Group Residency Programme Orkney

Air, Sea and Soil: WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS

Sat 29 Aug 2026 – Sat 05 Sept 2026 / 7 nights, 8 days
2027 dates and application deadline will be announced later this year

The Museum of Loss and Renewal is delighted to invite applications for the Group Residency WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS, Orkney.

WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS has been devised around the relationships of ‘Air, Sea and Soil’, encompassing the Orkney Islands’ remarkable natural environment. Residents will be welcomed to the ancient Birsay area of Orkney, where the bespoke programme includes 5-star rated accommodation (single rooms), work facilities, and visits to Neolithic Orkney’s World Heritage Sites.

The Group Residency will be lead by Tracy Mackenna (she/her), artist, educator and curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal and facilitated by Tracy and artist Mary Bourne. A range of multidisciplinary Orkney-based discipline experts who hold precious, lived knowledge of how matter and materials act in Orkney will contribute to bespoke programme sessions, sharing their understandings of the relationships between rock, water and soil, people and time, the natural and built environment, creative expression and well-being.

This Group Residency will take you out and about in Orkney, allow you to focus, introduce you to the impact of climate crisis, to vast skies, open vistas and the archipelago that has long been shaped by the sea. You will get up close to places, matter and materials and ideas, and step back to consider your position in the universe.

WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS is offered to creative practitioners working in all creative disciplines and for those who have a strong interest in the investigation of matter and materials, site and place. The group will comprise of approx. eight international participants.

Focal Points

Matter and materials
Site visits
Creative practices
Interdisciplinarity
Technologies
Co-learning
Individual practice
Experimentation and play
Semi-structured programme
Expert facilitator/s and guest contributors
Collective platform for encounters

Supportive, caring, non-hierarchical environment
Immersive experience
Relationships to land, connections through place
Location specific, inc. Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site
Cultural and environmental ecologies
Memory (ecological, material, ruin)
Publics; participants and audiences
5-star rated accommodation (single rooms), self-catered
Work spaces

Aim

The Group Residency will develop approaches to matter and material that are experimental, inventive in their form, and that respond to place by paying attention to the intersections and collisions between art, culture, technologies and place. Individual experience will be regarded as being not at the world’s centre, but woven into its fabric.

Orkney is famous for its unique geology featuring spectacular sandstone forms in breathtaking dramatic cliffs, rich fossil beds containing for example fish from ancient Lake Orcadie, and unique landforms like geos and gloups that have come into being from Devonian desert environments and subsequent glaciation. The practical and socio-political uses of stone will be encountered in the islands’ world famous Neolithic structures such as the 500 year-old village of Skara Brae, dry-stone walls and boundaries, chambered cairns, quernstones, touchstones and harbours.

Opportunities are created for participants to share and establish a bank of knowledge and creative strategies, both globally interconnected and hyper local, digital and analogue, for imagining new responses to matter and materials and the multiple, layered and contested histories that places hold. Bringing together residents from a range of areas of practice and research, an international network will be established.

Ways of Working

WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS will provide a partially-structured and hands-on programme of site-based ways of working that are shared to enable residents to develop their skills and understanding of how to investigate matter and materials as part of a creative practice and for public presentation to a global audience.

The programme is devised around a bespoke itinerary, with carefully crafted sessions that focus on expanded approaches to discussion, presentation, making and sharing. Outdoor sessions will introduce residents to the stunning natural landscape and world-class archaeological sites. Participants will also have ample time to work independently.

Designed to be supportive, the programme will enable participants to develop their skills and understanding of place across a range of making approaches and technologies. The residency experience will stimulate new ways of thinking and experimentation through production, research, co-learning and presentation.

Facilitators and participants, from diverse cultures and creative disciplines, will work together and on individual practices through collaborative place-based making processes to generate and present global and local knowledge and strategies for imagining the futures of fragile cultural and environmental ecologies.

Value will be given to the individual knowledge and experience of each resident, and participants and facilitators will maximise the time for exchange and developing relationships and networks.

By thinking and doing through the lens of WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS’ approaches and analogue-digital relationships, we will explore layered histories whilst inhabiting Orkney’s stratified landscape that is 400 million years old.

