First KOMETAK creative residencies: Damaris Pan in Bordeaux and Matthias Malefond in Huarte

The first KOMETAK project artist residencies in the visual and plastic arts have concluded. In this first edition, the artist Damaris Pan spent her residency at the Zébra3 center in Bordeaux, France, while the creator Matthias Malefond undertook his at the Huarte Contemporary Art Centre in Navarra. Over six weeks each artist blended research, experimentation and artistic creation, presenting their process and projects at the end of their residences.

Damaris Pan’s Project in Bordeaux was titled ‘Qu´est-ce que vous voulez me demander avec cette question si compliquée?’  (´What are you pretending to ask me with this complex question?´). Starting with ceramics, the artist used bread as a subject of research and creative focus, viewing it as an everyday, familiar object that nevertheless embodies a wealth of historical, social and cultural significance.

Pan created twelve white stoneware loaves from which eyes emerge. At once friendly and innocent, these forms evoke domesticity and tradition while suggesting deeper tensions around identity, power and collective memory.

Matthias Malefond developed a project in Huarte that combined sound, sculpture and installation, creating a visual and sound installation that incorporates recordings of traditional Basque songbooks, the clarinet and other layers of sound.

He treats tradition not as fixed heritage but as an evolving web of narratives and influences, and approaches sound not as a mere document but as a lived territory. Through the dialogue between materials, architecture and sound, the project explores issues relating to memory, transmission and the circulation of cultural expressions.

These residencies, part of the cross‑border project, have been not only spaces for artistic creation but also occasions for encounter, mutual learning and the forging of links with new contexts. Promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute, the Huarte Contemporary Art Centre and Zébra3, this is precisely one of the main objectives of KOMETAK: to strengthen ties between creators and cultural operators in the Basque Country and Nouvelle‑Aquitaine, and to promote cross‑border circulation and collaboration in contemporary creation.

The project is also backed by the Nouvelle‑Aquitaine Euskadi Navarre Euroregion, underscoring its strategic importance for cross‑border cultural cooperation. Launched through a collaboration between the Huarte Contemporary Art Centre and Zébra3, this inaugural edition of KOMETAK establishes the project for the long term: gradually broadening into other disciplines, welcoming new partners and consolidating itself as a regional cultural‑cooperation network.