Ada Adu Rączka

I am applying for the programme because I need substantive, strategic and financial support. On a daily basis, I combine artistic work with teaching at school and running workshops. I incorporate visual and literary elements into my work. I alternate individual projects with participation in collectives (primarily in Plenum Osób Opiekujących Się [Plenum of Caregivers]). As a non-binary person, I also explore the space “in between” in terms of expression, language and identity. I see this year’s residency as an opportunity to share everyday survival practices, in a mundane sense. Counteracting burnout. Strengthening oneself in and outside of creativity, learning to sustain oneself and others. 

During the residency programme, I want to focus on calm reflection on how I can use my resources without “using them up” completely. I also intend to consider the possibilities of combining professional work and individual artistic practice with involvement in a collective, in other words, to look at my current pattern of functioning. In short, I want to address the question: how to continue working without burning out? I am looking forward to sharing experiences (and strategies!) with the other participants and 1:1 meetings with the programme leaders. 

Graduate of Fine Arts at Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. I work with images, text and video. I combine poetry with images, handwriting and drawing with digital processing. I am the author of the poetry books Nie róbmy nic, błagam. Ale powiedzmy innym, że robiłyśmy (2019) [Let’s Not Do Anything, I Beg You. But Let’s Tell Others That We Did], Chciałośmy (2022) and Byłobyśbyło (2024), as well as the zine Próba wyjścia z brzucha | Próba wejścia do brzucha (2021) [Attempt to leave the womb | Attempt to reenter the womb], created with Zofka Kofta and Girls and Queers to the Front collective. I am a member of the Plenum Osób Opiekujących Się [Plenum of Caregivers] collective.