Sessions will prompt reflection on how everything tangible is matter, defined by properties like colour and density, how matter interacts chemically, and how it is the fundamental building block of the universe. Materials – specific types and forms of matter with specific structures and properties – will be central to working sessions. The potential of materials when applied to place, ecological memory and futures, life cycles, rehabilitation and regeneration, will be a thread that runs through the residency.

Facilitators and Contributors

FACILITATORS

TRACY MACKENNA (she/her)

Tracy (RSA, Professor Emerita; SCO-IT) is the Curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal. She is an artist, curator, educator and publisher. Her art practice is a creative and discursive site where production, presentation, exchange, co-learning and research meet.

Tracy’s focus on place(making), (un)belonging, memory, (personal)narratives and imaginary futures can be seen in projects exhibited and published internationally e.g. Micromegas (scale, philosophical and scientific thought and human foible), War as Ever! (conflict, looking and art), Rock and Dust | Roccia e Polvere (activating archival material, harmonies and tensions between place, people and time), and Ash, Chalk and Charcoal (violence in materials, private and public spaces).

She is a highly experienced, award winning educator who has devised and lead multiple group learning projects situated within the international museum and gallery sector, and higher education.

MARY BOURNE (she/her)

Mary (RSA, FRSS) is a visual artist, principally a sculptor working in natural stone. Her practice is centred on how we live in the places we inhabit, exploring the character of locations as we find them, and considering how we can reveal aspects of them or instil them with new meaning.

She has undertaken over forty place-specific commissions, often collaborating with other arts/design professionals and with local communities to produce work that is meaningful in its context. This work regularly brings her into contact with diverse groups of people, for example art students, farmers, pre-school/school children, museum curators, poets, wind farm employees and distillers.

Stone is not a neutral material for Mary, but a physical connection both to the landscape, and, through its cultural use as a medium of communication, to other peoples and generations.
http://www.marybourne.co.uk/

PROGRAMME CONTRIBUTORS

ANNE BEVAN (she/her)

Anne Bevan (RSA Elect) is a visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores relationships to place, people and environmental change. This has led to her working collaboratively with experts from many disciplines, including archaeologists, anthropologists, marine scientists and geologists. Thinking and experimenting through making, material processes and sculpture, Anne often works in dialogue with writers, musicians and film makers, to create publications, performances and installations. She has an extensive portfolio of exhibiting internationally, commissions, workshops, and experience in higher education.

Anne grew up in Orkney and since returning she has focused her work on themes relating to her home community, including as artist in residence for Orkney Beside the Ocean of Time. As well as her freelance work, she works with the University of the Highlands and Islands Orkney as part of TRANSECTs, a research project looking at energy transitions in relation to coastal communities, and also lectures on the Contemporary Art and Archaeology Masters course.
https://annebevan.co.uk/

MARK EDMONDS (he/him)

Prof Mark Edmonds is an archaeologist and internationally respected and highly influential prehistorian and the author of more than 20 books and dozens of articles, among them Ancestral Geographies; The Langdales, and Orcadia. An abiding interest in arts-based approaches to the interpretation of archaeological material has led Mark to experiment with poetry, print-making, music and sound collage across a number of projects.

While at the University of Sheffield, he developed an MA in Landscape Archaeology, which has had a wide and lasting influence on landscape-based research and teaching. In Orkney, Mark has an on-going involvement in work at the Ness of Brodgar. He was also the director of Working Stone; Making Communities, exploring the biographies of stone tools found in Orkney over the past two centuries.

ANTONIA THOMAS (she/her)

Antonia’s focus is on the relationship between Art and Archaeology in its broadest sense, from the interpretation of prehistoric visual culture, to the intersections between contemporary art practice and the archaeological imagination.

