Sub+ Residencies x TaiPing Art Hub, Keelung

Keelung, Taiwan

CALLING SINGAPORE-BASED ARTISTS
Application Deadline: 25 Oct 2026 (11.59pm SGT)

Residency Period: 25 Nov - 9 Dec 2026
Duration: 2 weeks
Location: TaiPing Art Hub, Keelung, Taiwan

Islands, Harbours, Rain and the Everyday

The Substation, in partnership with TaiPing Art Hub, Keelung (太平山城藝棧), invites applications from Singapore-based artists for a two-week arts residency in Keelung, Taiwan, from 28 November to 12 December 2026.

The residency invites an artist to spend time encountering Keelung through its particular geography, climate, communities and rhythms of everyday life. Situated between mountain and sea, Keelung is a port city profoundly shaped by its harbour, steep terrain and weather. Late November and December mark the beginning of winter, when frequent rain and the northeast monsoon become part of the texture of daily life. Rather than treating these conditions simply as a backdrop, the residency asks how weather, landscape, memory and everyday experience might become ways of encountering and understanding a place.

The residency also opens a conversation between Singapore and Keelung as island and harbour contexts: places shaped differently by maritime histories, movement, trade, migration, urban transformation and relationships with the sea.

Artists are not expected to arrive with a project that must be completed within two weeks. Instead, the residency is conceived as a period of immersion, research, experimentation and exchange, allowing ideas to develop through being present in Keelung.

Sub+ Residencies

The Substation has long championed artistic process, experimentation and critical exchange. Through the Sub+ Residencies programme, we seek to create opportunities for artists to temporarily step outside their usual working contexts and allow unfamiliar places, people and conditions to shift the direction of their practice. This continues the programme's emphasis on research, risk and inquiry rather than predetermined production outcomes.

Residency Partner

TaiPing Art Hub, Keelung is a cultural and artistic platform in Keelung, Taiwan, supporting artist residencies, exhibitions, research and exchanges that engage with the city and its surrounding communities.

Its residency programmes have encouraged artists to respond closely to Keelung's distinctive environment and histories. Previous projects have explored subjects including mountain communities and local ecology, as well as maritime memory and the relationship between the city and its harbour.

For this collaboration with The Substation, TaiPing Art Hub welcomes an artist interested in encountering Keelung during the beginning of its winter season and allowing the city itself to become part of their research.

Views of Taiping Mountain City and authentic alleys

Photos: Wang Zhengxiang (TaiPing Art Hub, Keelung - Facebook page)

What might you explore?

There is no prescribed project or required medium. Applicants are encouraged to propose an area of inquiry that can meaningfully develop through two weeks of immersion in Keelung.

Possible points of departure might include the experience of rain and weather; winter harbour life; mountain and coastal landscapes; maritime histories and memories; port communities and everyday life; movement, migration and exchange; sound and listening; or comparative conversations between Singapore and Keelung as island and harbour cities.

These are starting points rather than a fixed theme. We are equally interested in proposals that reveal unexpected ways of encountering Keelung.

The residency is particularly suited to artists whose practices can respond quickly and sensitively to place. This may include research-based practices, sound and listening practices, documentary and moving image, socially engaged or community-based practices, writing, visual arts, and interdisciplinary approaches.

A Process-Oriented Residency

Two weeks is a short period in which to encounter a city.

For this reason, the residency does not require the selected artist to produce a completed artwork.

Instead, the emphasis is on process: observing, listening, researching, meeting people, gathering material, testing ideas and allowing encounters in Keelung to inform the artist's practice.

At the end of the residency, the artist will participate in an informal public sharing organised with Taiping Keelung Art Hub. Depending on the artist's process, this might take the form of a work-in-progress presentation, open studio, screening, conversation, listening session, performative sharing, research presentation or another appropriate format.

The sharing is intended to make the artist's process visible rather than to present a finished work.

Who We’re Looking For

We welcome applications from Singapore-based artists who are interested in allowing a place to influence, challenge or redirect their practice.

The residency is best suited to artists who:

• value research-led, process-driven or site-responsive practices;

• can work independently within a short residency period;

• are comfortable working without the expectation of producing a completed artwork;

• are curious about engaging with local environments and communities; and

• can approach such encounters with sensitivity, openness and respect.

Practices particularly suited to the residency may include:

• sound and listening

• documentary and moving image

• visual arts

• writing

• socially engaged practice

• interdisciplinary research

• and other forms that can respond meaningfully to place.

Applicants should consider whether two weeks is an appropriate duration for the proposed inquiry. The strongest proposals will be those that treat the residency as the beginning or development of a process rather than attempting to compress a large production into fourteen days.

Application Requirements

Kindly fill up the Open Call application form with the following information:

• Artist biography (max 300 words)

• CV (max 2 pages)

• Portfolio (up to 10 pages/files or equivalent; links to video, audio or other time-based works may be included)

• Residency proposal (max 500 words), outlining:

1. Your current artistic practice and areas of interest.

2. What you would like to explore during the two weeks in Keelung.

3. Why Keelung specifically is relevant to this inquiry.

4. How you imagine engaging with its environment, communities, harbour, landscape or everyday life.

5. What you hope the residency might contribute to your ongoing practice.

• References (2 names with contact number & email)

• Confirmation note of valid travel documents.

• Confirmation of availability to fulflll the full length of the residency period.

Applicants do not need to propose a completed artwork or exhibition.

Selection Considerations

Applications will be considered based on:

• the strength and clarity of the artist's practice;

• relevance of the proposed inquiry to Keelung and the residency context;

• suitability of the proposal for a two-week residency;

• openness to research, experimentation and exchange; and

• sensitivity towards engaging with local environments and communities.

Shortlisted applicants may be invited for a brief online conversation with representatives from The Substation and TaiPing Art Hub.

Only 1 artist will be selected.

Travel

The selected artist must hold a valid passport and be able to travel to Taiwan for the residency period.

The artist will be responsible for ensuring that they meet the relevant entry and travel requirements. The Substation and Taiping Keelung Art Hub will provide supporting documentation where required.

Important Dates

• Open Call: 8 October 2026 - 25 October 2026

• Application Deadline: 25 October 2026 (11.59pm SGT)

• Shortlisted Interviews: Week of 26 October 2026

• Selected Artist Announced: 2 November 2026

• Residency Period: 25 November – 9 December 2026

Applicants must be available for the full residency period.

Enquiries

For administrative or technical enquiries on the application form submission, email us at outreach@substation.org.