Following an open call for applications, we are thrilled to announce the selection of three artists taking part in our 2025 NAARCA residency exchange:
Hugo Llanes is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the intersections of belonging, grief, loss and psychological sustainability. During his four- week NAARCA Residency at Cove Park, he will develop a new body of work, which will be presented in a forthcoming solo exhibition in 2026.
As a Mexican artist, executing a political art practice from Iceland has led me to speak about the support of the global south to this island in terms of goods, people, and culture. My practice rethinks cultural issues in Iceland from a migrant perspective, themes such as labour, otherness, disparity, and the sustainable communities that have emerged since I moved here in 2018.
I chose Cove Park in Scotland because it has been a host institution to Mexican artists such as Abraham Cruzvillegas and Ektor García… artists I admire, and who reflect critical perspectives rooted in Mexico, but also have a very international language. At Cove Park, I desire to foster critical conversations. Having a personal and intimate connection to Scotland, this residency provides me a nest and hub to work on my solo show.
Oslo-based filmmaker Silvia Rossi will collaborate with visual artist Elena Mazzi during their four-week NAARCA Residency at the Narsaq International Research Station.
Silvia’s artistic practice centers on creating films that explore the intersection of nature, human connection, and environmental consciousness, particularly in response to ecological crises driven by human exploitation. Her work is motivated by the urgency of the climate crisis and a strong belief in the power of storytelling to inspire both adult and young audiences. Through her films, she seeks to deepen emotional connections to the natural world and encourage reflection on humanity’s responsibility to protect it.
During the residency, Silvia and Elena will adopt a community-engaged approach to explore Rob Nixon’s concept of slow violence – the gradual, often invisible environmental harm inflicted over time. Facilitating workshops for young people, they will examine the role of the Kvanefjeld mine within the local community, considering how it may become a symbol of the complexities and contradictions embedded in the Green Transition on a global level.
This programme builds on NAARCA’s ongoing work since 2021, addressing the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and climate justice through the lens of the four pillars of sustainability: ecological, social, psychological, and cultural. These residencies, made possible with support from the Nordic Culture Fund, support cultural exchange, deep research and reflection, community engagement, and the creation of new work and ideas on climate action.
More about Hugo Llanes
Hugo Llanes is a Reykjavík-based artist and cultural facilitator whose work explores political and social themes such as migration, identity, and power through media like installation, performance, and expanded painting. He often uses food to engage audiences. His recent exhibitions include Your Addiction is the Message! (Gallery 99, Czech Republic), Los Primxs (Xalapa, Mexico), goodgonebadwrong (Living Art Museum, Iceland), and Tracing Fragments (Kópavogur Art Museum), which won Best Group Show at the 2024 Icelandic Art Prize. Llanes’s MONUMENTAL series was recognized by the Bienal de Veracruz for its exploration of performativity and anti-monumentality. His visual essay on extractivism in Veracruz was published in ISLARIO (2024).
He has participated in the Saari Residency (KONE, 2022) and The Cross Residency (France–Iceland, 2023). In Iceland, he introduces contemporary art to minority communities and leads the Latin American Film Festival Reykjavík. Llanes holds an MA from the Iceland University of the Arts and a BA from Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico.
More about Silvia Rossi
Silvia Rossi is an Italian filmmaker based in Oslo. She earned a bachelor’s degree in cinema and theater at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice and studied directing at the National Film School (CSC-Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) in Milan. She is a co-founder of “BOM Films,” a directors’ duo specializing in advertising, and “Peggy Høy,” a women-led independent production company based in Norway. Silvia writes, directs and produces; her work emphasizes ecology and equality. Her latest film, now in distribution, “The Green Country”, is the first short in a trilogy that questions our environmental consciousness in response to the ecological crises. It has been financed by NFI, Kulturrådet and Sørnork Filmsenter. He premiered internationally at Flickerfest (Australia) in January 2024, and has been nominated for Best Nordisk Short at Nordisk Panorama Film Festival.
More about Elena Mazzi
Elena Mazzi (1984) is a visual artist, working with specific geographical and socio-political contexts. Her poetics deals with the relationship between human beings and the environment in which they live and with which they must reckon on a daily basis. This analysis, which often follows an anthropological approach, investigates and documents an identity which is at the same time personal and collective, and gives rise to forms of exchange and transformation. She studied History of Art (Siena), Visual Arts (IUAV, Venice) and Fine Arts (Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm). In 2015 she started to lead workshops for young artists, teachers and the general public in collaboration with Institutions, Schools, Academies. Elena Mazzi is presently pursuing a practice-based PHD at Villa Arson in Nice.