Her professional background is in heritage and archaeology, with experience spanning community development and regeneration, museum curation, commercial archaeological fieldwork, and higher education teaching. Broader research includes various aspects of visual and material culture, such as stone-carving and sculpture, vernacular buildings, prehistoric art and architecture, graffiti and mark-making, museum studies, and conceptual art. This experience has allowed Antonia to develop and lead a unique MA Contemporary Art and Archaeology at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland.
https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/archaeology-institute/staff/dr-antonia-thomas/

Facilities

The residency programme will take place in the ancient and historic village of The Palace, in the parish of Birsay. It is situated on the St Magnus Way pilgrimage route on the Atlantic Ocean and amidst farmlands and sites of archaeological, historical and social importance in Orkney, accessible by foot and minivan.

Accommodation is 5-star rated self-catering (single rooms) and is fully equipped, including wifi.
Work spaces can be used for clean and dirty work.

Fee

The Residency Programme is operated on a non-commercial cost-covering basis, and is financially supported by The Museum of Loss and Renewal in order to keep fees low. The residency fee is £1350 GBP, paid by the resident. It includes the residency programme, 5-star rated self-catering accommodation (single rooms) and work spaces, collection/return to nearest airport/ferry point.

A deposit of 50% is payable within three weeks of being offered a place on the residency programme (non-refundable). The remaining balance is payable eight weeks in advance of the residency start date. In the event that cancellation is required, residents may cancel up to a minimum of eight weeks prior to their residency start date. If a resident has to end the residency early due to personal circumstances, a refund cannot not be issued.

You will be responsible for funding and organising your own travel, your own insurances and any visa requirements particular to your country of origin. Travel information is available in the info tabs on this page (Kirkwall Airport and Orkney Ferries), and collection/drop-off at Stromness/Kirkwall at the beginning and end of the Group Residency will be arranged. A minivan will be in use during the residency, for site visits etc.

We do not have external funding for this project, so regret that we are unable to offer assistance with fees, travel, production costs or other subsistence. Typically, successful applicants source funding by applying to their national arts funding bodies, personal fundraising, or through academic institutional support. Formal Letters of Invitation can be provided to assist in this process.

Schedule Outline

Day 01

Arrival (collection on arrival in Orkney), orientation and introductions

Days 02-07

Subject-specific sessions by facilitators
Presentations and exercises by programme contributors
Collective and individual (mentored) working sessions
Working sessions at (archaeological) sites
Museum / gallery / visit
Collective critical evaluation and forecasting

Day 08

Departure (transport to Orkney departure points)

A detailed programme will be provided to residents before arrival.

Eligibility

You can be at any stage of your (creative) development
The programme may best suit (creative) practitioners who are seeking to develop their knowledge and skills within an environment of learning and exchange
Experienced applicants are very welcome to apply
Open to (creative) practitioners based in any country but applicants should have a good working knowledge of English
Applications from duos and partnerships are welcomed

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Testimonials

The group residency has had a profound impact on my practice and research.

Having the space to share ideas with others in such a beautiful place was invaluable – Tracy and the team, as well as the visiting speakers, created such a supportive and inspiring environment.

The sessions and trips were all absolutely brilliant. I would love to repeat any and all of them again and again! The house was comfortable, the food delicious, and the location phenomenal.
Rebecca Bell, England
My time in residence was the highlight of my year; it really changed my life and mindset for the better.
Stine Danielle, Canada
The residency programme that just keeps giving.
Maree Hensey, Ireland
The MICRO-MACRO Group Residency (Orkney) was transformational, both creatively and personally.
The programme of inspirational and multi-disciplinary contributors, combined with deep immersion in, and exploration of Orkney’s many layered natural and human histories provided a perfect balance for the investigation of site as part of creative practice.
Our diverse cohort of contributors, artists, writers and poets quickly developed a strong rapport, generously supporting each other and sharing diverse practices, perspectives and ideas. We were looked after all week with care, kindness and delicious food! Thank you.
Mary Muir, Orkney-England
A high-point in the cycle of my year as a composer, researcher, and educator.
Multiple residencies with The Museum of Loss and Renewal continue to provide both time and space in which to incubate my ideas and fuel ongoing research, and allow me to be in an enriching environment wherein I feel that I am able to return to my most true ‘self’ as a human, as a creator.
The fact that my great-grandparents came from a mountain village near Collemacchia has extra meaning for me: it brings my work beyond the purely academic, beyond the purely creative – it is personal, it is familial, and it continues to shape my identity, strengthening my feeling of connection to the inner and outer landscape.
Antonio Forte, USA
The DRAWING WITH PLACE (Orkney) Group Residency was a gentle boost to my confidence; being in a new environment and having precious, reflective space.
The programme was extraordinary, and the selection of artists who delivered was beyond what I had imagined.

