What if I told you there was a private island, in the very heart of the Mediterranean, that will be holding “muse hacking” masterclasses led by esteemed artists? With heavenly food, free beer, and no cell phones whatsoever? Welcome to Quarantine:
Muse Hacking masterclass on Lazaretto Island, The Citadel of Ghosts
We are all searching for something. As a creative, I believe that this search can be taken to even darker depths. It’s easy to have found yourself worn down and burnt out by the modern existence of the past few years. Perhaps artist’s block has gripped around your soul, or years of academic education have inadvertently formed an iron cage around your creative evolution. Alternatively, perhaps you are simply looking for the right spark to light the fire of change within you. To see your creativity through new eyes and grow through new ideas.
It can be hard to see the way forward. Thankfully, Quarantine provides an answer. This Menorca-based art event label offers masterclass experiences like no other. ‘Quarantining’ you away from the distractions of everyday life, you can fully immerse in your own artistic development under the guidance of their specially selected mentors. Now, they are back to provide you with an opportunity that is bolder and more bizarre than ever. Prepare to shake off your shackles and explore their latest 7-day, out-of-the-box art development programme covering boot camps, masterclasses, art labs, art talks, workshops and mentorships. All of this will be held on Lazaretto Island, an 18th century isolation hospital with thousands of square meters of amazing facilities.
Quarantine: Muse Hacking programme
Quarantine Dates: April 17th – April 23rd, 2023 (7 days, 12 hours per day on the programme)
Location: Lazaretto Island, Maó, Menorca (Spain)
Beginners are as welcome as professionals. A daily ferry will be provided to the island as well as lunch and dinner, beverages and beer (courtesy of Estrella Damm), an easel and gamsol. The meals provided will be homemade, farm-to-table dishes made with local produce by top chefs, Felip Llufriu and Joan Bagur. Learners must organize: their own lodging and breakfast, travel to Menorca for the event, and any additional drinks wanted such as wine or mixed drinks.
We offer what the academic education, due to its very nature and purpose, cannot provide: progress as an artist, not as an art student.
Quarantine
Get quarantined with these legendary artist mentors:
EMILIO VILLALBA
HENRIK ULDALEN
JEREMY MANN
NADEZDA
NICOLÁS URIBE
VINCENT DESIDERIO
Who can apply to take part in the muse hacking masterclass?
Each artist mentor will be hosting their own unique experience to cover the muse hacking masterclass. Therefore, interested creatives must apply to enroll to learn under the mentorship of one of the six leading artists. However, there will be time for all learners to engage in artist talks with the other mentors as part of each experience. Unsurprisingly, there are limited spaces available. Applicants will be reviewed by the relevant mentors, and the most committed artists, not the most polished artists, will be selected to take part. To learn more about how Quarantine select the participants, check out the FAQ.
Our artist [mentors] have one non-negotiable condition to take part in this Quarantine: they simply refuse to be guides on a tour that shows participants how to paint as they do, as if leading a flock of art-world tourists.
Their courage involves conveying everything else on this delightfully uncertain voyage: philosophy, motivation, initiative, dignity, discomfort, euphoria, coherence, disappointment, courage, discipline, tears, challenges, connection, work ethic, decision making… ultimately, the trial of living a life that is genuinely committed to Art.
Throughout the week, the mentor you choose will pose various challenges to pulverize the student in you. Because at some point, my friend, you will have to stop studying Art and start creating it… Why seek comfort if it delivers no feeling?
From the quarantine iv programme
Read below to learn more about each of the six artist mentors.
Get quarantined with…
Nicolás Uribe
Nicolás Uribe is a tremendously versatile, free, and uninhibited artist. His training is rock solid, but his painting questions everything, and detaches from everything. His creative process is a giant resounding “What if…?”, as proof that Art always outlives its own rules. Aleister Crowley said that “Nothing is true, everything is permitted”. This is precisely how Nicolás paints, under the assumption that no rule is real, and that EVERYTHING is allowed.
