About the Residency

Oma Taidetalo
(Own Arthouse/Grandmother’s Arthouse)

Was a project-based artist run residency in Simpele, Finland, with an emphasis on communal living, site specific creation and collective structures.
From May-September 2021, an intact residential house from the 1950s housed 46 visitors; creative minds from all fields, for residency periods of one to six weeks – and some just for a weekend getaway.
Monthly public events, in local historical venues, showcased works and research by artists-in-residence.

The residency accommodated self-reliant artists working with any media possible to carry out on site, on a case-by-case agreement regarding project and process, but provides strongest support in the areas of installation art, socially engaged/participatory art, sound, video and photography.
Shared workspaces, in the house and adjoining premises (including a large garden), housed multiple artists at a time. Shared meals and household duties complimented the homely feeling, and visiting artists were part of shaping the residency as a large scale durational collaboration.



We care less about your pretentious CV-accomplishments, and more about your human character and social approach. New collaborations within the residency is encouraged, and the hosts Xenia Ramm and Cosmo Grossbach curate public events with inclusive, suggestive support.
Artistic research in any form is recognised as art production, so we do not expect artists to apply with a fully developed project-plan.
We value empathetic communication and social responsibility, within the residency and towards the surrounding community.

Simpele is a small town with an open local community, that we are honoured and grateful to be invited into. We have a close collaboration with the neighbouring seurantalo: a 116 year-old community theater, wherein most of our events at least partly take place.
South Karelian region has a historically significant geopolitical location, and particular role in Finnish/Russian cultural history, making it a special backdrop for site-specific art.
We invite artists to the edge of Finland, to engage in artistic and cultural exchange in an international small town-residency.