The Spanish Quarantine Island Residency Where Artists Disconnect-and Phones Are Banned

"Dubbed "purgatory for artists," Quarantine is dedicated to finding freedom through constraint. The intensive residency program takes its name from its venue: an 18th-century lazaretto off the coast of Menorca, Spain. Built between 1793 and 1807, the fortress in the port of Mahón was a prison for sanitation, at which travelers would dock and be quarantined for a few weeks or until they recovered from disease."

"Conceived in 2017 by artist Carles Gomilla, the residency program has always been experimental and emerged in various iterations before debuting in its current form in 2023 with partners Joan Taltavull, Itziar Lecea, and Darren Green. Gomilla is steadfast in his commitment to the ethos of Quarantine. Each spring and fall, he and his team invite about 60 people to the island, where they spend the week immersed in a rigorous program. The particulars of each edition are kept secret, and no phones are allowed."

An intensive artist residency on a secluded 18th-century lazaretto off Menorca repurposes a historical quarantine fortress into a focused, experimental training program. The site’s Gothic architecture and cemeteries remain from its sanitation prison era. Conceived in 2017 by Carles Gomilla and refined with partners in 2023, the program runs each spring and fall for about 60 participants who spend a week without phones in a secret, rigorous schedule. Residents rotate through art labs, mentorship sessions with high-profile artists, and communal exercises that emphasize constraint, vulnerability, and purpose, including options to destroy or burn work at week’s end.

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