EC(H)OES OF ETNA – RESIDENCY

       1- 21 July 2026
📍 Ecomuseo del Castagno dell’Etna& Casa di Paglia Felce Rossa, Milo - Catania

The residency is dedicated to visual artists and performers working with eco-embodied practices and research-based approaches.It takes place in Milo, a village at the foot of Etna Volcano from 1st July to 21 July 2026. Located between Etna’s volcanic landscape and the Mediterranean coast—just 20 minutes from the sea—the residency offers an immersive environment for artistic research and experimentation. Artists are encouraged to engage directly with Sicily’s natural and cultural landscape, using the territory as a living site of inquiry. The programme focuses on exchange and collaboration. Residents share methodologies, references, and working processes while developing their individual practices and creating their personal artwork. Selected residents (18+) are offered guided walks in the volcanic landscape and nearby villages, workshops and webinars related to eco-embodied and visual arts practices.They are also challenged to co-create an interactive outdoor performance among the Sciare (ancient lava flows) of the chestnut forest of Milo village. Public performances, workshops, and installations are an integral part of the residency, conceived as moments of encounter and dialogue with local communities and external visitors. 

SELECTION PROCESS

Residents are selected from among the artists who have already applied to Meeting Your Land, the international photo and video collective exhibition organised as part of La Poesia dell'Essere - International Eco-Embodied Visual Arts Gathering. The residency open call — EC(H)OES OF ETNA is therefore open exclusively to artists who have submitted an application for that exhibition. If no suitable applicants are identified, the host may invite artists directly. One place is reserved for an artist with fewer opportunities.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Applications will be assessed by the artistic committee based on the following criteria:

• Relevance to eco-embodied practices

• Artistic quality and originality of previous work

• Originality and potential of the draft performance proposal

• Collaborative potential and openness to experimentation

• Motivation and commitment to the residency context

FUNDING & APPLICATION

• Only 3 artists receive full funding through Creative Europe** .

• Other additional artists can join the residency at their own expense, subject to availability and can stay for a shorter period ( minimum 1 week ).

• Artists can indicate their interest in the residency in the application form for the collective exhibition "Meeting Your Land" or contact us separately.
  
  

**   Artists who have legal residence in in one of this following Countries are eligible for EU fundings:

Albania, Austria, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine. OR Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and Outermost Regions (ORs): Greenland (Denmark);  French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Territories, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Reunion Island, Saint Barthelemy, Saint-Martin, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna Islands (France); Azores, Madeira (Portugal); Canary Islands (Spain); Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius (Netherlands).

Please note:

• The funded residency is subject to confirmation of Creative Europe funding. Final confirmation is due in June 2026
  
  

What the funded residency includes (for the 3 funded artists)

• Accommodation

• Studio facilities

• Mentorship and curatorial support

• Exchange and collaboration with other artists

• €30 daily allowance

• Travel expenses

• Additional visa and access costs, if required

ACCOMODATION

The provided accommodation - La Casa di Paglia Felcerossa - is an eco-sustainable rural estate, located very close to the Ecomuseo, ensuring easy access to the residency’s main site and resources. Artists stay in eco-built spaces with shared common areas and a kitchen. Outdoor gardens and natural surroundings offer informal spaces for research and creative work. The residence is also near the outdoor working sites, including the Sciare lava flows and chestnut forests. If special needs are requested, priority is given to proximity, sustainability, in line with the residency’s ecological objectives.

RESIDENCY AT YOUR OWN EXPENSES

If your legal residence is based in Italy or outside a Creative Europe Country,  you can still join the Artistic Residency at your own expenses. 

Minimum stay is 1 week choosing one of the following weeks: 1 -7 July | 8-14 July | 15-21 July.

Registration fee

50€

Accommodation 

From 140€/week in shared house till availability.

70€/week in own tent. 

Food 

Not included but kitchen available.

SEE THE PROGRAMM

Introducing our 2026 Artists in Residence

We are happy to announce the selected artists for the EC(H)OES OF ETNA residency, taking place from 1st to 21st of July 2026 in Ecomuseo del Castagno di Milo, at the foot of Etna Volcano, as part of La Poesia dell'Essere — International Eco-Embodied Visual Arts Gathering.

The selection process was truly challenging. We received applications from exceptional artists across Europe and beyond, and the quality, depth, and originality of the proposals made every decision difficult. We are deeply grateful to all who applied and shared their practice and vision with us. After careful and lengthy deliberation by the artistic committee, 5 artists have been selected for the artistic residency:

Tamara Safarova (Ukraine) is a visual artist and performer whose practice centres on liminal states, hypnagogia, and deep listening. Working across performance, video, drawing, and photography, she explores landscapes of trauma and regeneration through an embodied, non-extractive approach to place.                                                                                   Funded by EU - Culture Moves Europe - Goethe Institut

Alina Usurelu  (Romania) is a visual artist and researcher currently completing a PhD on ecosomatics in visual and performing arts. Her work explores the relationship between body, landscape, water, and ecological memory through walking, alternative photography, sound, and site-specific performance.                                                                    Funded by EU - Culture Moves Europe - Goethe Institut

Yoon-Joo Jee (France/South Korea) is a movement artist & storyteller whose practice investigates collective ritual, embodied belonging, and the dialogue between human bodies and natural environments. She works through site-responsive movement research and participatory creation.                                                                                          Funded by EU - Culture Moves Europe - Goethe Institut

Luisa Spina (It) is a transdisciplinary artist, performer and educator whose practice moves across ecosomatics, mythology and ecofeminist politics. Based in Rome and working across Europe, she explores the body as a site of ecological knowledge — porous, animal, entangled with the living world. Working through performance, voice score, participatory processes, film and writing, her work investigates inherited narratives inscribed in the flesh and the possibility of transformation through deep listening, myth and collective embodied experience.

Paolo Lolicata (It) is a Sicilian artist working through an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural practice. He studied Performing Arts and earned a BA in DAMS at Link University in Rome, followed by a Master’s degree in Curatorship. His work investigates the relationships between identity, heritage, contamination, insularity, and technology within the broader context of globalization. He approaches artistic practice as a process of assembling fragments, drawing from archives of both past and future imaginaries. Borrowing methodologies from archaeology, geography, and scientific research, he collects, classifies, reorganizes, and recontextualizes materials, producing new layers of meaning. This process is grounded in experimentation, where local environments actively shape and inform project-specific methodologies. 

Together, these artists will spend three weeks researching the volcanic landscape of Etna, developing individual works, and co-creating an interactive outdoor performance in the ancient lava flows and chestnut forests of Milo — open to the local community. 

We cannot wait to welcome them to Etna. 🌋