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Artists Statement<\/h1>\nArtists Statement<\/h1>\nscholar visual arts \u00a01.7. – 30.9.2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n What made you apply for the otte1 scholarship?<\/strong><\/p>\n I first learned about the otte1 scholarship through my friend and colleague, the artist Fethi Sahraoui. For me, having the opportunity to join an artist residency every couple of years is essential: it allows me to step back and review my past work, focus on ongoing projects, and conduct research for new ideas in an atmosphere with fewer distractions. This is one of the main reasons I applied. Another strong motivation was the scholarship\u2019s excellent reputation, confirmed by Fethi\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n What did you work on during your stay?<\/strong><\/p>\n During my stay, I worked on two projects. The first is an ongoing project titled Echo, which explores the rap scene in Algeria. I finally had the time to sit face-to-face with everything I had shot over the past two years intermittently, to edit, review the material, and plan the next steps and direction of the work. Echo follows a group of rappers who continue to practice their craft despite facing many obstacles: an almost non-existent industry infrastructure, little support from streaming platforms, low advertising revenues, and a market often overlooked by global brands. In this environment, producing music is extremely difficult, yet they choose to persevere. Many of them transform their bedrooms in their parents\u2019 apartments into makeshift studios, self-finance their projects, and use the streets of their neighborhoods as the backdrop for their music videos. What inspired you at the K\u00fcnstlerhaus in Eckernf\u00f6rde?<\/strong><\/p>\n At the K\u00fcnstlerhaus in Eckernf\u00f6rde, what inspired me most was the sense of personal freedom I experienced. My studio happened to be a bit larger than some of the others I believe, and I saw this as an opportunity to experiment and create a space that felt truly my own. One of the small but meaningful things I discovered was the joy of cooking for myself, something I rarely do since I usually live with my parents. Having that independence allowed me to reconnect with myself.<\/p>\n What do you take away from Eckernf\u00f6rde for your further artistic development?<\/strong><\/p>\n What I take away from Eckernf\u00f6rde for my further artistic development is, first of all, the exchange with people. For example, I had the chance to spend meaningful time with Norbert Weber, we talked, shared ideas, and I learned a great deal from him. Beyond these conversations, my stay also gave me the opportunity to experiment with photobooks and zines in a way I hadn\u2019t done before. I tried out different designs, explored various binding methods, and even learned some new binding techniques. This was especially important for me because I see every photographic project as ultimately taking the form of a photobook. Being able to test these approaches has helped me imagine more clearly how my projects might evolve and take shape in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artists Statement Soufian Chemcham scholar visual arts \u00a01.7. – 30.9.2025 What made you apply for the otte1 scholarship? I first learned about the otte1 scholarship through my friend and colleague, the artist Fethi Sahraoui. For me, having the opportunity to join an artist residency every couple of years is essential: it allows me to step","protected":false},"author":3832,"featured_media":0,"parent":19994,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post post-type-page post-view- post-scope-","status-publish","clear"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3832"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26794,"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26792\/revisions\/26794"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/otte1.staging.computerlie.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAlongside Echo, I also began developing a new project in its initial stage, focusing on the dynamics of extended family, parental cohabitation, and the experiences of youth within these contexts.<\/p>\n