Day one at La Chapelle Saint-Antoine, Naxos
I have arrived on Naxos to begin a month-long residency at La Chapelle Saint-Antoine, a privately run artist residency hosted by Ariële and Jean-Bernard and their family. The residency occupies a remarkable building in the Kastro, the old Venetian quarter at the heart of Chora, that served as a monastery from the early 17th century until the early 20th. The small chapel of Agios Antonios that adjoins it gives the residency its name. Two artists are hosted each month from April to November, with a shared terrace overlooking the Aegean and the mountains, and an open studio event at the close of each session.
The journey in was a reminder of just how far Australia is from Europe. Melbourne to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Athens, a layover, a meal in the city, then the ferry across to Naxos in genuinely rough seas. My recent travel has been almost entirely to China, and I had quietly forgotten the scale of the trip back to this part of the world. Ariële met me at the port with a generous welcome and took me to the family home, where I met Jean-Bernard and their youngest daughter Sophie. It was a warm and grounding way to begin.
Despite the fatigue, I wanted the studio operational on day one. I unpacked, set up, and started thinking through the month. My application was built around a defined plan, as these proposals always are, but I am keen to hold that plan loosely and leave room for the place itself to shape the work. I have brought a roll of acrylic from Australia, alongside small resin kits, with the intention of experimenting with materials and processes I have not yet had the opportunity to test. UV printing onto acrylic, which is central to a recent strand of my practice, is not readily available in this region, so part of the month will be devoted to exploring alternative approaches to working with the same material. The residency has a printer on site for test prints, and I have brought my Meta Quest 3 to continue experiments with 3D scanning and spatial environments.
The terrace looks out across Chora to a convent on the hillside that I am told is walkable. That, along with a slow exploration of the Kastro, is the plan for today. Day one is for getting the lay of the land.
I will be posting daily across the residency, sharing process, experiments, and reflections from the island as the work develops. My sincere thanks to Ariële, Jean-Bernard, Sophie, Clémentine and Benjamin for the welcome, and to La Chapelle Saint-Antoine for the opportunity.
Bronisław Kózka
