Artists Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian are launching a new residency program for artists and writers on the island of Menorca.
The Residency at Casa Gràcia, as it will be called, will launch next spring and offer self-directed residencies “without obligation to produce an outcome or public presentation” to give selected residents the “time and private space to further their practices,” according to a release.
“There is something profoundly moving about Menorca and its mystical atmosphere,” Hovsepian said in a statement. “Menorca is unique among the Balearic Islands for this extraordinary archaeological presence, and there is something deeply humbling about existing alongside that kind of history and mystery. For me, Menorca has always been a place that expands inner space where ideas surface more freely and where creativity feels connected to something both personal and ancient.”
Applications will be selected via an open call and are now open for the first cohort, which has a deadline of July 31. Each cohort will consist of three artists and two writers; artists can stay for up to three months, while writers for up to six months.
The applications will be selected by an advisory board that include Johnson and Hovsepian, as well as artist Hank Willis Thomas; writers Katherine Brinson, Patrick Radden Keefe, and Colson Whitehead; collector and investor Gaurav Kapadia; entertainment executive Ravi Nandan; and internet personality Alex Ernst.
Representatives from Johnson’s gallery, Hauser & Wirth, also sit on the board, including cofounders Iwan Wirth and Manuela Wirth and Debbie Hillyerd, a partner and senior director of learning at the gallery. Cristopher Canizares, who recently left the gallery to launch an artist management agency, is also on the board.
Interior view of the Residency at Casa Gràcia, Mahon, Menorca.
Photo Daniel Schäfer/Courtesy Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian
Ahead of the residency, Casa Gràcia was recently renovated by Paris-based architectural firm Laplace, with Menorcan architects Maimó&Brosa. Built in 1860, it is located in a residential neighborhood in the historic city of Mahon and includes three different spaces for the artists and writers to “reflect and experiment,” a 3,230-square-foot studio, a study and a walled garden, according to a release, which adds that “the entire building has been thoughtfully renovated, transforming the site—once the entrance to a nightclub with the owners’ apartment above—into a residence defined by simplicity, clarity, and ease.”
Johnson first visited Menorca a few years back via Hauser & Wirth, which opened a location on the Isla del Rey in 2021 and which also includes a residency program. He would also spend more time there the following year ahead of the opening of his 2022 exhibition at the gallery’s outpost on the Balearic Islands.
“Menorca has offered me something rare: a sense of slowness, clarity, and openness that allows thought and creativity to expand,” Johnson said in a statement, adding that he “was deeply moved by the island’s beauty, history and rhythm.”
He continued, “Creating this residency is an opportunity to share that experience with other artists—offering time and space for reflection, experimentation, conversation, and renewal. I hope artists who are in residence here will find, as I did, that Menorca has a quiet but profound way of sharpening attention and deepening one’s relationship to making.”
