TBA21–Academy Residency Program in Venice

Breathings of the moon. Expedition, 2022. Leonor Serrano Rivas and Diego Delas. Commissioned by TBA21–Academy with the support of S+T+ARTS.

The TBA21–Academy Residency Program in Venice is conceived to foster in-depth investigations of the Venice Lagoon's ecologies, connecting a network of local partners and experts with situated artistic experimentation. The residencies are designed to further explore research lines within TBA21–Academy's transdisciplinary inquiry, providing the conceptual backbone of the Academy’s programming and advocacy initiatives, developed across our laboratories and partnerships.

This residency and commission program supports artists in the development of new research-based work, aiming to advance knowledge production on critical ecologies, speculative futures, and the role of technology in mediating our ecological relations to question the conditions of how we perceive, inhabit, and transform the world. Through the lens of artistic practices in collaboration with scientific, activist, and local community groups, the residency seeks to implement a multidisciplinary methodology that sustains exchanges across fields of research through an extensive network of institutional and individual collaborators (Ca'Foscari University, CNR-ISMAR, University of Padova, Venice on Board, Venice International University, among others).

The processes, outcomes, and inquiries of the residency are showcased at TBA21–Academy’s flagship center, Ocean Space, which hosts exhibitions, research-based projects, and public programs that catalyze situated engagement and environmental advocacy for ecosocial regeneration. Anchoring long-term collaborations in the Venetian lagoon while connecting them to planetary debates on the ocean, climate, and justice, Ocean Spaces serves as a collaborative hub for the creation and dissemination of the residency’s research.

The residency program is supported by a range of partners aligned with our dedication to instigating artist-led, community-grounded, and transdisciplinary projects that investigate transformative modes of inquiry.

For the 2022/2023 and 2024/2025 editions of the residency program, TBA21 participated in the European Commission initiative S+T+ARTS4WaterII as a Member of the Consortium and as one of the residency hosts.

Selected artists 2022/2023:
Sonia Levy. We Marry You, O Sea, as a Sign of True and Perpetual Dominion, 2023

Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas. Breathings of the Moon, 2023

Selected artists 2024/2025:

Carlos Casas. LACUNAE, 2025
Adelita Husni Bey. Il Fiato del Suolo, 2025
Nandita Kumar. Sounding the Invisible: An Elegant Symbiosis, 2025

For the 2026 edition, TBA21–Academy collaborates with the TidalArtS initiative, acting as one of the residency hosts.
Selected artist 2026: Klara Kofen. In Counterfactual Waters.