Borderless Creativity

By Lisa Knoll

22/08/2026

How CARC is Building Transatlantic Artistic Alliances

Though rooted in the UK, CARC recognizes that the biggest questions in contemporary art and culture require a global perspective. To tackle this, the Centre has recently formalized major collaborative exchanges with research-oriented art programs across the United States.

CARC is actively partnering with heavy-hitting American institutions, including the Art & Design Research Network at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the Interdisciplinary Arts Research programme at Arizona State University (ASU), and the Art + Research initiatives at the University of New Mexico (UNM). By linking these university art departments with independent curatorial research platforms, CARC is creating a massive, transatlantic pipeline for cross-cultural dialogue. These collaborations allow artists from different backgrounds to share resources, debate methodology, and co-develop new contemporary practices that transcend geographic borders.

While traditional art grants often focus strictly on painters or sculptors, CARC’s Visual Collab initiative recognizes that modern artistic research is fundamentally multi-authored and multi-disciplinary. This fellowship track explicitly invites creators whose work relies heavily on deep, primary research, opening its doors to visual artists, dramaturgs, playwrights, filmmakers, composers, and writers alike.

What makes the Visual Collab unique is its flexible, borderless structure. Artists can participate either through immersive on-site residential fellowships at CARC (lasting one to three months) or completely virtually for a month. By evaluating applicants based on industry-specific experience and portfolio depth rather than strictly requiring a terminal academic degree, CARC builds a more inclusive, vibrant ecosystem where independent practitioners can collaborate directly with institutional archives.