POLIS carries it’s name in reference to the use of this term by Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), a political philosopher and supporter of ‘direct democracy’. According to Arendt, POLIS stands for "the organization of the people as it arises out of acting and speaking together, and its true space lies between people living together for this purpose, no matter where they happen to be." (Arendt, H., 1998, The Human Condition, University of Chicago Press.)

As participant of POLIS you constantly move back and forth between your own individual art practice and the commitment to be part of the community. It embodies the wavering nature of a work-in-progress, and underpins trail-and-error as a fundamental part of the process in an artist’s development. POLIS is not a predetermined theoretical program that you follow, it does not have a curriculum, as participant you can change and mold it’s course.