Creative Exchange and New Ideas: Chiara Capizzi at BIRCA
Artist Chiara Capizzi shares an insight into her creative practice and her experience as part of the Island Connect residency programme at BIRCA, Bornholm.
What happens when an artist is given the time, space and opportunity to connect with new people and new perspectives?
For artist Chiara Capizzi, the Island Connect residency at BIRCA on the island of Bornholm provided an opportunity to explore her creative practice while becoming part of an international artistic community.
A new film captures Chiara reflecting on her practice and residency experience, combining interview footage with glimpses into her artistic work and creative process.
Exploring a Creative Practice
Every artist has their own way of developing ideas.
For Chiara, the creative process is explored through her artistic practice, experimentation and expression. The film provides a window into this process, offering glimpses of her work alongside her reflections on the experience of developing creatively within a residency environment.
Rather than focusing only on the finished result, the film highlights the importance of the journey — exploring ideas, experimenting with possibilities and allowing a creative practice to evolve.
The Value of Creative Exchange
One of the defining aspects of an international residency is the opportunity to meet and work alongside other artists.
Being surrounded by different practices, perspectives and experiences can create new ways of thinking. A conversation can spark an idea, another artist's approach can challenge an existing way of working, and shared experiences can lead to unexpected creative possibilities.
For Chiara, the Island Connect residency offered this opportunity for exchange.
The experience was not simply about developing work independently, but about being part of a wider creative environment where ideas could be shared and explored.
Finding Inspiration at BIRCA
Chiara's residency took place at BIRCA, a residency space for artists on the island of Bornholm in the middle of the Baltic Sea.
Surrounded by some of Europe's most fantastic nature, BIRCA provides artists with an environment where they can step away from their usual surroundings and dedicate time to their creative practice.
The setting offers space for reflection, experimentation and connection — creating the conditions for artists to explore ideas without the pressures of everyday life.
A change of environment can also change the way we see our work. New surroundings, new conversations and new experiences can all become part of an artist's creative process.
Connecting Artists Through Island Connect
Chiara's residency forms part of Island Connect, an international residency programme creating opportunities for artists to connect, exchange ideas and develop their practices.
Through international residencies, artists are able to experience different creative environments while building relationships with artists and organisations across borders.
These encounters can be an important part of artistic development. They create opportunities to share knowledge, question approaches and discover new possibilities through collaboration and conversation.
From Exchange to New Ideas
Creative development does not always happen in isolation.
Sometimes, new ideas emerge through meeting someone with a completely different perspective. Sometimes they come from experiencing a new place or stepping outside a familiar way of working.
Chiara's Island Connect experience highlights the importance of these moments of exchange.
By bringing artists together in an international residency setting, Island Connect creates space for these conversations and experiences to become part of the creative process.
Watch Chiara's Island Connect Film
The film offers an insight into Chiara's artistic practice and her experience at BIRCA, bringing together interview footage and glimpses of her creative work.
It is a reflection on the value of creative exchange, collaboration and shared experiences — and how stepping into a new environment can help artists develop new ideas.
Watch the film above to discover more about Chiara's creative practice and her Island Connect residency experience at BIRCA.
Island Connect is funded by Creative Europe.
BIRCA is a residency space for artists on the island of Bornholm in the middle of the Baltic Sea, surrounded by some of Europe's most fantastic nature.