We want you to meet an organism we have been slowly nurturing. An organism with a shifting form and shape, an organism in a state of constant transformation.
Beds is an ethereal network of artists. It enables many different forms and combinations for international collaboration and many different levels of taking part and commitment. Beds is a collective organism, oozing slowly its way on the European map, finding places to rest and nest for a while before continuing its travel. It leaves a trail of slime behind, that creates connections, fast and slippery connections between its previous and future locations, for the different local agents to find collaborations, companionships, friends.
Starting from one’s own artistic practice as a method
By keeping at the centre of our actions the underlying assumptions that shape the artist’s relationship to their own artwork, we are guided to a specific model of collaborative decision-making based on principles such as the absence of subtle violence, the freedom to be, and the authentic disposition toward transformation. – a model that offers an alternative to those that dominate the contemporary social and political landscape.
Concept of familiarity
A shared sense of closeness, trust and mutual recognition.
The title “Beds” comes, consequently, as a metaphor for an intimate and custom place, regarded as familiar even if far from home.
Physical time spent together as a condition
The time spent together in presence is understood as a necessary condition for developing meaningful artistic and relational processes.
Adaptive, flexible, living structure
Operates as a constantly transforming, self-structuring organism without fixed hierarchy, allowing responsiveness to participants’ needs and contexts.
Non-hierarchical collaboration
Fosters equality among artists, partners, and collaborators, where individual practices coexist autonomously while contributing to a shared, collective framework.
Balance of autonomy and cohesion
Individual artistic works remain independent while contributing to a larger, interconnected dramaturgy.
Continuity through iteration
Each edition builds on previous ones, developing an evolving artistic language and conceptual depth over time.
Replicable methodologies
Develops processes and tools that can be used and further developed by different agents across diverse contexts.
A space for international dialogue
Within the process of remaining true to the nature of the artwork itself, Beds implements forms of organisation that are simultaneously individual and collective, through open and non-hierarchical approaches.
In this sense, Beds presents itself as an experiential laboratory in which one can personally explore the possibility of imagining and practising alternative forms of relationship.
A deeper understanding of the meaning of interdisciplinarity
Beds brings together artists whose practices are profoundly different from one another. In this sense, interdisciplinarity can initially be understood as the coexistence and encounter of distinct artistic languages. Beds engages interdisciplinarity as a live practice, where these encounters generate layered, hybrid, and evolving forms of art and knowledge. However, this visible diversity does not fully define what interdisciplinarity means within our work.
In art, understanding is not theoretical; it is embodied in the act of making. In this sense, practice makes things intelligible because it produces situated knowledge, not abstract knowledge. Therefore, authentic interdisciplinarity cannot be designed a priori as a structure. It is not a method to be applied, but a process that emerges when a line of inquiry becomes deep enough to pass through different fields of knowledge.
Authentic interdisciplinarity is not horizontal or accumulative, but centripetal, it tends toward a core of meaning. In this sense, interdisciplinarity can be understood as a form of convergence, not a dispersion of practices, but a movement toward something that exceeds them and holds them together.
Mobility and site-specificness /site-responsiveness
Travels across locations, adapting to local contexts and forming temporary yet meaningful artistic and social ecosystems. To practice knowing each other through art and space, which includes spatial awareness and spatial practices.
Produces non-formal learning
Encourages informal, experience-based learning processes emerging from shared practice, dialogue, and experimentation.
Strong international connectivity
Spans wide geographic regions, creating sustained cross-cultural collaborations and long-term artistic relationships.
The creation of an engaged network of local organisations
Builds deep-rooted connections with local contexts in each location.
Actively connects artists, cultural institutions, and local organisations, strengthening both international and local cultural infrastructures.