are shaped by the real needs of artists and creative practitioners.

The infrastructure of the site will evolve through use — designed with artistic and community practices in mind — as part of an ongoing, open-ended development process that continuously leaves space for new ideas and interventions.

The site covers approximately 16,000 m², including around 800 m² of built structures, and has the potential to host 40–60 participants, as well as smaller festivals and gatherings.

Challenge: Reimagine the campsite as a cultural space 🔄
We are not looking for finished productions, but for process-based, collaborative ideas.
We invite you to explore:

• how a campsite can function as a temporary artistic hub
• how everyday structures (tents, paths, communal areas) can be reinterpreted artistically 🎪
• how to create shared experiences in a remote setting
• how to connect physical presence with hybrid or remote participation 🌐

Hybrid dimension – “Total Presence” 💻✨
The residency welcomes projects engaging with hybrid presence and accessibility.
Inspired by the “Total Presence” concept:

• extend participation beyond physical presence
• enable remote participants to be actively present, not just observers 👀
• experiment with accessible, low-threshold hybrid formats
• Technology is a tool, not a goal ⚙️ — serving inclusion and participation.

What we are looking for 🔍
We’re looking for proposals that:

• respond to the natural and social context 🌿
• treat limitations as creative opportunities
• build on co-creation and collective processes 🤝
• experiment with space, presence, and participation
• engage both on-site and remote participants 🌐

Possible formats:

• performative 🎭
• spatial / architectural 🏗️
• visual or sound-based 🎧
• socially engaged 👥
• hybrid / digital 💻

Participants 👩‍🎨👨‍🎨
We will select 8 artists (5 international 🌍 + 3 Hungary-based 🇭🇺):

• visual arts / spatial practices
• performing arts
• storytelling / media
• design / architecture
• digital / hybrid practices

Eligibility ❗️

This open call is open to individual artists and cultural practitioners working across disciplines within the cultural and creative sectors.

Applicants must:

• be resident in a Creative Europe participating country (EU Member States and associated countries)
• have an active artistic or creative practice
• be able to work in English and in an international, collaborative environment

We welcome applications from artists working in experimental, interdisciplinary, and community-based contexts, as well as those interested in exploring hybrid forms of presence and co-creation.

Requirements ✅

• Fluency in English
• Availability for a 15-day residency (14–28 September 2026)
• Participation in 2 online meetings 💻 (Aug 18 & Sept 8)
• Experience in community-based work is a plus

What we offer 💸
For all selected artists:

• €1300 gross artist fee
• accommodation at the Mátra campsite 🏕️
• shared materials budget + technical support
• a unique nature-based, experimental residency 🌿
• Travel support: up to €200 ✈️

How to apply 📩
Please fill out the application form: https://forms.gle/2Nr6Jp9reyzwRp16A

• Statement of intent (max 4-6000- characters) including your motivation to participate, how you propose to work in the team and with the local community, your ideas for artistic projects (including possible materials or production needs) and your relevant skills, methods, and approaches for community-based co-creation
• Portfolio/website/social links to showcase your work and previous artistic projects
• Short bio or CV
• One crisp, high-quality picture with a face visible (for communication purposes, to introduce the participating artists on our website and social media channels, along with their bio)

Evaluation criteria ⭐

• artistic quality
• contextual relevance
• feasibility
• community engagement

Important note ❗
This residency is based on collective living in nature.
Applicants should be open to:

• shared spaces 🏕️
• simple living conditions
• intensive collaboration 🤝

📅 Application deadline: 20/07/2026
📢 Open House: July 2, 5 PM (CET) registration form for the Open house: https://forms.gle/BnRL93MjSWUbBGB97

Contact 📧
szekelyborbala@bethlenszinhaz.hu

Disclaimer
Co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.