Wouter Huis, co-founder of Greylight Projects
> Can you describe where the residency place Greylight Projects is located, and how the geographical and societal contexts shape your work and program? What does it take to operate from the margins, away from the national centre?
Greylight Projects is based in Heerlen, in the south of the Netherlands, near the German and Belgian borders. The city’s post-industrial history and peripheral location shape a slower, research-based rhythm for residencies, emphasizing long-term engagement over immediate visibility. Artists work closely with local contexts, engaging with social, material, and historical layers of the city rather than only producing for an external audience.
Operating from the margins requires persistence, adaptability, and relational ethics. Distance from national centres allows for autonomy and experimentation but demands active network-building, cross-border partnerships, and careful navigation of resources. This peripheral position encourages a focus on process, care, and depth, rather than scale or trend-driven outputs.
> In your experience, what role can the proximity to a border region play in the personal understanding of self-location and collaboration, or maybe also as a matter of fact, in your every-day life and work in in Heerlen?
Being near borders heightens awareness of positionality and relationality. Daily life and work in Heerlen involve navigating linguistic, bureaucratic, and cultural differences, fostering flexibility and a sensitivity to context and nuance. For artists, this translates into practices that are attentive to site-specificity, translation, and negotiation.
Practically, the border region expands collaborative possibilities. Cross-border movement facilitates transnational projects, partnerships, and networks, making collaboration a structural part of everyday practice. This context encourages hybrid approaches and cross-pollination of ideas that would be less visible in a centralised setting.
> In which way can networks be supportive for AiR programs in order to promote shared interests? What can be achieved more effectively through networking
Networks provide access to shared resources, knowledge exchange, and collaborative opportunities that individual residencies alone cannot achieve. They enable AiR programs to reach wider audiences, connect artists to complementary contexts, and build support structures across institutions and borders.
Effective networking can strengthen advocacy, co-develop programs, and reduce isolation for both artists and organizations. By pooling expertise and infrastructure, networks allow residencies to take greater risks, experiment with formats, and respond dynamically to emerging social and cultural contexts.
