No Deadlines, No Demands: Inside Delfina Foundation, London’s Most International Residency

For more than 20 years, Delfina Foundation has been a cornerstone of London’s art ecosystem, serving not only as a research platform for both artistic and curatorial practices but also as a catalyst for a network of collaborations that have shaped the city’s creative and cultural landscape—and extended well beyond it.

What sets Delfina’s residency program apart from others around the world is its emphasis on a process-based experience that prioritizes research over production. Artists and curators selected for the program don’t have to produce or donate work. “Our residencies don’t demand any kind of formal outcome from the artists or curators who take part,” Aaron Cezar, Delfina Foundation’s founding director, tells Observer when we meet ahead of Frieze.

Cezar—who develops, curates and oversees Delfina’s interconnected programs, including residencies, exhibitions and public platforms—had just that morning led an orientation session for the new cohort of residents. The group included artists and curators from India, Colombia, China, Bolivia and Syria, as well as an artist traveling abroad for the first time from Portugal and another from Korea. “Whenever we do these orientations, I make it very clear that they could come to London and, quite literally, do nothing,” he explains. “Because for an artist, doing nothing is always doing something. It’s about clearing space, allowing new ideas to enter, and creating the conditions for new directions to emerge.”

As Cezar notes, artists are often caught in relentless cycles of production. Those working with galleries may be constantly preparing work for fairs or exhibitions, while others with less market-driven practices might be teaching or collaborating with community groups. In either case, the demands are unending and the activity nonstop. The residency, by contrast, is designed to offer a way out of that cycle.

Today, Delfina Foundation runs an average of 40 residencies annually—including those for artists, curators and, most recently, collectors—making it the largest international residency program in the U.K. Following the 2014 expansion of its premises in Victoria, London, which tripled its capacity, Delfina can now host six to eight residents at a time, offering flexible living and working space in the heart of the city for up to 12 weeks.

When artists are selected and begin planning their residency, the foundation asks about their goals for their time in London. For some, that means diving into the city’s archives, collections and cultural ecosystem—from grassroots and non-commercial spaces to major institutions. Others, Cezar explains, arrive having been caught on the “hamster wheel” of nonstop production and simply want a break, allowing ideas to come to them more slowly and organically.

Regardless of their initial plans, the foundation makes clear that residents are free to do nothing if that’s what they need, knowing they are supported financially and logistically to give them that flexibility and space. “The art world can feel overwhelming, and we want them to have the comfort and safety of being in London with their material needs covered,” Cezar adds. “We work to secure funding so residents can have that kind of flexibility, to open themselves up to new ideas. That’s what matters most to us.”

Notably, Delfina’s residency program is broadly thematic, with curated areas of focus that explore urgent issues in contemporary art and in everyday life. These shared frameworks create a space for practitioners and researchers from around the world to confront and discuss complex topics together. “What’s important to us is this notion of artistic exchange and creating a place where creative practitioners can find common ground,” says Cezar. “I think we’re creating a context where different forms of artistic exchange can take place. And the fact that we have an international community—what you called a family of artists—living together in this space makes that possible.”

One of the program’s most enduring themes has been “Politics of food,” which has run for over a decade. “We’ve hosted around 120 residencies focused on that subject, bringing together artists, curators, chefs and agronomists to explore issues around food and its politics.” Another long-standing thematic undercurrent is “Performance as Process,” which examines performance and performativity not just as live practices but as conceptual tools for framing questions, navigating the present and recording history. Another focus, “The Public Domain, Science/Technology & Society,” investigates shifting ideas of “public” and “common space”, particularly in relation to digital life, surveillance, privatization, security and shared ownership. Last but not least is “Collecting as Practice,” which became the foundation’s—and arguably the art world’s—first residency program specifically designed for collectors.

A residency for art collectors

The story behind this pioneering initiative, launched in 2017, is as organic as it is amusing. “It all began almost as a joke,” Cezar recalls. In 2016 and 2017, Art Basel ran a crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter, and Delfina partnered with them to host a dinner in London. Among the invited guests was Belgian collector Alain Servais, known for both his deep collecting and his critical thinking. “I said to him, ‘We’re doing this dinner with Art Basel, do you want to come? We happen to have a spare bedroom at Delfina—you could stay upstairs,” Cezar recalls. Servais agreed but said he wanted to spend a few extra days seeing shows around London. “At the dinner, as I introduced him, I half-joked that Alain was our ‘first collector in residence.’ We all laughed about it at the table, but then we began to think more seriously about the idea.”

Over the following days, he observed how Servais engaged with the artists in residence. The conversations were lively and sometimes polemical, but importantly, they were never transactional. “Many of the artists had never had that kind of dialogue with a collector before—one that wasn’t about sales or agendas but about a shared love of art, the challenges surrounding it, and the opportunities it might open,” Cezar notes. A few months later, they invited Servais back more formally for a week, and that became the seed of their first collector residency.

