The E75 Art Bus is an art journey exploring the E75 road through Europe. E75, or Europe Road 75, is a 5 639 kilometer long route that starts from Vardø in Norway and ends at Siteia in Crete, Greece.
The project will host artist residencies together with an international residency network in 2025. The art journey itself along the European E75 route takes place in April-May 2026. The new artworks produced in the project will be experienced along the road and on the bus. The resident artists for the project are selected through an open call.
Roads connect European nations and people to each other. The E75 project creates both new geographical and new mental connections: the art bus unites the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean simultaneously with artists from eleven countries to each other and to active people in dozens of communities on the way. On the open call, we create and discover works that reflect upon universal European themes: democracy, giving peace a chance, and possible futures for our continent. In addition, artists can suggest projects pertaining to the technology and history of travel and communication.
RESIDENCIES
The E75 residencies take place from April to June 2025, ranging from 6 weeks to 2 months. The artists are expected to present their work during the E75 Art Bus journey (Oulu – Siteía – Vardø – Oulu, 9 April – 18 May2026). The duration for artists’ participation for the journey will be negotiated with the artists later.
The partners in the residency network are:
– Pikene på Broen (Kirkenes, Norway),
– Komafest AS (Vardø, Norway),
– Laboratoriet for kunst, kultur og stedsutvikling (Vardø, Norway),
– Gjesteatelieret i Vadsø, Finnmark fylkeskommune (Vadsø, Norway),
– Art Center KulttuuriKauppila (Ii, Finland),
– Art Center Haihatus (Joutsa, Finland),
– Instytut B61 & Toruńska Agenda Kulturalna (Toruń, Poland),
– Malý Berlín (Trnava, Slovakia) and
– Μεταξωτο / Metaxoto (Chania, Greece).
We accept applications from professional artists resident in the regions of the E75 Art Bus route: Finnmark (Norway), Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece.
The applicant can apply for any residency place or specific residencies according to their working methods and other requirements. The artists will not be allocated to residencies in their home countries.
ARTISTS
Nine artists are chosen to participate in the project. Selection will be multidisciplinary and represent different sections of the E75 Art Bus route. Aim is also to find works that can engage people in communities either locally or through digital means. Preference is given to proposals that engage in new forms of visual art that are at the core of MUU activities: media art, light art, sound art, performance art, live art, community art, environmental art etc.
Performance, site-specific, durational and interactive works can be realized in different places the tour stops in and/or on the road within the bus itself. We welcome also proposals for hybrid works that can be presented digitally online, as well as proposals that document the journey.
The jury that makes the artist selection consists of MUU’s director Timo Soppela, Kaltio editor-in-chief Paavo J. Heinonen, and artist members of MUU’s exhibition group: Leevi Lehtinen, Terhi Nieminen and Matti Tainio.
APPLICATIONS
The applications are sent through an electronic form on MUU’s website.
Application form: https://survey.gruppo.fi
Deadline 6 January 2025
The information required includes applicant’s contact information, biography, CV, work samples OR a link to a portfolio, a work plan, and possible preferences for the residency location.
If available, we also will like to see a link to an interview, a podcast or a video presentation that introduces the applicant!
Language of the applications is English.
During the residency period in 2025, we shall implement 1–3 online events that connect the residencies. In these events, we will discuss the work and artistic practice of the resident artists as well as the progress of E75 Art Bus journey. The artists will have a chance to discuss their work further during the eventual bus trip in April and May 2026.
The facilities and equipment available in each residency location are different, and the chosen artists will be allocated to places that suit their work practice. The recidency organisations will offer accommodation and working facilities. Travel expenses, some material costs as well as the artist fee will be covered by E75 Art Vehicles project. The artist fee is 1 500 €/month/person (this will be increased up to 2 700 €/month if the project secures extra funding).
The selection will be made and communicated to the applicants latest in February 2025.
E75 JOURNEY 2026 – IMPLEMENTATION OF WORKS
On the bus trip, we bring the artists together with the organisers and the audiences. The extra seats on the bus will be sold to members of the public. During the six-week journey there will be events taking place in 20+ stopping places, as well as on the bus itself. There will be different devices available to experience media art, but we will also develop a mobile studio that can record and stream discussions and other kinds of performances directly from the moving bus.
E75 stretches from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean. Southern end point is in Siteía on the island of Crete, Northern in Vardø in Finnmark. The Art Bus journey starts in Oulu, Finland on 9 April 2026, and continues through Helsinki, Kaunas, Trencin, Trnava, Budapest, Novi Sad, Skopje, Thessaloniki, Eleusis and Athens. From Athens journey continues by ferry to Crete and reach Chania, Heraklion and Siteía on 24 April. Turning back North, we take the same road, adding Torun, Gdansk and Liepaja to our itinerary, as well as Joutsa, Ii, Inari and Vadsø. We celebrate the end-of-the-road festival in Vardø on 16 May, from where we return to Oulu for 20 May.
The participation of each artist selected will be discussed separately – it will be possible to travel the whole road or a part of it. We will try to minimise flight and have artists board the bus from their home areas on the southbound part of the trip.