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This paper critically reflects on mobility as a contemporary paradigm by looking at the artistic mobility and the politics of inclusion/exclusion within art residency culture. In recent years, art residencies have gained momentum as a core stage in the development of many young practitioners, and they take place in a plethora of places, practices and models. The official institutional discourse portrays art residency culture as an open field accessible to a globalised supercommunity and as a way to internationalise contemporary art by connecting the local with the global art world. After presenting an overview of art residency culture, its role and relevance within the contemporary art world and for artistic careers, the paper employs two case studies. The first, a review of an ethnography of an alternative residency in Sao Paulo, Brazil, complexifies notions of centre and periphery within the art residency network. The second presents an emblematic example of the creation of an online skills market to access residencies. The two cases are linked by an overview of EU policy documents and frameworks, and open calls and regulations of institutions hosting international residencies through which issues affecting artistic mobility are explored. Even though the paper makes the point that there is no such thing as a completely peripheral residency, it also highlights that the whole art residency culture seems to sustain an institutional model that may exacerbate the already precarious working conditions of artists.
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