From there, the program’s structure evolved. Initially, the goal was to create a shared space where artists and collectors could engage in dialogue. Collectors, whose professional and family commitments often limited their availability, would join for one or two weeks rather than the full 12-week residency typical for artists. “We would sit down with them and ask what they wanted to explore during their time in London,” Cezar explains. “That also gave artists the chance to turn the question back on them: ‘We’re working on this project—what are you working on?’”

Over time, the program became more intentional, inviting collectors who were considering launching new initiatives or establishing foundations. Their residencies began to be explicitly designed to expose them to different models, networks and ideas—through conversations with artists and peers, behind-the-scenes institutional visits and meetings with individuals outside their usual circles.

“Today, the program is less about the act of collecting itself and more about what collections mean in society. It asks how a private passion can be transformed into public impact,” Cezar explains. “That’s always the point—not simply the acquisition of objects, but what those objects can signify, how they can contribute and what role they can play in the wider cultural landscape.”

A different kind of artistic sustainability

From what Cezar has shared so far, it’s clear that Delfina Foundation functions as a vital cultural platform, offering the art world something it urgently needs: open discussion and a chance to rethink sustainability, artistic production and research—how to find the time and resources to make those things possible. This leads to the big question: What models is Delfina exploring to sustain all this? Clearly, it takes significant capital to make it happen.

As Cezar explains, about half of Delfina’s 40 annual residencies are tied to partnerships, which might involve foundations, governments or individual collectors who commit to supporting one artist from a particular country each year.

On top of that, Delfina has six or seven geographic patron groups across Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and, most recently, North America. “These groups are made up of individuals who contribute at different levels, and their pooled support enables artists from those regions to come to Delfina,” Cezar explains. Beyond that, the foundation also maintains a structure of other patrons—friends, the director’s circle and their global council. Altogether, about 90 percent of Delfina Foundation’s support comes from individual patrons worldwide.

Cezar acknowledges that some people often assume the “Collecting as Practice” program was designed to develop patrons. Yet that was never the true intention. “Over time, don’t get me wrong, some of the people who’ve engaged with our programs have become patrons, but that’s happened naturally—because they gained a much clearer understanding of our work.”

It’s a key principle that has allowed Delfina to secure patrons from around the world: give them agency, and make them an active part of the platform and community. “What’s important is that our patrons have agency,” Cezar emphasizes. “They’re not just writing checks; they’re involved in the process and feel a genuine sense of investment. That makes them our best ambassadors globally.”

For this reason, Cezar often prefers to describe Delfina as a family. “That really is what it feels like—a family of supporters who not only champion us but also also protect and advise us when we’re building new partnerships,” he observes. “Many patrons have grown through that network—some have become resident collectors, others have joined the board.”

Delfina regularly organizes trips and events on an international scale to keep its global patron community engaged. Most recently, they took a group to Uzbekistan for the inaugural Bukhara Biennale, which featured 13 Delfina alumni, including Wael Shawky, who represented Egypt at the Venice Biennale, and Aziz Kadiri, who represented Uzbekistan. “It was extraordinary for our patrons to see these artists, sometimes years after supporting them, and witness how their careers have grown,” Cezar notes.

This demonstrates the impact Delfina has had on the careers of internationally recognized artists. Residencies leave a lasting mark. Even during London Art Week, several major shows across the city are by Delfina alumni, including Giana De Dier’s commission at the National Portrait Gallery, Lawrence Lek’s show at Goldsmiths CCA, Jane & Louise Wilson at Bloomberg SPACE, Tacita Dean’s takeover of Frith Street Gallery, Ahmet Öğüt’s project at Stratford Station as part of the London Underground commissions, Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s presentation at Nottingham Contemporary and Karan Shrestha’s work at the Wellcome Collection’s “Thirst: In Search of Freshwater” group show.

One of the nonprofit’s most anticipated alumni shows will be staged in Delfina Foundation’s own space: Maxwell Alexandre’s first U.K. institutional exhibition, “A Sanctuary and A Shadow of Its Walls,” opening on October 17. Following his solo at Palais de Tokyo years ago—and amid rising market demand for his work—the show marks a pivotal moment in his trajectory and a significant evolution in his practice. The exhibition will feature newly commissioned paintings on pardo paper alongside site-specific scenography, as Alexandre continues his exploration of Black figuration but shifts focus from the vibrant scenes of the favela where he grew up to a more sociological and political investigation of everyday life inside Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, a prestigious multi-sports club in Rio de Janeiro. The presentation contemplates the nuances of seeking sanctuary, probing its fragile borders while subtly revealing power dynamics and addressing stark wealth disparities across social classes.

