Call for Applications: Thirdspace 2026 Emerging Artist Summer Residency, OCAD University

Thirdspace Emerging Artist Residency 2025, OCAD University

Apply to OCAD University’s summer residency for emerging artists, led by Toronto-based artist Erdem Taşdelen

Early Bird Deadline: February 2, 2026 (save $300)
Residency Dates: June 1 – 26, 2026
OCAD University, Toronto, Canada

About the Residency:

Thirdspace: Emerging Artist Summer Intensive Program is a month-long residency program at OCAD University, led by the Summer Artist and Mentor-in-Residence. Each year, the program brings together a dynamic group of interdisciplinary emerging artists, including those in the early stages of their careers and those embarking on new directions in their creative practices.

Residency Theme:

This year’s residency theme “Staging the Unseen” invites artists to explore storytelling beyond convention. Under the guidance of Erdem Taşdelen, Summer Artist and Mentor-in-Residence, participants will be invited to use text, image, sound, and video, participants to engage in narrative as world-building—challenging dominant stories, revealing hidden perspectives, and opening space for new possibilities.

The Residency Includes:

• Mentorship from our Summer Artist & Mentor-in-Residence
• Four weeks of studio access to develop and refine your work
• Specialized facilities access depending on level of experience and technical skills
• ️Reading discussions, guest talks & field trips
• Conceptual and technical skill-building workshops
• ️Final exhibition at OCAD U’s Graduate Gallery showcasing the works developed during the residency

Thirdspace Emerging Artist Residency 2025, OCAD University

About the Summer Artist & Mentor-in-Residence:

Erdem Taşdelen is an artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. Through the use of diverse materials and media, he constructs semi-fictional narratives that incorporate unique historical figures, events and texts to implicate contemporary sociopolitical realities. At the core of his artistic practice lies an exploration of how narrative interacts with its form, and how different forms “stage” narratives.

Taşdelen has exhibited at venues including The Power Plant, Aga Khan Museum and Mercer Union in Toronto; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; VOX, Montréal; Framer Framed, Amsterdam; Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg; and Pera Museum, Istanbul. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Delfina Foundation and Studio Voltaire, London; Hangar, Lisbon; Rupert, Vilnius; and KulturKontakt, Vienna. He was awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Visual Arts by the Canada Council in 2016, the Charles Pachter Prize by Hnatyshyn Foundation in 2014, long-listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2019, and selected as a finalist for the Taoyuan International Art Award in 2025.

Images (left to right): Erdem Taşdelen, Apparitions: Plunge / Apparitions: Rush, inkjet-printed photographs, 45 x 60 cm each, 2025;  photo by Kayhan Kaygusuz. Headshot of Erdem Taşdelen; photo by Sarah Bodri. Images courtesy of the artist.

Eligibility:

This program is open to:

• Current undergraduate or graduate students
• Recent graduates
• Early-career artists
• Practicing artists exploring new directions in their practices

Cost:

• Program fee: $4,600.00 CAD + applicable taxes. Accommodation, transportation, and meals are not included.
• Program fee with accommodation: $7,450 CAD + applicable taxes. Transportation and meals are not included.

Application Process:

• Fill out the online application form
• Submit a portfolio and written statement of intent

Early Bird Deadline: February 2, 2026 (save $300)
This is the recommended deadline for participants who need to apply for a visitor visa to enter Canada.

Application Deadline: April 2, 2026

For additional information or questions, please contact:
Meichen Waxer
Program Development Specialist
mwaxer@ocadu.ca

OCAD University
100 McCaul Street
Toronto, ON M5T 1W1

Accessibility: This venue is accessible.

Image Descriptions:
1. An art student painting a large, colorful two-panel artwork in a bright studio space.
2. Students engaged in weaving, painting, illustration, printmaking, and viewing artwork across various OCAD U studio and gallery spaces.
3. On the left, a documentation image of two framed photographs in an exhibition. On the right, a headshot of Erdem Taşdelen.
4. A wide shot of OCAD University’s main campus during the summer, surrounded by lush green trees.