Magnetic 5 international residency opportunity for NI artists is open for applications

Now in its fifth year, Magnetic brings together 10 arts institutions in a programme of tandem residences between France and the UK. 

This year artists from across Northern Ireland can apply for a residency based in Frac Grand Large, Dunkirk, Hauts-de-France. Similarly, artists based in Hauts-de-France can apply for a residency in Flax Arts Studios, Belfast.

The residency is aimed at professional artists working in the field of visual arts who have already presented their work in several professional venues identified by contemporary art networks.

Key information

• Artists receive a threshold monthly fee of £2,100
• Each artist benefits from curatorial mentoring
• Each residency is tailor-made in discussion with the curatorial teams
• Each residency provides the artist with networking opportunities throughout their stay
• Artists are provided with accommodation and access to a work space

Suzanne Lyle, Head of Visual Arts, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: “It’s great to see this valuable international residency opportunity open again for its fifth year. This programme offers a unique platform for NI visual artists to engage with their counterparts in France with the aim of using the arts to connect, exchange and develop a shared understanding through the creation of new work.”

Magnetic is supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the French Institute in the UK, French Institute, French Ministry of Culture, French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales/Wales Arts International, and the British Council.

Belfast based artist Dorothy Hunter attended the Magnetic Residency in France January - March 2026. She commented on the value of this opportunity:

“I’m a visual artist particularly interested in sites where understandings of time, belonging and land ownership become complex. For the last 15 years I’ve been working through research-based installations using photography, video, sculpture, writing, and archival interventions, exploring things like contentious regeneration, industrial remnants of conflict, types of memorialisation and heritage representation, and understandings of the commons.

“The Magnetic residency allowed me to explore a fascinating place intuitively, to and work in ways I would not have expected. Research connections formed with the help of FRAC Grand Large and Dunkerque’s art schooI, ESA, allowed me to explore maps in the cities archives, the land that was reclaimed from the sea, the spectrum of political significances of the natural and artificial dunes, and wetlands and breeding grounds for birds that were created to mitigate heavy industry. Working with the art school’s facilities like the print studios and cyclorama and its gallery space afforded me the space and time to experiment at scale, with a context I was completely new to, in a really refreshing way. I could show the results of these threads brought together in the restitution; a mix of sculpture, photography, and workshop outcomes on the walls.

“I found fresh routes into work in the residency; having a blank-ish slate and being supported to feel my way somewhere completely new. I tried many things for the first time, such as leading student workshops and making new materials. The student interns were invaluable and allowed me to learn reciprocally with them, to benefit from their local knowledge and translation skills. The two-month period in France allowed me to really focus on exploring, to not pursue finished outcomes, but instead to find threads, connections and processes I could bring home; to explore the effect of the landscape when finding possible remnants, of deepening understanding and learning from the people around you. Being inside the energy of an art school was so catalysing, and I’m happy to bring that momentum back with me.”

For more information and applications visit the Fluxus Arts Projects website.