Berlin Residency / Documenta

I am Oscar Gonzalez Diaz . I have been awarded the Berlin Residency from my school, SAIC: An opportunity that doesn't come often.

This is a three month engagement to help a student with great potential make use of the hub that is a place such as Europe.  


The flight and room are paid, the food, transportation, materials, etc., are not.


 I want to make use of my time in Berlin creating possibilities for my practice to engage in discourse around diasporas of displacement. Conducting research, exploring new modes of making and partaking in the vibrant culture that is Berlin. 

 Currently, I am selling some of my things that are non necessity goods to fund the research that I will engage in. However, it seems I will be a bit short from achieving that goal. While the saving is coming along,  the main things are the flights to these other cities as well as the rooms that one has to rent. 

So any help would be very welcomed and returned in kind. 

The things I need help with are:

-travel to major Art fairs during my stay (Kassel, Venice, Athens, Münster)
-Lodging outside of Berlin.
-Food



At the space, practice takes center point, beyond economic and institutional constraints. Sadly, the realities are a bit different for some of us and as much as I'd like to fend for myself, sometimes asking for help is a better engagement with our systems. So I turn to you. 


This is a major year for art around the world, fairs in Italy, Germany and Greece provide the opportunity for those in Europe to learn and expand their practice professionally; Documenta (every 5 years), The Vennice Biennale (every 2yrs), Sculpture project Munster (every 10 years!!!), etc., are some of the major events taking place. 

You can see my excitement to make them most of this opportunity with your help. 

            As a Mexican, I find that many of the roads of self-exile are apparent in everyday society -- we alienate those most dear to us to protect ourselves and keep happy, sometimes with our words and sometimes with our actions. When many of us follow that road, it becomes a national issue.  At the residency in Berlin, I will pursue those ideas that are so prevalent in the work I have developed at SAIC and my concern socially and politically: asylum seekers and refugees. I find that if I dont make my best effort to visit these other sites, then I am not following through with my own mission around refuge and shelter. 

The research will take place in Berlin , where the facilities are different, the governments are different, the people are different, but the circumstances are very similar.

I'd also want to visit these other events and make the most of my time there.  I can do with a cup of coffee, a few sandwiches and water, but I can't traverse these distances by foot. 

So I am here, asking your help so I can engage in these other events and partake in the professional world that is the relentless Art World. 


Thank you for taking a moment to read this, thinking about its effect and maybe considering a donation or sharing this with others that might be of more means than us.   :)

All the best



-Oscar I Gonzalez Diaz




PS Here's my website so you can get a sense of my work.


http://www.oscar-gonzalezdiaz.com/