The variety of input from the invited speakers continues to resonate and was held so beautifully by Tracy; I benefited from her gentle, clear input.
I would and have recommended the residency to many fellow artists/creatives.
Sarah Goudie, England
The Museum of Loss and Renewal has been a very special place for me to start the writing of a book. The history of Collemacchia, the company of other creatives, and the studio facilities made for a great environment that provided me with both the comfort and the inspiration I needed.
Joris Melman, the Netherlands
Spending the week with the MICRO-MACRO (Orkney) group helped me realise that collaborative making and thinking can be more spontaneous, playful and generous than I’ve ever experienced or imagined.
The selection of participants was very well considered, and I really appreciated being in the Orkney landscape with incredibly open people of different ages, nationalities and with diverse arts practices.
Tracy provided a strong structure for the residency, offering critical thinking when needed without disrupting the group dynamic in any way – a skilful balance well-maintained.
Jac Cambell, England
The MICRO-MACRO (Italy) Group Residency has had such a positive impact on my practice and research.
Learning from Tracy and Amanda through open conversation, presentations and practical activities was a wonderful experience. I am very grateful for their support and for my time in Collemacchia.
Alongside the residency programme I was able to connect to the area, which is very important to me personally and for my practice.
Carla Smith, Scotland
The individual residency, Taking Time / Prendendo Tempo offered me the unique opportunity to do just that — take time to experience Molise — one of my ancestral lands.
Each day provided new opportunities to connect and learn from the other residents and engage in self-reflection of my own artist practice; all under the guidance of the extraordinary Tracy Mackenna.
Kate Colabella, USA
The MICRO-MACRO (Italy) Group Residency provided me with a great sense of inspiration and space to reflect on my practice, both past and regarding possible futures.
The beautifully-designed and maintained living and working spaces, structured by home-cooked meals prepared with love and attention, cast a special light on residents’ everyday life: they give space to breathe.
Fred Landau-Donnelly, Germany
Tracy is a fantastic mentor and guide, and I surprised myself by how easily I was able to settle and start making and thinking.
Excellent studios, accommodation and library.