Alexandre was a Delfina resident in 2018. Yet, as Cezar clarifies, the exhibition program is separate and not necessarily tied to residency. “It isn’t the automatic outcome of being here, but rather a stepping stone for alumni at another point in their career,” he explains. “We often invite artists who were residents two, four or even five years earlier to return for an exhibition when the timing is right. For some, like Alexandre, this is often their first show in London, the U.K. or even in Europe.”

Sometimes an exhibition grows out of ideas first developed during a residency. Still, Cezar emphasizes the importance of maintaining the distinction: residencies have no expected outcomes, while exhibitions are structured with clear timelines and budgets. “We nurture those projects over a longer duration than a residency would allow, so the artist can produce something they’re genuinely proud of, without the immediate pressure of production that often defines the residency experience.”

Delfina Foundation’s beginnings

The London nonprofit was founded by Delfina Entrecanales (1927-2022), a Spanish-born philanthropist and passionate arts patron who passed away at the age of 94. “I had the pleasure of starting Delfina Foundation with her 18 years ago, in October 2007, so we’re just about to mark our 18th birthday,” Cezar says, recalling how she was famous for saying, “I collect artists, not art.” For her, it was always about the relationships she forged with artists more than the objects. “She used to say, ‘I’ll spend more time with a person than I’ll ever spend with a painting’—and that really defined her view,” Cezar explains.

Entrecanales was born in Spain in a period marked by conflict and upheaval and came of age under Franco’s regime. In the late 1940s, after World War II, her father sent her to London to prevent her from being educated under a fascist system. She eventually settled there after marrying an Englishman, but it was only decades later—at the age of 62—that she founded her first formal nonprofit to support artists.

“She wasn’t really a collector herself, though she inherited Spanish Impressionist works from her father, who was both an engineer and a collector, and founded the company Acciona,” Cezar explains. From her father, Entrecanales inherited a love of the arts, but her own focus was never on building a collection. Instead, she directed her energy toward people.

“As the eldest in her family, she had long taken responsibility for caring for others, and when artists and intellectuals arrived in exile in the U.K., she offered them support. Her early efforts focused on musicians, including the British artist Robert Wyatt, whom she backed at her farm in Wiltshire by providing them with space and encouragement. In time, this commitment expanded to visual artists.”

Delfina Foundation grew out of the Delfina Studios Trust, which Entrecanales founded in 1988 to provide subsidized studios for London artists and an international residency program in a renovated jeans factory in Stratford, and later in a former chocolate factory in Bermondsey—today White Cube’s Bermondsey space. Delfina Studios quickly became a cornerstone of the Young British Artists movement. Sonia Boyce, who would go on to win the Golden Lion in Venice in 2024, was among its first residents, and the studios also supported figures such as Tacita Dean, Mika Rottenberg, Urs Fischer and Wade Guyton. By the time Delfina Foundation was established in 2007, Entrecanales’s influence was already deeply embedded in the history of contemporary art.

Over the years, Delfina has become both a participant in contemporary art history and a connector for London’s art scene. Its role, Cezar explains, has been shaped through partnerships that extend opportunities for residents beyond the foundation itself. For example, Delfina has maintained a decade-long fellowship with Tate, currently hosting two curators in residence, and has collaborated with the V&A, The Showroom and Chisenhale Gallery, among others. Through these relationships, international artists have been able to enter the programs of major London institutions, positioning Delfina as a stepping stone and contributor to the broader cultural fabric of the city.

At the same time, Delfina has helped sustain the connection between London’s art ecosystem and the global art scene. While the foundation does not impose geographic limits and presents itself as a global program, it has since its founding built deep relationships and played a key role in supporting artists and cultural practitioners from underrepresented regions such as the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Its mission is to foster mutual international critical discourse through programming, encouraging understanding through artistic practice and exchange.

“This creates a very unique environment, and I think it speaks both to London’s international appeal and to the way we’ve worked to create a safe space for different conversations to take place,” Cezar explains, emphasizing how cultural exchange has always been a part of their mission—finding commonalities across different artistic practices and histories, even when those histories can be traumatic. “And we can’t ignore the fact that our residency is situated in London, a city that was once the head of a world empire and later part of the European Union. It’s a city that contains enormous layers of memory, history, archives and resources. Artists come here to interrogate those legacies, to entangle themselves in that history and often to work through their own.”

Looking ahead, Cezar anticipates that Central Asia will become another primary focus for Delfina, as the region has long been underrepresented in its program. North America is also emerging as a priority, though for different reasons. From its inception, the residency sought to be a safe space and a haven for artists, initially concentrating on practitioners from the Middle East and North Africa in the aftermath of September 11, when global divisions were acutely felt. “Delfina helped build an East-West dialogue through art,” Cezar asserts.

Today, however, with freedom of expression increasingly under threat in many parts of the world, he sees it as urgent to extend support to artists in North America and other regions to continue the intercultural dialogue and exchange that Delfina has long fostered and protected.

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