The Arts Institute, a part of the Theatre Institute, is a different type of organization in comparison with the rest of the HALMA network. The scope of our work is not only literature—the Institute is a research, information, advisory and production centre for the arts as such. Focusing on the topic of international cooperation, we mediate important contacts and assist in the creation of networks and collaborative projects, as well as provide a gateway for information about the arts in the country and thereby create affiliations and intensify the opportunities for long-lasting cooperation. Within the international activities the "artists in residency programme" has been running for more than three years. The Programme is primarily aimed at visual artists and so far the collaboration encompasses cultural organisations from Switzerland, Portugal and Mexico. In connection with an effort to broaden the range of our activities, we have decided to open up the residencies to the world of literature (authors, translators, academics). And as one can see, in one meaning we are newcomers to this particular field, in another we are "old sea dogs".

Our participation in the HALMA network is all the more important because in spite of the longstanding and rich tradition of Czech literature, there is currently neither a literary house, nor even an opportunity for literary residencies in the country.

International mobility, that’s the word of today’s world. The term itself is used so often that it is almost depleted—a mere shell; the mobility of goods, the mobility of services, the mobility of ideas... and, of course, the mobility of people, respectively artists. In fact, in many cases, the expression "mere shell" is very apt. Nevertheless, when the rules are set sensitively and reasonably enough, mobility and residencies have their irreplaceable meaning. In the institute, we strongly believe that we can provide interested individuals with residencies of such a character. The starting point is to adjust the conditions in such a way that the residencies return both to the guests as well as to the receiving organisation; and in particular to society.

Firstly, each residency grants one of today’s most precious goods—time. Contemporaneousness is not in favour of "impractical" activities (in the sense of a fast, concrete and satisfactorily huge profit). It relates much more to artists who often have their other regular jobs and therefore work under its pressures. Residents are, so to speak, freed from both time and domestic limitations, they are lifted out of their familiar, in a sense cut-and-dried world; they can concentrate on their creative work, research, reflection... they can expand their minds and ways of thinking, discover themselves, incite cooperation, elaborate on research, intensify the possibilities of communication, gain new perspectives, become more perceptive, cultivate the abilities of mutual respect and tolerance for diverse values, ideas, etc. Furthermore, they can establish close ties with the local penmen, publishers, universities, as well as with those standing outside the literary scene.

Another feature of a successful residency is the preparation of the guest’s programme. The programme must arise from a collaboration with the author. Aside from traditional sites (e.g. bookshops, literary cafés…), it is important to include other locations such as shops, businesses, schools, sports clubs, likewise prisons or children’s homes in the programme. As Kenzaburo Oe puts it, literature should "create a model of a contemporary age which encompasses past and future, a model of the people living in that age as well". The revelation of evident, however frequently hidden facts under the deposits of fast day-today life, originates in the close contact with "real life". That is to say, it is not about collecting information, but about knowledge and know-how, about functional thinking.

Mobility is nothing new in the world of art. If we look deep into the history of humankind, we discover that travelling and hosting has had a substantial importance for whatever activity. The need for free creation, firmly adherent to the need for free cognition, is one of the main motivational factors of artists; in the case of the written word, the personal contact has the potential of showing that literature, using language as a tool for organising reality, is not only "an acquaintance with letters"—literature has the power to piece together the picture of today’s fragmented world; to give the world|life a (new or different) meaning.

In the words of Octavio Paz, literature "listens to what time says". And literary residencies should become a mediator between literature and the public; with the general decline of reading, writers have become more separated from the public by an almost impermeable wall.

Viktor Debnár