From the secrets of Copper Age Eleusis to the revelations of Christian Greece. 14-day intensive artist residency on art, poetry, performance and faith.
The Mysteries of Bliss residency program aims at expanding the artists' spectrum of interwoven cultural experiences, and at offering insight into the human quest for immortality, love and bliss that lies in the very heart of civilization.
The educational residency project addresses jewelry makers, designers, visual artists, designers, photographers, crafters, ceramists, performers, filmmakers, art theorists who wish to dive into fourty centuries of Greek art and study concepts of life, death, unity and resurrection that are still meaningful nowadays.
Participants of the residency will present their work through video and media.
Optional residency dates:
28 April - 11 May 2025 OR 2 - 15 June 2025
The Mysteries of Bliss residency explores and explains the complex ways art, history, philosophy and faith created stunning aesthetically and conceptual masterpieces during a long period of time. The residents' journey starts in Copper Age Eleusis in Greece and extends to the Christian cosmos of Southeastern Europe and the Middle East.
While the myth of the dying and resurrecting goddess Persephone highlights aspects of Thanksgiving rituals and social bonding, the art of the icon focuses on the face to face relationship between the unique human being and the divine. The establishment of this relationship was of focal importance in the antique mysteries too.
Mysteries of Bliss enhances the understanding of how art, performance and poetry may have a soothing effect on human agonies. The residency program initiates participants in understanding how to read, and be inspired by, the long - pre-Christian and Christian - icon tradition, and explains concepts of time, space, eternity, providence, and divine union embedded in the visual language of Byzantine art, an evolving art discipline still practiced today. This highly conceptual art created by the combination of mastering ancient techniques and preparing the artist's body and mind for creative contemplation is widely unknown to the West.
Icons are intellectual and emotional bridges to the invisible world, projections of hope and events to come, dominating the sacred space of the Orthodox church and turning it into a stage for performing rituals of bridging past, present and future.
The Mysteries of Bliss residency program also places special emphasis on objects, such as jewelry, textiles, dresses, examining their special connection with performance and rituals of transcendence.
The residency project follows two preparatory online workshops on Greek antique and medieval art, and on the significance of Greek heritage for contemporary artists.
Residents’ who want to create a video inspired by the Mysteries of Bliss residency program will have the opportunity to be screened at Munich's international SCHNMUCK Jewelry Week 2026.
Residents' work inspired by the Mysteries of Bliss will be promoted through press and social media.
The residency fee is 1.150,00 EUR, payable in three installments.
Services include accommodation in downtown (single) studio apartments, curated visits to world-class monuments, sites and museums, two online workshops, art consulting, project curation, and promotion of the resident's project work.
Monday, 28 April – Sunday, 11 May 2025
Monday, 2 June – Sunday, 15 June 2025
Send your application to favelab.info@gmail.com, introducing yourself and stating your motivation to participate in the Mysteries of Bliss residency project.
Include your bio/CV and website/blog or instagram or 6–8 images of your work.
Also send us your desired residency date.
Application deadline is Sunday, 29 December 2024.