Nicolás Uribe will put you in vulnerable positions so be sure to pack extra humility. This quarantine requires deep questioning of academic tenets.
Read more about Nicolás’ programme and the requirements here.
Henrik Uldalen
Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen never found his place at school and no one suspected he might possess any specific talent… until he picked up a pencil. For this self-taught artist, the process is more important than the outcome, and he paints as if it were a vital necessity.
Henrik will show you that an artist’s path can be travelled without adhering to a set of rules. He will teach you how to mock perfection, to provide structure to emotion and to destroy so as to create, all by using personal expression as our compass. His quarantine requires a high level of introspection and detachment from rules. You will need to trust the process and cool your need to control the results.
Read more about Henrik’s programme and the requirements here.
Jeremy Mann & Nadezda
Jeremy Mann and Nadezda understand that true action is the utter opposite of gym equipment, with its perfectly predictable program of repetition.
They will show you that there’s a certain something about risk and mystery, something that arouses a vitality that makes us feel capable of transcending the method so as to savor the challenge of the unforeseeable. And this is where Art truly resides; in sensing time, and not the cogs of the timepiece.
This quarantine requires a high level of personal commitment and is not recommended for everyone. The program is intense and exhausting, requiring deep questioning of beliefs and practices.
Read more about their programme and the requirements here.
Vincent Desiderio
Vincent Desiderio is a visual intellectual who questions neo-conservative educational agendas and the way methods are instilled, void of objectives and meaning. What’s the point of learning, to subsequently unlearn?
Vincent suggests that the only valid knowledge for an artist is that which has meaning. The ideal sherpa. His quarantine will be neither easy nor comfortable, but it will be real. Quarantine do not recommend this process if you depend on the security of a method or a school that you can adhere to, or if you’re simply not ready to question them.
Read more about Vicent’s programme and the requirements here.
Emilio Villalba
Emilio Villalba received training at top schools and learned to draw and paint with excellence. His passion, however, freed him from this straitjacket to reveal personal meaning in the methods he acquired from his teachers.
He is living proof of how an artist can break free from her or his training, without rejecting it. Emilio will show you how to channel order to express disorder, emotion, abstraction, inquisitiveness, restlessness, obsession and discord.
Emilio Villalba is like a spiral: in constant evolution, although without losing his identity. This quarantine requires a high level of detachment from the most deeply-rooted tendencies of the painting practice: the quest for a beautiful result and the craving to display what you do well.
Read more about Emilio’s programme and the requirements here.
Additional opportunity: Quarantine’s Open Studio
To top it all off, Quarantine are offering a special Open Studio placement for those who would like to absorb the knowledge presented, but learn at your own pace. Those selected for the Open Studio will share all of the masterclasses and open talks with ALL of the guest mentors, as well as leisure time, meals and breaks with participants from both formats. However, access to a personal mentorship, boot camps and workshop with a select artist mentor will not be provided. For the full details, pricing, and information on how to apply, check out the website here.
Prepare to unlearn everything, and expand indefinitely.
There is much to unearth in Quarantine’s muse hacking masterclass, and those taking part are guaranteed to learn much about art – and themselves. Apply now before all of the places are taken!
About Quarantine
Quarantine, formerly known as Menorca Pulsar, will make sure that you’ll only breathe good vibes during your stay at Lazaretto. Starting in 2016, the creators (then Menorca Pulsar) organized art retreats. Artists from all over the world came to work and live together in camaraderie. Then, as they so often do, plans changed… Art retreats no longer felt “right”. Now they aim for a more intense experience. The new retreats are now called “Quarantine”, and these events aren’t for everyone.
Quarantine is not just another formula for filling seats and milking money. They are here to enjoy the experience WITH you, not AT you. They believe in core principles and ethical values like peace, love, respect, freedom, harmony and diversity, but also hedonism.