Collemacchia is a unique place which continues to resonate with me – I hope to return!
Marion Harrison, England
My Taking Time / Prendendo Tempo residency was an incredible experience.
It was really special to allow myself to fully follow my intuition and my body, instead of overthinking my energy, my time, my tasks. Being able to freely wander, write, read, photograph, draw, talk, cook, feel, walk, and create often with a cappuccino and cornetto pushed my practice and research into unexpected directions.
I am so grateful to have shared this rollercoaster with incredible people, who each had beautiful stories and touching motivations for being there.
Marieke Folkers, the Netherlands
The experience of a temporary artistic community was the primary contribution to my practice/research: constructive and mutually supportive. The framing of the Taking Time / Prendendo Tempo residency was linked to the immediate social, cultural and natural environment.
There was an excellent balance between the communal living spaces, which were very conducive to communication and support.
Tracy’s curatorship, mentorship and guidance was crucial to grounding residents in the environment. Her knowledge and experience of the area’s history and contemporary society provided contextualisation and connection; and she was very generous with her time and availability: an excellent balance.
Duncan Ross, Ireland
The residency exposed me to a stimulating coupling of natural, historical, material and community phenomena that percolated new, exciting projects that I’m now processing.
The library was an excellent resource that stimulated new ideas and refreshed concepts that had become dormant, especially those devoted to art writing and photo books.
Tracy offered guidance and critique that created context for many of my ideas; she was also generous in delivering a session about the ‘photo book’ that has seeded further personal investigation into the process.
David D’Agostino, USA
My time in Collemacchia was packed full of opportunities to share ideas and experiences, to create new works both on my own and with input from others and to pause in the mad rush of our modern lives to think and allow the experience to wash over me. I felt at one with the place, intrigued as much by its history and mood.
I was encouraged by Tracy and her approach to pass on her knowledge and experience while at the same time allowing me space. I have learned much and grown in confidence and experience and have a long list of things to research in more depth and creative works I want to explore. Thank you.
Richard Dalgleish, Scotland
My residency offered me a wonderful opportunity to go deeper into my practice and to be open to developing my artistic expression and voice. Immersing myself fully allowed me time and space to take risks, to experiment with compositional elements, to innovate and to learn, which was an extraordinary gift.
The freedom to work in this way has had a profound impact on my practice and works I created while in residence are providing rich and exciting starting points for a new body of work.
Tracy’s mentorship was so valuable and I am already taking steps to incorporate her advice into my creative practice. Her curatorship of the residency, her care, enthusiasm and passion ensured that this residency was an outstanding experience and I am forever grateful to her for providing this opportunity to me and all of the other creatives that I met during my time at Collemacchia.
I would really love to return and to spend more time in the future.
Marie Salinger, Australia
My time in residence was the highlight of my year; it really changed my life and mindset for the better.
Stine Danielle, Canada
The residency programme that just keeps giving.
Maree Hensey, Ireland
My time in Collemacchia was marked by wonderful discoveries, in natural and archeological landscapes, as well as in my creative practice. You created an inspiring environment, very well suited for reflection and experimentation, which was what I needed to stir my work in a new direction. I also enjoyed our conversations about art, your intellectual perspective, book recommendations, and feedback about my production.
Rodrigo de Toledo, Brazil and USA
Taking Time at The Museum of Loss and Renewal is an artistic retreat experience like no other. As soon as I arrived, for each distinct residency period, I knew I had stepped into an extraordinary environment, both in terms of landscape and community: a space to breathe, form new relationships and renew my creative practice, my sense of purpose.

What I did not anticipate then was how Tracy’s deep connection to Collemacchia, her practical attention to detail and inspirational mentorship would lead me into new unexpected places and help facilitate for me an entirely new body of work.
Cathy Stonehouse, Canada
My experience at The Museum of Loss and Renewal in Collemacchia, Italy was astounding; I have never enjoyed the balance of solitude together with a generous, nurturing community more than I have here.

The landscape revealed itself to me slowly and kindly – as I walked and listened, it held me tenderly, coaxing me to explore, challenge myself and take time to create work. The studios are professionally appointed, well equipped spaces.
I am humbled by and immensely appreciative of Tracy’s ongoing mentorship, academic and personal support while so far from home. Her skill in connecting my work with the diverse library resources on site and key ideas have assisted to significantly advance the conceptual basis of my practice.
For this and all her gifts, I am grateful.
Melinda Giblett, Australia
Being part of the Individual Residency Program was truly life-changing.
Tracy is a wonderful mentor and working artist. Her genuine interest in each artist’s work fostered a sense of community, enriching not only my creative process but also nurturing meaningful connections with fellow artists.
This residency provided the ideal balance of structure and freedom, enabling me to explore new artistic depths, leaving an indelible mark on my art making process.
The experience has left such a warm mark on my artistic journey; I’ll cherish it forever.
Cynthia Ludlam, USA
My residency was a transformative experience in a warm and supportive environment.
Beautiful facilities were provided, and I was welcomed with genuine hospitality, a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Dedicated time for reflection allowed me to set a clear direction for my artistic practice, and the proactive guidance given exceeded my expectations.
Deborah Scott, USA
I am immensely grateful for the enriching experience of participating in the Drawing with Place Group Residency in Orkney, that was lead by Tracy. The profound connection to the character of the land was evident in every aspect, fostering a deep sense of place. This residency served as a poignant reminder that my creative practice is not just an act of creation but a continuous practice of listening and cultivating a relationship with my surroundings.
Justin McIntosh, USA
I’ve been doing a lot of reflection lately and thinking about all of the nourishing experiences I’ve had that have made a difference in my life and career and one of them is the wonderful time I spent in Collemacchia and your very generous support and guidance. And again when we came as a group a positive ripple manifested in different ways!
Laura McSorley, Scotland